Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
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 ...
. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the
13th-largest city in
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 ...
as well as the fourth-largest city in
Northern Germany
Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
after
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
. Hanover's
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
comprises the towns of
Garbsen
Garbsen () is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approx. 11 km northwest of Hanover. The name Garbsen can be traced back to 1223. Today's 13 city districts have partly developed i ...
,
Langenhagen
Langenhagen ( Eastphalian: ''Langenhogen'') is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony, Germany.
History
From 1866 to 1868 Robert Koch worked in Langenhagen.
On June 18, 1972, Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was arrested in La ...
and
Laatzen
Laatzen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated directly south of Hanover.
Division of the town
In 1964, the municipalities of Laatzen (nowadays about 22,000 inhabitants) and Grasdorf (3,500 inh.) were merge ...
and has a population of about 791,000 (2018). The
Hanover Region
Hanover Region (german: Region Hannover) is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle, Gifhorn, Peine, Hildesheim, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Schaumburg and Nienburg.
The H ...
has approximately 1.16 million inhabitants (2019).
The city lies at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
River Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, t ...
and its
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
the
Ihme
Ihme (in its upper course: Wennigser Mühlbach) is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Leine.
The Ihme is long. Its source is in the village , a district of Wennigsen. After about , the Ihme reaches the city of Hanov ...
, in the south of the
North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balti ...
, and is the largest city in the
. It is the fifth-largest city in the
Low German
:
:
:
:
:
(70,000)
(30,000)
(8,000)
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = West Germanic
, fam4 = North Sea Germanic
, ancestor = Old Saxon
, ancestor2 = Middle L ...
dialect area after Hamburg,
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
,
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
and Bremen.
Before it became the capital of Lower Saxony in 1946, Hannover was the capital of the
Principality of Calenberg
The Principality of Calenberg was a dynastic division of the Welf duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg established in 1432. Calenberg was ruled by the House of Hanover from 1635 onwards; the princes received the ninth electoral dignity of the Holy Roman ...
(1636–1692), 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 ...
(1692–1814), the
Kingdom of Hannover
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 ...
(1814–1866), the
Province of Hannover
The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, ...
of the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...
(1868–1918), the
Province of Hannover
The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, ...
of the
Free State of Prussia
The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domin ...
(1918–1946) and of the
State of Hanover
The State of Hanover (german: Land Hannover) was a short-lived state within the British Zone of Allied-occupied Germany. It existed for 92 days in the course of the dissolution of the Free State of Prussia after World War II until the foundatio ...
(1946). From 1714 to 1837 Hannover was by
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 ...
the family seat of the
Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, under their title of the dukes of
Brunswick-Lüneburg (later described as the
Elector 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 ...
).
The city is a major crossing point of railway lines and motorways (
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
en), connecting European main lines in both the east–west (
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
–
Ruhr area
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
/
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
/
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
) and north–south (Hamburg–
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
/
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
/
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
) directions.
Hannover Airport
Hannover Airport is the international airport of Hanover, capital of the German state of Lower Saxony. The ninth largest airport in Germany, it is in Langenhagen, north of the centre of Hanover. The airport has flights to European metropo ...
lies north of the city, in
Langenhagen
Langenhagen ( Eastphalian: ''Langenhogen'') is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony, Germany.
History
From 1866 to 1868 Robert Koch worked in Langenhagen.
On June 18, 1972, Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was arrested in La ...
, and is Germany's ninth-busiest airport. The city's most notable institutes of higher education are the
Hannover Medical School
The Hannover Medical SchoolAlthough the English spelling of the city name is "Hanover", this form of the name, using the German spelling of the city name, is used as the English-language name of the school, for example . (german: Medizinische Ho ...
(german: Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, label=none), one of Germany's leading
medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
s, with its university hospital german: Klinikum der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, label=none, and the
Leibniz University Hannover
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...
. The city is also home to
.
The
Hanover Fairground
The Hanover Fairground (in German: ''Messegelände Hannover'') is an exhibition area in the ''Mittelfeld'' district of Hanover, Germany. Featuring 392,453 m² (4.2 million sq.ft.) of covered indoor space, 58,000 m² (624,306 sq ft) of open-air s ...
, owing to numerous extensions, especially for the
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...
, is the largest in the world. Hannover hosts annual commercial
trade fairs
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...
such as the
Hannover Fair
The Hannover Messe (HM; "Hanover Fair") is one of the world's largest trade fairs, dedicated to the topic of industry development. It is organized by Deutsche Messe AG and held on the Hanover Fairground in Hanover, Germany. Typically, there are ...
and up to 2018 the
CeBIT
CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...
. The IAA Commercial Vehicles show takes place every two years. It is the world's leading trade show for transport, logistics and mobility. Every year Hannover hosts the
Schützenfest Hannover, the world's largest marksmen's festival, and the
Oktoberfest Hannover
The Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Germany during late September and early October. It is attended by six million people each year and has inspired numerous similar events using the name ''Oktoberfest'' in Germany ...
.
'Hanover' is the traditional English spelling. The German spelling (with a double n) has become more popular in English; recent editions of encyclopedias prefer the German spelling, and the local government uses the German spelling on English websites. The English pronunciation, with
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
on the first syllable, is applied to both the German and English spellings, which is different from German pronunciation, with stress on the second syllable and a long second vowel. The traditional English spelling is still used in historical contexts, especially when referring to the British
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...
.
History
Hanover was founded in medieval times on the east bank of the River
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, t ...
. Its original name ''Honovere'' may mean 'high (river)bank', though this is debated (cf. ''das Hohe Ufer''). Hanover was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen that became a comparatively large town in the 13th century, receiving
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...
in 1241, owing to its position at a natural crossroads. As overland travel was relatively difficult its position on the upper navigable reaches of the river helped it to grow by increasing trade. It was connected to the
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
city of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
by the Leine and was situated near the southern edge of the wide
North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balti ...
and north-west of the
Harz
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
mountains, so that east–west traffic such as mule trains passed through it. Hanover was thus a gateway to the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
,
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
and
Saar
Saar or SAAR has several meanings:
People Given name
*Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player
* Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist
*Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor
Surname
* Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...
river valleys, their industrial areas which grew up to the southwest and the plains regions to the east and north, for overland traffic skirting the Harz between the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
or
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
.
In the 14th century the main
churches of Hanover were built, as well as a
city wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
with three city gates. The beginning of industrialization in Germany led to trade in iron and silver from the northern
Harz Mountains
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
, which increased the city's importance.
In 1636
George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (17 February 1582, in Celle – 12 April 1641, in Hildesheim), ruled as Prince of Calenberg from 1635.
George was the sixth son of William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1535–1592) and Dorothea of Denmark ( ...
, ruler of the
Brunswick-Lüneburg principality of Calenberg
The Principality of Calenberg was a dynastic division of the Welf duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg established in 1432. Calenberg was ruled by the House of Hanover from 1635 onwards; the princes received the ninth electoral dignity of the Holy Roman ...
, moved his residence to Hanover. The Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg were elevated by the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
to the rank of
Prince-Elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
in 1692 and this elevation was confirmed by the
Imperial Diet in 1708. Thus the principality was upgraded to the
Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg
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 ...
, colloquially known as 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 ...
after Calenberg's capital (see also:
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...
). Its Electors later become monarchs of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
(and from 1801 of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...
). The first of these was
George I Louis, who acceded to the British throne in 1714. The last British monarch who reigned in Hanover was
William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
.
Semi-Salic law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
, which required succession by the male line if possible, forbade the accession of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in Hanover. As a male-line descendant of George I, Queen Victoria was herself a member of the House of Hanover. Her descendants, however, bore her husband's titular name of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-d ...
. Three kings of Great Britain, or the United Kingdom, were concurrently also
Electoral Princes of Hanover.
During the time of the personal union of the crowns of the United Kingdom and Hanover (1714–1837) the monarchs rarely visited the city. In fact during the reigns of the final three joint rulers (1760–1837) there was only one short visit, by
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
in 1821. From 1816 to 1837
Viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
Adolphus
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...
represented the monarch in Hanover.
During the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
the
Battle of Hastenbeck
The Battle of Hastenbeck (26 July 1757) was fought as part of the Invasion of Hanover during the Seven Years' War between the allied forces of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Brunswick, and the French. The allies were defeated by ...
was fought near the city on 26 July 1757. The French army defeated the
Hanoverian Army of Observation An army of observation is a military body whose purpose is to monitor a given area or enemy body in preparation for possible hostilities.
Some of the more notable armies of observation include:
*Third Reserve Army of Observation, a Russian army tas ...
, leading to the city's occupation as part of the
Invasion of Hanover. It was recaptured by Anglo-German forces led by
Ferdinand of Brunswick
Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...
the following year.
19th century
After
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
imposed the
Convention of Artlenburg
The Convention of Artlenburg or Elbkonvention was the surrender of the Electorate of Hanover to Napoleon's army, signed at Artlenburg on 5 July 1803 by ''Oberbefehlshaber'' Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn. It disbanded the Electorate of Hanove ...
(Convention of the Elbe) on 5 July 1803, about 35,000 French soldiers occupied Hanover. The convention also required disbanding the army of Hanover. However,
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
did not recognise the Convention of the Elbe. This resulted in a great number of soldiers from Hanover eventually emigrating to Great Britain, where the
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion (KGL; german: Des Königs Deutsche Legion, semantically erroneous obsolete German variations are , , ) was a British Army unit of mostly expatriated German personnel during the period 1803–16. The legion achieved th ...
was formed. It was only troops from Hanover and
Brunswick that consistently opposed France throughout the entire Napoleonic wars. The Legion later played an important role in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
and the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
in 1815. In 1814 the electorate became 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 1837, the
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 ...
of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended because
William IV's heir in the United Kingdom was female (
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
). Hanover could be inherited only by male heirs. Thus, Hanover passed to William IV's brother,
Ernest Augustus, and remained a kingdom until 1866, when it was annexed by
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
during the
Austro-Prussian war
The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...
. Despite Hanover being expected to defeat Prussia at the
Battle of Langensalza, Prussia employed
Moltke the Elder's Kesselschlacht order of battle to instead destroy the Hanoverian army. The city of Hanover became the capital of the Prussian
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, ...
.
In 1842 the first
horse railway was inaugurated, and from 1893 an electric
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
was installed.
Nazi Germany
After 1937 the
lord mayor and the state commissioners of Hanover were members of the
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
(Nazi party). A large
Jewish population
As of 2020, the world's "core" Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewis ...
then existed in Hanover. In October 1938, 484 Hanoverian Jews of Polish origin were expelled to Poland, including the
Grynszpan family. However, Poland refused to accept them, leaving them stranded at the border with thousands of other Polish-Jewish deportees, fed only intermittently by the Polish
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
and Jewish welfare organisations. The Grynszpans' son
Herschel Grynszpan
Herschel Feibel Grynszpan (Yiddish: הערשל פײַבל גרינשפּאן; German: ''Hermann Grünspan''; 28 March 1921 – last rumoured to be alive 1945, declared dead 1960) was a Polish-Jewish expatriate born and raised in Weimar Germany w ...
was in Paris at the time. When he learned of what was happening, he drove to the German embassy in Paris and shot the German diplomat Eduard
Ernst vom Rath
Ernst Eduard vom Rath (3 June 1909 – 9 November 1938) was a member of the German nobility, a Nazi Party member, and German Foreign Office diplomat. He is mainly remembered for his assassination in Paris in 1938 by a Polish Jews, Jewish teena ...
, who died shortly afterwards.
The Nazis took this act as a pretext to stage a nationwide pogrom known as
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
(9 November 1938).
On that day, the
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
of Hanover, designed in 1870 by
Edwin Oppler
Edwin Oppler (18 June 1831, in Oels – 6 September 1880, in Hanover) was a German architect of Jewish ancestry,Arno Herzig: ''Jüdische Geschichte in Deutschland. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart'', C. H. Beck Verlag, 2002, and , pg. 179; a ...
in
neo-romantic style, was burnt by the Nazis.
In September 1941, through the "Action Lauterbacher" plan, a
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
isation of the remaining Hanoverian Jewish families began. Even before the
Wannsee Conference, on 15 December 1941, the first Jews from Hanover were deported to
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
. A total of 2,400 people were deported, and very few survived. During the war seven
concentration camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
were constructed in Hanover, in which many Jews were confined. Of the approximately 4,800 Jews who had lived in Hannover in 1938, fewer than 100 were still in the city when troops of the United States Army arrived on 10 April 1945 to occupy Hanover at the end of the war. Today, a memorial at the Opera Square is a reminder of the persecution of the Jews in Hanover.
After the war a large group of
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
survivors of the nearby
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...
settled in Hanover.
World War II
As an important railway and
road junction
A junction is where two or more roads meet.
History
Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest: towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junctions often led ...
and production centre, Hanover was a major target for
strategic bombing during World War II
World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close ...
, including the
Oil Campaign. Targets included the
AFA (
Stöcken), the
Deurag-Nerag refinery (
Misburg), the
Continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' (al ...
plants (
Vahrenwald and
Limmer), the United light metal works (VLW) in
Ricklingen
Ricklingen is a borough and a quarter of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, and in Germany. The borough Ricklingen consists of the quarters Bornum, Mühlenberg, Oberricklingen, Ricklingen and Wettbergen.
It is the home of Rugby football sports club DRC Han ...
and
Laatzen
Laatzen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated directly south of Hanover.
Division of the town
In 1964, the municipalities of Laatzen (nowadays about 22,000 inhabitants) and Grasdorf (3,500 inh.) were merge ...
(today
Hanover fairground
The Hanover Fairground (in German: ''Messegelände Hannover'') is an exhibition area in the ''Mittelfeld'' district of Hanover, Germany. Featuring 392,453 m² (4.2 million sq.ft.) of covered indoor space, 58,000 m² (624,306 sq ft) of open-air s ...
),
the Hanover/Limmer rubber reclamation plant, the
Hanomag
Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and B ...
factory (
Linden) and the tank factory ''M.N.H. Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen'' (Badenstedt). Residential areas were also targeted, and more than 6,000 civilians were killed by the Allied bombing raids. More than 90% of the city centre was destroyed in a total of 88 bombing raids. After the war, the
Aegidienkirche was not rebuilt and its ruins were left as a war memorial.
The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Hanover in April 1945. The US
84th Infantry Division captured the city on 10 April 1945.
Hanover was in the British zone of occupation of Germany and became part of the new
state (Land) of
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 ...
in 1946.
Today Hanover is a vice-president city of
Mayors for Peace
Mayors for Peace is an international organization of cities dedicated to the promotion of peace that was established in 1982 at the initiative of then Mayor of Hiroshima Takeshi Araki, in response to the deaths of around 140,000 people due to the ...
, an international mayoral organisation mobilising cities and citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020.
Population development
Geography
Climate
Hanover has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cfb'') independent of the isotherm. Although the city is not on a coastal location, the predominant
air mass
In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to la ...
es are still from the ocean, unlike other places further east or south-central Germany.
Subdivisions
The city of Hanover is divided into 13 boroughs (''
Stadtbezirk
A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It is translated as "borough". In Germany, ''Stadtbezirke'' usually only exist in a metropo ...
e'') and 53 quarters (''
Stadtteil
A quarter is a section of an urban settlement.
A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area). Such a ...
e'').
Boroughs
#
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...
#
Vahrenwald-List
Vahrenwald-List ( Eastphalian: ''Fahrnwoole-List'') is the second district of Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it ...
#
Bothfeld-Vahrenheide
#
Buchholz-Kleefeld
#
Misburg-Anderten
#
Kirchrode-Bemerode-Wülferode
Kirchrode-Bemerode-Wülferode ( Eastphalian: ''Kerkreoe-Beimeroe-Wülferoe'') is the sixth borough of Hanover. , it has 32,625 inhabitants and consists of the quarters Kirchrode (12,222 inhabitants), Bemerode (19,453 inhabitants) and Wülferode (95 ...
#
Südstadt-Bult
#
Döhren-Wülfel
#
Ricklingen
Ricklingen is a borough and a quarter of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, and in Germany. The borough Ricklingen consists of the quarters Bornum, Mühlenberg, Oberricklingen, Ricklingen and Wettbergen.
It is the home of Rugby football sports club DRC Han ...
#
Linden-Limmer
Linden-Limmer ( ) is the tenth borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Hanover, the state capital of Lower Saxony. It became part of the city in 1920.Klaus Mlynek et al., eds. (2009), ''Stadtlexikon Hannover'' Linden-Limmer is where Hannah Arendt was born. I ...
#
Ahlem-Badenstedt-Davenstedt
#
Herrenhausen-Stöcken
Herrenhausen-Stöcken (; Eastphalian: ''Herrnhusen'') is a borough of the German city of Hanover, northwest of the city centre. In 2020 it had a population of 37,543. It consists of the quarters Burg, Herrenhausen, Ledeburg, Leinhausen, Marien ...
#
Nord
Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to:
Acronyms
* National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization
* New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Film and televisi ...
Quarters
A selection of the 53 quarters:
*
Nordstadt
*
Südstadt
*
Oststadt
*
Zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
(for the zoo itself, see
Hanover Zoo
Hanover Zoo is located in the city centre, or Mitte borough, of Hanover, Germany. The zoo was established on 4 May 1865, and comprises an area of . It contains about 3,414 animals in 237 species, which are cared for by more than 400 employees i ...
)
*
Herrenhausen
*
Waldheim
Politics
Mayor
The current mayor of Hanover is
Belit Onay
Belit Nejat Onay (born 15 January 1981) is a German politician of Turkish origin for the Alliance 90/The Greens. He was elected Mayor of Hanover in 2019, and took office on 22 November.
Role in national politics
Onay was born in Goslar. In the ...
of the
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
since 2019. The most recent mayoral election was held on 17 October 2019, with a runoff held on 10 November, and the results were as follows:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate
! rowspan=2, Party
! colspan=2, First round
! colspan=2, Second round
, -
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Belit Onay
Belit Nejat Onay (born 15 January 1981) is a German politician of Turkish origin for the Alliance 90/The Greens. He was elected Mayor of Hanover in 2019, and took office on 22 November.
Role in national politics
Onay was born in Goslar. In the ...
, align=left,
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
, 60,096
, 32.2
, 92,146
, 52.9
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Eckhard Scholz
, align=left,
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
(
CDU)
, 60,046
, 32.2
, 82,116
, 47.1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Marc Hansmann
, align=left,
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
, 43,727
, 23.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Joachim Wundrak
, align=left,
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist
*
*
*
*
*
*
* political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...
, 8,645
, 4.6
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Jessica Kaußen
, align=left,
The Left
, 3,628
, 1.9
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Iyabo Kaczmarek
, align=left,
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, 3,593
, 1.9
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Catharina Gutwerk
, align=left,
Die PARTEI
(''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazin ...
, 2,886
, 1.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Bruno Adam Wolf
, align=left,
Pirate Party
Pirate Party is a label adopted by Political party, political parties around the world. Pirate parties support Civil and political rights, civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively Participatory democracy, partici ...
, 2,382
, 1.3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Ruth Esther Gilmore
, align=left,
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, 841
, 0.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Julian Klippert
, align=left,
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, 536
, 0.3
, -
! colspan=3, Valid votes
! 186,380
! 99.7
! 174,262
! 99.6
, -
! colspan=3, Invalid votes
! 647
! 0.3
! 769
! 0.4
, -
! colspan=3, Total
! 187,027
! 100.0
! 175,031
! 100.0
, -
! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout
! 401,847
! 46.5
! 402,129
! 43.5
, -
, colspan=7, Source: City of Hanover
1st round2nd round
City council
The Hanover city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 12 September 2021, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2, Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
(Grüne)
, 165,105
, 27.8
, 11.5
, 18
, 8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
(SPD)
, 164,431
, 27.7
, 3.7
, 18
, 2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, 123,181
, 20.7
, 3.7
, 13
, 3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, 35,917
, 6.0
, 0.9
, 4
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
The Left (Die Linke)
, 33,019
, 5.6
, 1.4
, 4
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist
*
*
*
*
*
*
* political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...
(AfD)
, 25,302
, 4.3
, 4.3
, 3
, 3
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Die PARTEI
(''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazin ...
(PARTEI)
, 13,853
, 2.3
, 0.6
, 1
, ±0
, -
,
, align=left, The Hanoverians (HAN)
, 7,044
, 1.2
, 1.6
, 1
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Pirate Party
Pirate Party is a label adopted by Political party, political parties around the world. Pirate parties support Civil and political rights, civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively Participatory democracy, partici ...
(Piraten)
, 7,089
, 1.2
, 0.9
, 1
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Volt Germany
Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level.
Italian Andr ...
(Volt)
, 10,135
, 1.7
, New
, 1
, New
, -
, colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey,
, -
,
, align=left, Climate Alliance Hanover
, 4,022
, 0.7
, New
, 0
, New
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Free Voters
Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...
(FW)
, 3,126
, 0.5
, New
, 0
, New
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Grassroots Democratic Party (dieBasis)
, 1,981
, 0.3
, New
, 0
, New
, -
,
, align=left, Active for a Social Hanover (ASH)
, 260
, 0.0
, New
, 0
, New
, -
! colspan=2, Total
! 594,465
! 100.0
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Valid votes
! 201,998
! 98.8
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Invalid votes
! 2,373
! 1.2
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Total
! 204,371
! 100.0
!
! 64
! ±0
, -
! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout
! 398,328
! 51.3
! 0.2
!
!
, -
, colspan=7, Source
City of Hanover
Main sights
One of Hanover's sights is the
Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. Its Great Garden is an important European baroque garden. The palace itself was largely destroyed by Allied bombing but has been reconstructed and reopened in 2013. Among the points of interest is the Grotto. Its interior was designed by French artist
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...
). The Great Garden consists of several parts and contains Europe's highest garden fountain. The historic ''Garden Theatre'' hosted the musicals of the German rock musician
Heinz Rudolf Kunze
Heinz Rudolf Erich Arthur Kunze (born 30 November 1956, in Espelkamp-Mittwald, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German writer and rock singer. His greatest hit was ''Dein ist mein ganzes Herz'' (not to be confused with the homonymous song from the op ...
.
Also at Herrenhausen, the ''Berggarten'' is a botanical garden with the most varied collection of orchids in Europe. Some points of interest are the ''Tropical House'', the ''Cactus House'', the ''Canary House'' and the ''Orchid House'', and free-flying birds and butterflies. Near the entrance to the Berggarten is the historic ''Library Pavillon''. The ''Mausoleum'' of the Guelphs is also located in the Berggarten. Like the Great Garden, the Berggarten also consists of several parts, for example the ''Paradies'' and the ''Prairie Garden''. The ''
Georgengarten
The Georgengarten () is a landscape garden in the northwestern borough of Herrenhausen of the German city Hanover. It is a part of Herrenhausen Gardens.
History
Around 1700, country estates for several noblemen were established in the former ...
'' is an English landscape garden. The ''Leibniz Temple'' and the ''Georgen Palace'' are two points of interest there.
The landmark of Hanover is the
New Town Hall (''Neues Rathaus''). Inside the building are four scale models of the city. A worldwide unique diagonal/arch elevator goes up the large dome at a 17 degree angle to an observation deck.
The ''
Hanover Zoo
Hanover Zoo is located in the city centre, or Mitte borough, of Hanover, Germany. The zoo was established on 4 May 1865, and comprises an area of . It contains about 3,414 animals in 237 species, which are cared for by more than 400 employees i ...
'' received the Park Scout Award for the fourth year running in 2009/10, placing it among the best zoos in Germany.
The zoo consists of several theme areas: Sambesi, Meyers Farm, Gorilla-Mountain, Jungle-Palace, and Mullewapp. Some smaller areas are Australia, the wooded area for wolves, and the so-called swimming area with many seabirds. There is also a tropical house, a jungle house, and a show arena. The new Canadian-themed area, Yukon Bay, opened in 2010. In 2010 the Hanover Zoo had over 1.6 million visitors.
There is also the ''
Sea Life Centre
Sea Life is a chain of commercial marine life, sea life-themed aquarium tourism, attractions. there are 53 Sea Life attractions (including standalone Sea Life centres, mini Sea Life features within resort theme parks, and Legoland submarine ri ...
Hanover'', which is the first tropical aquarium in Germany.
Another point of interest is the ''Old Town''. In the centre are the large
Marktkirche (Church St. Georgii et Jacobi, preaching venue of the bishop of the Lutheran
Landeskirche Hannovers) and the ''Old Town Hall''. Nearby are the ''Leibniz House'', the ''Nolte House'', and the ''Beguine Tower''. The ''Kreuz-Church-Quarter'' around the ''Kreuz Church'' contains many little lanes. Nearby is the old royal sports hall, now called the ''Ballhof'' theatre. On the edge of the Old Town are the ''Market Hall'', the ''
Leine Palace'', and the ruin of the ''Aegidien Church'' which is now a monument to the victims of war and violence. Through the ''Marstall Gate'' the bank of the river ''Leine'' can be reached; the ''Nanas'' of
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...
are located here. They are part of the ''Mile of Sculptures'', which starts from Trammplatz, leads along the river bank, crosses Königsworther Square, and ends at the entrance of the Georgengarten. Near the Old Town is the district of Calenberger Neustadt where the Catholic
Basilica Minor
In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular b ...
of ''St. Clemens'', the ''Reformed Church'' and the Lutheran
Neustädter Hof- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis are located.
Some other popular sights are the ''Waterloo Column'', the ''
Laves Laves may refer to:
* Fritz Laves (1906-1978), a German mineralogist and crystallographer, best known for his description of the intermetallic Laves phases.
* Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves
Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (17 December 1788 – 30 ...
House'', the ''Wangenheim Palace'', the ''Lower Saxony State Archives'', the ''Hanover Playhouse'', the ''Kröpcke Clock'', the ''Anzeiger Tower Block'', the ''Administration Building of the NORD/LB'', the ''
Cupola Hall'' of the Congress Centre, the ''Lower Saxony Stock'', the ''Ministry of Finance'', the ''Garten Church'', the ''Luther Church'', the ''Gehry Tower'' (designed by the American architect
Frank O. Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions.
His works are considered ...
), the specially designed ''Bus Stops'', the ''Opera House'', ''the Central Station'', the ''Maschsee'' lake and the city forest ''Eilenriede'', which is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. With around 40 parks, forests and gardens, a couple of lakes, two rivers and one canal, Hanover offers a large variety of leisure activities.
Since 2007 the historic ''Leibniz Letters'', which can be viewed in the ''
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
Library'', are on UNESCO's
Memory of the World Register
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
.
Outside the city centre is the ''EXPO-Park'', the former site of
EXPO 2000
Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...
. Some points of interest are the ''Planet M.'', the former ''German Pavillon'', some nations' vacant pavilions, the ''Expowale'', the ''EXPO-Plaza'' and the ''EXPO-Gardens'' (Parc Agricole, EXPO-Park South and the Gardens of change). The fairground can be reached by the ''Exponale'', one of the largest pedestrian bridges in Europe.
The ''Hanover fairground'' is the largest exhibition centre in the world.
It provides of covered indoor space, of open-air space, 27 halls and pavilions. Many of the Exhibition Centre's halls are architectural highlights. Furthermore, it offers the Convention Center with its 35 function rooms, glassed-in areas between halls, grassy park-like recreation zones and its own heliport. Two important sights on the fairground are the ''Hermes Tower'' ( high) and the ''EXPO Roof'', the largest wooden roof in the world.
In the district of Anderten is the ''European Cheese Centre'', the only Cheese Experience Centre in Europe. Another tourist sight in Anderten is the ''Hindenburg Lock'', which was the biggest lock in Europe at the time of its construction in 1928. The ''Tiergarten'' (literally the "animals' garden") in the district of Kirchrode is a large forest originally used for deer and other game for the king's table.
In the district of Groß-Buchholz the ''
Telemax Telemax may refer to:
* Telemax (tower), telecommunication tower in Hanover, Germany
* Telemax (TV network), Mexican broadcast television network
{{disambiguation ...
'' is located, which is the tallest building in Lower Saxony and the highest television tower in Northern Germany. Some other notable towers are the ''VW-Tower'' in the city centre and the old towers of the former middle-age defence belt: ''Döhrener Tower'', ''Lister Tower'' and the ''Horse Tower''.
The 36 most important sights of the city centre are connected with a red line, which is painted on the pavement. This so-called
''Red Thread'' marks out a walk that starts at the Tourist Information Office and ends on the Ernst-August-Square in front of the central station. There is also a guided sightseeing-bus tour through the city.
Society and culture
Religious life
Hanover is headquarters for several
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
organizations, including the
World Communion of Reformed Churches
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...
, the
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinism, Calvinist) and united and uniting churches, United ( ...
, the
Reformed Alliance The Reformed Alliance (german: link=no, Reformierter Bund) in Germany is a Calvinist federation, currently it has 430 congregations and 750 individual members. An estimated 2,000,000 Reformed Christians are in Germany. The moderator is D. Peter Buko ...
, the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany The United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (German: Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands, VELKD) was founded on July 8, 1948, in Eisenach, Germany. Its total membership is 8.6 million people. The Member Churches of this org ...
, and the
Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church
The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (german: Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, abbreviated SELK) is a confessional Lutheran church body of Germany. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International ...
.
In 2015, 31.1% of the population were
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
and 13.4% were
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
. The majority 55.5% were
irreligious
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...
or other faith.
Museums and galleries
The
Historisches Museum Hannover
(german: Historisches Museum Hannover) is an historical museum situated in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The museum was founded in 1903 as the Homeland Museum of the City of Hanover (). Its collections are related to the histor ...
(Historic museum) describes the history of Hanover, from the medieval settlement "Honovere" to the city of today. The museum focuses on the period from 1714 to 1834 when Hanover had a strong relationship with the British royal house.
With more than 4,000 members, the
Kestnergesellschaft
Kestner Gesellschaft (Kestner Society) is an art institution in Hanover, Germany, founded in 1916 to promote the arts. Its founders included the painter Wilhelm von Debschitz (1871–1948). The association blossomed under the management of and , ...
is the largest art society in Germany. The museum hosts exhibitions from classical modernist art to contemporary art. Emphasis is placed on film, video, contemporary music and architecture, room installments and presentations of contemporary paintings, sculptures and video art.
The
Kestner-Museum
Museum August Kestner, previously ''Kestner-Museum'', is a museum in Hanover, Germany. It was founded in 1889. The museum was renamed ''Museum August Kestner'' in December 2007 to avoid confusion with the Kestnergesellschaft, a local art gallery. ...
is located in the ''House of 5.000 windows''. The museum is named after
August Kestner
Georg Christian August Kestner (28 November 1777, in Hanover – 5 March 1853, in Rome) was a German diplomat and art collector.
Life
Kestner was the son of civil servant Johann Christian Kestner and his wife Charlotte Buff. Johann Wolfgang von ...
and exhibits 6,000 years of applied art in four areas: Ancient cultures, ancient Egypt, applied art and a valuable collection of historic coins.
The KUBUS is a forum for contemporary art. It features mostly exhibitions and projects of artists from Hanover.
The Kunstverein Hannover (Art Society Hanover) shows contemporary art and was established in 1832 as one of the first art societies in Germany. It is located in the ''Künstlerhaus'' (House of artists). There are around seven international exhibitions each year.
The
Landesmuseum Hannover
The Lower Saxon State Museum Hanover (german: Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover, italics=unset, or simply ) is the state museum of Lower Saxony in Hanover, Germany. Situated adjacent to the New Town Hall, the museum comprises the state ...
is the largest museum in Hanover. The art gallery shows European art from the 11th to the 20th century, the nature department shows the zoology, geology, botanic, geology and a ''vivarium'' with fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians. The primeval department shows the primeval history of Lower Saxony, and the folklore department shows cultures from all over the world.
The
Sprengel Museum
Sprengel Museum is a museum of modern art in Hanover, Lower Saxony, holding one of the most significant collections of modern art in Germany. It is located in a building situated adjacent to the Masch Lake (german: Maschsee) approximately south ...
shows the art of the 20th century. It is one of the most notable art museums in Germany. The focus is put on the classical modernist art with the collection of ''Kurt Schwitters'', works of German expressionism, and French cubism, the cabinet of abstracts, the graphics and the department of photography and media. Furthermore, the museum shows the works of the French artist Niki de Saint-Phalle.
The Theatre Museum shows an exhibition of the history of the theatre in Hanover from the 17th century up to now: opera, concert, drama and ballet. The museum also hosts several touring exhibitions during the year.
The
Wilhelm Busch Museum
The Wilhelm Busch Museum (german: Wilhelm Busch - Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst, links=no, "Wilhelm Busch - German Museum of Caricature and Drawings") is a museum in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany. It features the world's larges ...
is the ''German Museum of Caricature and Critical Graphic Arts''. The collection of the works of Wilhelm Busch and the extensive collection of cartoons and critical graphics is unique in Germany. Furthermore, the museum hosts several exhibitions of national and international artists during the year.
A cabinet of coins is the Münzkabinett der TUI-AG. The ''Polizeigeschichtliche Sammlung Niedersachsen'' is the largest police museum in Germany. Textiles from all over the world can be visited in the ''Museum for textile art''. The ''EXPOseeum'' is the museum of the world-exhibition "EXPO 2000 Hannover". Carpets and objects from the orient can be visited in the ''Oriental Carpet Museum''. The ''Museum for the visually impaired'' is a rarity in Germany, there is only one other of its kind in Berlin. The ''Museum of veterinary medicine'' is unique in Germany. The ''Museum for Energy History'' describes the 150 years old history of the application of energy. The ''Heimat-Museum Ahlem'' shows the history of the district of Ahlem. The ''Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ahlem'' describes the history of the Jewish people in Hanover and the ''Stiftung Ahlers Pro Arte / Kestner Pro Arte'' shows modern art. Modern art is also the main topic of the ''Kunsthalle Faust'', the ''Nord/LB Art Gallery'' and of the ''Foro Artistico / Eisfabrik''.
Some leading art events in Hanover are the ''Long Night of the Museums'' and the ''Zinnober Kunstvolkslauf'' which features all the galleries in Hanover.
People who are interested in astronomy should visit the ''Observatory Geschwister Herschel'' on the Lindener Mountain or the small planetarium inside of the Bismarck School.
Theatre, cabaret and musical
Around 40 theatres are located in Hanover. The ''Opera House'', the ''Schauspielhaus'' (Play House), the ''Ballhof eins'', the ''Ballhof zwei'' and the ''Cumberlandsche Galerie'' belong to the ''Lower Saxony State Theatre''. The
Theater am Aegi
The Theater am Aegi is an event venue on Aegidientorplatz square in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. Like the square, it is often referred to as Aegi. The building was opened in 1953 mainly as a cinema, with a versatile stage also ...
is Hanover's principal theatre for musicals, shows and guest performances. The ''Neues Theater'' (New Theatre) is the boulevard theatre of Hanover. The ''Theater für Niedersachsen'' is another large theatre in Hanover, which also has an own musical company. Some of the most important musical productions are the rock musicals of the German rock musician Heinz Rudolph Kunze, which take place at the ''Garden-Theatre'' in the Great Garden.
Some important theatre events are the ''Tanztheater International'', the ''Long Night of the Theatres'', the ''Festival Theaterformen'' and the ''International Competition for Choreographers''.
Hanover's leading cabaret stage is the ''GOP Variety theatre'' which is located in the ''Georgs Palace''. Some other cabaret-stages are the ''Variety Marlene'', the ''Uhu-Theatre''. the theatre ''Die Hinterbühne'', the ''Rampenlich Variety'' and the revue-stage ''TAK''. The most important cabaret event is the ''Kleines Fest im Großen Garten'' (Little Festival in the Great Garden) which is the most successful cabaret festival in Germany. It features artists from around the world. Some other important events are the ''Calenberger Cabaret Weeks'', the ''Hanover Cabaret Festival'' and the ''Wintervariety''.
Music
Classical music
Hanover has two symphony orchestras: The Lower Saxon State Orchestra Hanover and the
NDR Radiophilharmonie
The NDR Radiophilharmonie is a German radio orchestra, affiliated with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony. The orchestra principally gives concerts in the ''Großer Sendesaal'' of the ''Landesfunkhaus Niedersa ...
(North German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra). Two notable choirs have their homes in Hanover: the
Mädchenchor Hannover
Der Mädchenchor Hannover is a girls' choir of girls and young women, based in Hannover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. Girls and young woman between ages 14 and 20 perform a wide range of repertoire from Renaissance to contemporary m ...
(girls' choir) and the
Knabenchor Hannover
The Knabenchor Hannover (Hannover Boys' Choir) is a boys choir founded in 1950 by Heinz Hennig, who served as conductor until the end of 2001. Since 2002, the conductor has been Jörg Breiding.
History and music
The Knabenchor Hannover has tr ...
(boys' choir).
There are two major international competitions for classical music in Hanover:
* Hanover International Violin Competition (since 1991)
* Classica Nova International Music Competition (1997) (Non profit association Classica Nova exists in Hanover with the aim of continuing the Classica Nova competition).
Popular music
The rock bands
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
and
Fury in the Slaughterhouse
Fury in the Slaughterhouse is a German rock band from Hanover, founded in 1987. Their hits include "Time to Wonder", "Every Generation Got Its Own Disease", "Won't Forget These Days", "Radio Orchid", "Dancing in the Sunshine of the Dark", "Mil ...
are originally from Hanover. Acclaimed DJ
Mousse T
Mustafa Gundogdu ( tr, Mustafa Gündoğdu ; born 2 October 1966), best known under his stage name Mousse T., is a German-Turkish DJ, record producer, film composer and judge on season 15 of ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German versi ...
also has his main recording studio in the area.
Rick J. Jordan
Rick J. Jordan (born Hendrik Stedler, 1 January 1968) is a music producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and sound designer, who is most well known for his work in the German band Scooter.
Youth and early years
Rick Jordan lea ...
, member of the band
Scooter was born here in 1968. Eurovision Song Contest winner of 2010,
Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
, is also from Hanover.
Sport
Hannover 96
Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...
(nickname ''Die Roten'' or 'The Reds') is the top local
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team that currently plays in the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
. Home games are played at the
HDI-Arena
Niedersachsenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, which is home to football club Hannover 96.
The original 86,000-capacity stadium was completed in 1954 and has since been rebuilt several times for various maj ...
, which hosted matches in the
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
and
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
World Cups
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
and the
Euro 1988
The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
The tournament crowned the Nethe ...
. Their reserve team Hannover 96 II plays in the fourth league. Their home games were played in the traditional Eilenriedestadium until they moved to the HDI Arena due to DFL directives.
Arminia Hannover
SV Arminia Hannover is a German association football club based in Hanover, Lower Saxony.
History
The club was founded in 1910 as ''FC Arminia Hannover'' and merged with ''Rugby-Verein Merkur'' in 1918, becoming ''SV Arminia-Merkur''. Two y ...
is another traditional soccer team in Hanover that has played in the second division (then 2. Liga Nord) for years and plays now in the Niedersachsen-West Liga (Lower Saxony League West). Home matches are played in the Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadium.
The
Hannover Indians
The Hannover Indians are a professional German ice hockey team and public limited company from Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second mo ...
are the local ice hockey team. They play in the third tier. Their home games are played at the traditional
Eisstadion am Pferdeturm
The Eisstadion am Pferdeturm is an ice arena in Hannover, Germany. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home of the Hannover Indians
The Hannover Indians are a professional German ice hockey team and public limited company from Hanover ...
. The
Hannover Scorpions
The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013.
History
Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...
played in Hanover in Germany's top league until 2013 when they sold their license and moved to
Langenhagen
Langenhagen ( Eastphalian: ''Langenhogen'') is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony, Germany.
History
From 1866 to 1868 Robert Koch worked in Langenhagen.
On June 18, 1972, Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was arrested in La ...
.
Hanover was one of the
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
capitals in Germany. The first German rugby team was founded in Hanover in 1878. Hanover-based teams dominated the German rugby scene for a long time.
DRC Hannover
The DRC Hannover is a German rugby union club from Hannover, currently playing in the Rugby-Regionalliga. The club should not be confused with the ''DRC 1884 Hannover'', a rowing club and a separate entity.
History
The club was formed in 1905 in ...
plays in the
first division, and ''SV Odin von 1905'' as well as SG 78/08 Hannover play in the second division.
Hanover has traditionally been one of Germany's hubs in
Water sports
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...
and especially in
Water polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
. The
SG Waspo'98 Hannover
The Waspo 98 Hannover is a swimming and water polo club in Hannover, 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 ...
won the
Deutsche Wasserball-Liga
The Deutsche Wasserball-Liga (DWL) is the premier category in the league system for water polo clubs in Germany.
The men's championship was founded in 1912, but only two editions took place. It was resumed in 1919 and has taken place regularly s ...
in 2020 and 2021. In total, clubs from Hanover have won the German championship 11 times. Thanks to the Maschsee lake, the rivers Ihme and Leine and to the Mittellandkanal channel, Hanover hosts sailing schools, yacht schools, waterski clubs, rowing clubs, canoe clubs and paddle clubs.
The first German
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
club was founded in Hanover in 1862. Today there are three additional fencing clubs in Hanover.
The
Hannover Korbjäger
Hannover Korbjäger is a German professional basketball team located in Hannover, Germany. The team currently competes in the Regionalliga.Bundesliga (baseball)
The Baseball-Bundesliga is the professional elite competition for the sport of baseball in Germany. In it, the men's German championship is determined annually. Like most European sports leagues, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and ...
division. The Hannover Grizzlies, Armina Spartans and Hannover Stampeders are the local American football teams.
The Hannover
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
is the biggest running event in Hanover with more than 11,000 participants and usually around 200,000 spectators. Some other important running events are the Gilde Stadtstaffel (relay), the Sport-Check Nachtlauf (night-running), the Herrenhäuser Team-Challenge, the Hannoversche Firmenlauf (company running) and the Silvesterlauf (sylvester running).
Hanover also hosts an important international
cycle race
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling ...
: The ''Nacht von Hannover'' (night of Hanover). The race takes place around the Market Hall.
The lake Maschsee hosts the International
Dragon Boat
A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...
Races and the
Canoe Polo
Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo, is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. The sport is also known simply as "polo" by its players and supporters.
Each team has five players on the pitch (and up to three substitutes), who compete ...
-Tournament. Many
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
s take place during the year. "Head of the river Leine" on the river Leine is one of the biggest rowing regattas in Hanover. One of Germany's most successful dragon boat teams, the
All Sports Team Hannover The All Sports Team Hannover is a dragon boat team of the Hannoverschen Kanuclub v. 1921 e.V. from Germany.
History
The team was founded in 2000 by Denis Starke during the dragon races in Hannover which takes place yearly on Whitsundays. The team ...
, which has won since its foundation in year 2000 more than 100 medals on national and international competitions, is doing practising on the Maschsee in the heart of Hannover. The All Sports Team has received the award "Team of the Year 2013" in Lower Saxony.
Some other important sport events are the Lower Saxony Beach
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
Tournament, the international
horse show
A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer fo ...
"German Classics" and the international
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
tournament Nations Cup.
Regular events
Hanover is one of the leading exhibition cities in the world. It hosts more than 60 international and national exhibitions every year. The most popular ones are the ''
CeBIT
CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...
'', the ''Hanover Fair'', the ''Domotex'', the ''Ligna'', the ''IAA Nutzfahrzeuge'' and the ''Agritechnica''. Hanover also hosts a huge number of congresses and symposiums like the ''International Symposium on Society and Resource Management.''
Hanover is also host to the ''Schützenfest Hannover,'' the largest marksmen's fun fair in the world which takes place once a year from late June to early July. Founded in 1529, it consists of more than 260 rides and inns, five large beer tents and a large entertainment programme. The highlight of this fun fair is the ''Parade of the Marksmen'' with more than 12,000 participants from all over the world, including around 5,000 marksmen, 128 bands, and more than 70 wagons, carriages, and other festival vehicles. This makes it the longest procession in Europe. Around 2 million people visit this fun fair every year. The landmark of this fun fair is the biggest transportable Ferris wheel in the world, at about high.
Hanover also hosts one of the two largest spring festivals in Europe, with around 180 rides and inns, 2 large beer tents, and around 1.5 million visitors each year. The
Oktoberfest Hannover
The Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Germany during late September and early October. It is attended by six million people each year and has inspired numerous similar events using the name ''Oktoberfest'' in Germany ...
is the second largest Oktoberfest in the world with around 160 rides and inns, two large beer tents and around 1 million visitors each year.
The ''Maschsee Festival'' takes place around the Maschsee Lake. Each year around 2 million visitors come to enjoy live music, comedy, cabaret, and much more. It is the largest Volksfest of its kind in Northern Germany. The Great Garden hosts every year the ''International Fireworks Competition'', and the ''International Festival Weeks Herrenhausen,'' with music and cabaret performances. The ''Carnival Procession'' is around long and consists of 3.000 participants, around 30 festival vehicles and around 20 bands and takes place every year.
Other festivals include the Festival ''Feuer und Flamme'' (Fire and Flames), the ''Gartenfestival'' (Garden Festival), the ''Herbstfestival'' (Autumn Festival), the ''Harley Days'', the ''Steintor Festival'' (Steintor is a party area in the city centre) and the ''Lister-Meile-Festival'' (Lister Meile is a large pedestrian area).
Hanover also hosts food-oriented festivals including the ''Wine Festival'' and the ''Gourmet Festival''. It also hosts some special markets like the ''Old Town Flea Market'' and the ''Market for Art and Trade''. Some other major markets include the ''Christmas Markets of the City of Hanover'' in the Old Town and city centre, and the Lister Meile.
Transport
Rail
The city's central station,
Hannover Hauptbahnhof
Hannover Hauptbahnhof (German for ''Hanover main station'') is the main railway station for the city of Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany. The railway junction is one of the 21 stations listed as a railway Category 1 station by DB Station&Servic ...
, is a hub of the German high-speed
ICE
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
network. It is the starting point of the
Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line and also the central hub for the
Hanover S-Bahn
The Hanover S-Bahn (in German: ''S-Bahn Hannover'') is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio and Transdev Hannover in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony. It went operational shortly before Expo 2000 and is focused o ...
. It offers many international and national connections.
Air
Hanover and its area is served by
Hannover Airport
Hannover Airport is the international airport of Hanover, capital of the German state of Lower Saxony. The ninth largest airport in Germany, it is in Langenhagen, north of the centre of Hanover. The airport has flights to European metropo ...
(
IATA code
IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respecti ...
: HAJ;
ICAO code: EDDV) in Langenhagen.
Road
Hanover is also an important hub of Germany's
autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
network; the junction of two major autobahns, the
A2 and
A7 is at ''Kreuz Hannover-Ost'', at the northeastern edge of the city.
Local autobahns are
A 352 (a short cut between A7
orth Orth can refer to:
Places
* Orth, Minnesota, an unincorporated community in Nore Township, Minnesota, United States
* Orth an der Donau, a town in Gänserndorf, Lower Austria, Austria
* Orth House, a historic house in Winnetka, Illinois, United St ...
and A2
est also known as the ''Airport autobahn'' because it passes ''Hanover Airport'') and the
A 37.
The
expressway
Expressway may refer to:
* Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic.
* Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road.
*Expressway, the fictional s ...
() system, a number of
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
roads, forms a structure loosely resembling a large
ring road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
together with A2 and A7. The roads are
B 3,
B 6 and Bundesstraße 65, B 65, called Westschnellweg (B6 on the northern part, B3 on the southern part), Messeschnellweg (B3, becomes A37 near
Burgdorf, crosses A2, becomes B3 again, changes to B6 at ''Seelhorster Kreuz'', then passes the
Hanover fairground
The Hanover Fairground (in German: ''Messegelände Hannover'') is an exhibition area in the ''Mittelfeld'' district of Hanover, Germany. Featuring 392,453 m² (4.2 million sq.ft.) of covered indoor space, 58,000 m² (624,306 sq ft) of open-air s ...
as B6 and becomes A37 again before merging into A7) and Südschnellweg (starts out as B65, becomes B3/B6/B65 upon crossing ''Westschnellweg'', then becomes B65 again at ''Seelhorster Kreuz'').
Bus and light rail
Hanover has an extensive
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
and bus system, operated by
üstra
üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG is the operator of public transport in the city of Hanover, Germany. The company is a member of the Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH) transport association.
From 2003 to 2006, it had outsourced its operat ...
. The city uses
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
buses and tramways, the
TW 6000
The TW 6000 is a type of articulated light rail vehicle used on the Hanover Stadtbahn system, manufactured by Duewag, Linke-Hofmann-Busch, AEG, Kiepe and Siemens.
The vehicle can serve both high platforms and street-level stops; it has cabs at ...
and
TW 2000
The TW 2000 is a Stadtbahn vehicle in operation on the Hanover Stadtbahn network in Hanover, Germany.
History
After winning the bid for the Expo 2000 in 1990, the city of Hanover faced the need to greatly improve its transportation system. There ...
trams being examples.
Bicycle
Bicycle paths are very common in the city centre. At off-peak hours you are allowed to take your bike on a tram or bus.
Economy
Various industrial businesses are located in Hannover. The
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; german: Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge , abbreviated ''VWN'' ) is a German brand, marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originall ...
Transporter (VWN) factory at Hannover-Stöcken is the biggest employer in the region and operates a large plant at the northern edge of town adjoining the Mittellandkanal and Motorway A2. Volkswagen shares a coal-burning power plant with a factory of German tire and automobile parts manufacturer
Continental AG
Continental AG, commonly known as Continental or colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company specializing in tires, brake systems, interior electronics, automotive safety, powertrain and chassis compo ...
. Continental AG, founded in Hanover in 1871, is one of the city's major companies. Since 2008 a take-over has been in progress: the
Schaeffler Group
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, also known as Schaeffler Group (''Schaeffler-Gruppe'' in German), is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace and industrial uses. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Dr. ...
from
Herzogenaurach
Herzogenaurach (; vmf, Herziaura) is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is best known for being the home of the major international sporting goods companies Adidas and Puma, as well as the large car parts m ...
(
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
) holds the majority of Continental's stock but were required due to the financial crisis to deposit the options as securities at banks.
The audio equipment company
Sennheiser
Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German privately held audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories and aviation headse ...
and the travel group
TUI AG
TUI Group is a German leisure, travel and tourism company. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to ...
are both based in Hanover. Hanover is home to many insurance companies including
Talanx
Talanx is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Hanover, Germany. Its core businesses are reinsurance, insurance and asset managemenTalanx is Germany's third-largest and one of the major European insurance Groups by ...
, VHV Group, and Concordia Insurance. The major global reinsurance company Hannover Re also has its headquarters east of the city centre.
List of largest employers in Hanover
Key figures
In 2012, the city generated a Gross domestic product, GDP of €29.5 billion, which is equivalent to €74,822 per employee. The Gross value added, gross value of production in 2012 was €26.4 billion, which is equivalent to €66,822 per employee.
Around 300,000 employees were counted in 2014. Of these, 189,000 had their primary residence in Hanover, while 164,892 commute into the city every day.
In 2014 the city was home to 34,198 businesses, of which 9,342 were registered in the German Trade Register and 24,856 counted as small businesses. Hence, more than half of the metropolitan area's businesses in the German Trade Register are located in Hanover (17,485 total).
Business development
Hannoverimpuls GMBH is a joint business development company from the city and Hanover Region, region of Hannover. The company was founded in 2003 and supports the start-up, growth and relocation of businesses in the Hannover Region. The focus is on thirteen sectors, which stand for sustainable economic growth: Automotive, Energy Solutions, Information and Communications Technology, Life sciences, Life Sciences, Optical technology, Optical Technologies, Creative Industries and Production engineering, Production Engineering.
A range of programmes supports companies from the key industries in their Economic expansion, expansion plans in Hannover or abroad. Three regional centres specifically promote international economic relations with Russia, India and Turkey.
The Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover is a spin-off from Leibniz University Hannover in the field of production technology that promotes transfer of scientific knowledge to business.
Education
The
Leibniz University Hannover
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...
is the largest funded institution in Hanover for providing higher education to students from around the world. Below are the names of the universities and some of the important schools, including newly opened Hannover Medical School, Hannover Medical Research School in 2003 for attracting the students from biology background from around the world.
There are several universities in Hanover:
*
Leibniz University Hannover
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...
, host institution to the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
* Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover
*
Hannover Medical School
The Hannover Medical SchoolAlthough the English spelling of the city name is "Hanover", this form of the name, using the German spelling of the city name, is used as the English-language name of the school, for example . (german: Medizinische Ho ...
* University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, School of Veterinary Medicine Hanover (''Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover'')
* GISMA Business School, part of the for-profit education company Global University Systems.
There is one University of Applied Science and Arts in Hanover:
* Hochschule Hannover (the former Fachhochschule)
The ''Schulbiologiezentrum Hannover'' maintains practical biology schools in four locations (Botanischer Schulgarten Burg, Freiluftschule Burg, Zooschule Hannover, and Botanischer Schulgarten Linden). The University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover also maintains its own botanical garden specializing in medicinal and poisonous plants, the Heil- und Giftpflanzengarten der Tierärztlichen Hochschule Hannover.
Notable people
* Hannah Arendt (1906–1975), American political theorist
* Erdoğan Atalay (born 1966), actor
* Rudolf Augstein (1923–2002), journalist, founder of the weekly journal Der Spiegel
* Hermann Bahlsen (1859–1919), businessman, inventor of the Leibniz-Keks
* Marc Bator (born 1972), journalist
* Rudolf von Bennigsen (1824–1902), liberal politician
* Klaus Bernbacher (born 1931), conductor, music event manager, broadcasting manager and academic teacher
* Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff (1712–1772) a German-Danish statesman
* Andreas Peter Bernstorff (1735–1797), Danish diplomat and Foreign Minister
* Gero von Boehm (born 1954), director, journalist and television presenter
* Emil Berliner (1851–1929), inventor of the phonograph
* Walter Bruch (1908–1990), inventor of the PAL color television system
* Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908), caricaturist, painter and poet
* Laurent Chappuzeau, (ca.1652-??), clockmaker to the Elector of Hanover 1689–1701
* Frederick Dielman (1847–1935), German-American portrait and figure painter
* Albert Christoph Dies (1755–1822), German painter, engraver and biographer
* Johannes Dietwald (born 1985), footballer
* Champion Jack Dupree (1910–1992), American Born Blues Musician
* Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751), eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain
* Gustav Fröhlich (1902–1987), actor and film director
* Niclas Füllkrug (born 1993), footballer
* George I of Great Britain, George I, (1660–1727), King of Great Britain and Ireland, prince elector of Hanover
* George II of Great Britain, George II, (1683–1760), King of Great Britain and Ireland, prince elector of Hanover
* George III, (1738–1820), King of Great Britain and Ireland, prince elector of Hanover
* Duke of Cambridge#Fourth creation, 1801, George William Frederick Charles, duke of Cambridge (1819–1904), Prince George
* Gerhard Glogowski (born 1943), politician (SPD)
* Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775–1853), epigraphist and philologist
* Klaus Meine (born 1948), rock musician, vocalist of the rock band
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
* Fritz Haarmann (1870–1925), prolific serial killer and rapist
* Julia Hamburg (born 1986), politician
* Conrad Wilhelm Hase, (1818–1902), architect, founder of the Hanover school of architecture
* Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782–1859) German mineralogist
* Hilal El-Helwe (born 1994), German-Lebanese football player
* Caroline Herschel (1750–1848) and William Herschel (1738–1822), astronomers
* Wyn Hoop (born 1936), singer
* Alfred Hugenberg (1865–1951), businessman and politician (DNVP)
* August Wilhelm Iffland (1759–1814), German actor and dramatic author
* Manfred Kohrs (born 1957), tattooist, conceptual artist and Master of Economics
* Dr. Gindi (born 1965), contemporary sculptor
* Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (1788–1864), architect
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), philosopher, mathematician, developed differential and integral calculus
* Jan Martín (born 1984), German-Israeli-Spanish basketball player
* Georg Meissner (1829–1905), anatomist and physiologist
* Per Mertesacker (born 1984), footballer
* Otto Fritz Meyerhof (1884–1951), recipient of the Nobel prize in medicine, 1922
* Lena Meyer-Landrut (born 1991), winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
* Reiner E. Moritz (born 1938), film director and producer
* Georg Heinrich Pertz (1795–1876), German historian.
* Oliver Pocher (born 1978), comedian and television presenter
* Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736–1794), German librarian, writer and scientist
* Daniel Reiss (born 1982), professional ice hockey player
* Waldemar R. Röhrbein (1935–2014), historian, director of
Historisches Museum Hannover
(german: Historisches Museum Hannover) is an historical museum situated in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The museum was founded in 1903 as the Homeland Museum of the City of Hanover (). Its collections are related to the histor ...
* Wilhelm Georg Friedrich Roscher (1817–1894), German economist
* Dirk Rossmann (born 1946), businessman
* Dieter Roth (1930–1998), artist, print-maker, author, poet and world renowned composer
*
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...
(1930–2002), sculptor, painter and film maker
* Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), poet, literary critic, philosopher and Indologist
* Gerhard Schröder (born 1944), politician (SPD) (former Chancellor of Germany)
* Helga Schuchardt (born 1939), politician and engineer
* Kurt Schumacher (1895–1952), politician, re-organiser of the SPD after World War II
* Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948), artist
* Alexander Moritz Simon (1837–1905), Jewish philanthropist, banker and American vice consul
* Uli Stein (artist), Uli Stein (1954–2020), artist, cartoonist
* Charles Wachsmuth (1829–1896), German-American paleontologist and businessman
* Hans Wehrmann (born 1964), entrepreneur, economist, inventor, author and racing driver
* Dirk Werner (born 1981), racing driver
* Phylicia Whitney (born 1950), journalist and public speaker
* Christian Wulff (born 1959), politician (CDU), former President of Germany
* Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft (1915–2005), Chief Rabbi of Hannover and Lower Saxony
Twin towns – sister cities
Hanover is Sister city, twinned with:
* Blantyre, Malawi (1968)
* Bristol, England, United Kingdom (1947)
* Hiroshima, Japan (1983)
* Leipzig, Germany (1987)
* Perpignan, France (1960)
* Poznań, Poland (1979)
* Rouen, France (1966)
See also
*
CeBIT
CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...
(CeBIT Computer Messe)
*
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...
* Hanover Fair (Hannover Messe)
* History of the Jews in Hannover
* Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region, Metropolitan region Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg
*
Schützenfest Hannover
References
Bibliography
External links
*
Official website for tourism, holiday and leisure in Lower Saxony and Hanover
{{Authority control
Hanover,
Cities in Lower Saxony
German state capitals
Hanover Region
Members of the Hanseatic League
Holocaust locations in Germany