Hanover Region (german: Region Hannover) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis,

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially important cities nearby, ...

Peine Peine (; Eastphalian: ''Paane'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Peine. It is situated on the river Fuhse and the Mittellandkanal, approximately west of Braunschweig, and east of Hanover. History A deed from 11 ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...

Hamelin-Pyrmont Hameln-Pyrmont is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Schaumburg, Hanover, Hildesheim and Holzminden, and by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Lippe) ...

, Schaumburg and Nienburg. The Hanover Region district has a unique legal status among the districts of Lower Saxony. It includes the city 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 the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

(the state capital) which has the same privileges as a city that is not part of a district. As a consequence, the district is much larger in population than any other district of the state. Its administrative body is the regional parliament (german: Regionsparlament, label=none), headed by the regional president (german: Regionspräsident, label=none), which since 2021 is

Steffen Krach Steffen is a surname and given name, and may refer to: *Albert Steffen (1884–1963), Swiss poet, painter, and novelist *Alex Steffen (b. 1968), American writer and environmental futurist *Anthony Steffen (1929–2004), Brazilian actor; acted in m ...

(

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

). The members of the regional parliament are elected once every five years and the regional president is elected once every eight years in local elections.

History

The city of Hanover was not part of the district until 2001, when the old Hanover District (german: Landkreis Hannover, label=none) and the city then known officially as District-free City of Hanover (german: kreisfreie Stadt Hannover, label=none) were merged in order to form the new Hanover Region district, not to be confused with the former governmental district of Hanover (german: Regierungsbezirk Hannover, label=none). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hanover was the headquarters (german: Hauptquartier, label=none) of Military District XI (german: Wehrkreis XI, label=none), which was responsible for

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

, and part of Hanover. It was also the garrison town for the 71st Infantry Division of the German Army.

Geography

The district surrounds the city of Hanover and includes the outskirts of its metropolitan area. The

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, ...

river enters the district in the south, runs through Hanover and leaves to the north. In the northwest is the

Steinhuder Meer Lake Steinhude, german: Steinhuder Meer, , is a lake in Lower Saxony, Germany located northwest of Hanover. Named after the nearby village of Steinhude, it has an area of about , making it the largest lake of northwestern Germany. At the same t ...

, a lake with an area of , within the region known as the

Hanoverian Moor Geest The Hanoverian Moor Geest (german: Hannoversche Moorgeest) is a gently rolling landscape between Hanover and Nienburg in the German state of Lower Saxony covering an area of around . It belongs to the raised bog regions of northwest Germany, which ...

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on May 1, 2003. The cloverleaf is from the arms of the city of Hanover. The lion was the heraldic animal of the

Welfen The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meus ...

family, which ruled the region from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

History

Geography

Coat of arms

Towns and municipalities

Towns

Municipalities

Inhabitants

See also

References

Further reading

External links