Bothel is a municipality in the
district of Rotenburg,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the
Stade Geest The Stade Geest (German: ''Stader Geest''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Stoder Geest'') is a natural region of low, sandy heath (geest) in the North German Plain.
It includes a large part of the Elbe-Weser Triangle between the cities of Hamburg, Bremen a ...
region of central
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
. It has 2,500 inhabitants. Bothel was founded by workers of the nearby ''Trochel Forest''. The name developed from ''Borstel'' which is
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...
and means "little woods".
Bothel belonged to the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden
The Prince-Bishopric of Verden (german: Fürstbistum Verden, ''Hochstift Verden'' or ''Stift Verden'') was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was located in what is today the state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Verden had be ...
, established in 1180. In 1648 the Prince-Bishopric was transformed into the
Principality of Verden
), which is a public-law corporation established in 1865 succeeding the estates of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (established in 1397), now providing the local fire insurance in the shown area and supporting with its surplusses cultural effor ...
, which was first ruled in
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
by the Swedish Crown – interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) – and from 1715 on by the
Hanoverian Crown. In 1807 the ephemeric
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the ...
annexed the Principality, before
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
annexed it in 1810. In 1813 the Principality was restored to the
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Hanover (german: Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, located in northwestern Germany and taking its name from the capital city of Hanover. It was formally known as ...
, which – after its upgrade to the
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...
in 1814 – incorporated the Principality in a
real union
Real union is a union of two or more states, which share some state institutions in contrast to personal unions; however, they are not as unified as states in a political union. It is a development from personal union and has historically bee ...
and the Princely territory, including Bothel, became part of the new
Stade Region, established in 1823.
Today the community has an old town part with typical Low Saxon farm houses and a modern center with town hall, schools and shopping facilities. So Bothel is important for the surrounding villages.
Bothel is also the seat of the ''
Samtgemeinde
A ''Samtgemeinde'' (; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of municipality, municipalities, equivalent to the ''Amt (administrative division ...
'' ("collective municipality")
Bothel.
References
Rotenburg (district)
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