historical region
Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing soc ...
in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
, stretching from the southeast of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
state of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
to the southwest of
Lubusz Voivodeship
Lubusz Voivodeship, or Lubuskie Province ( pl, województwo lubuskie ), is a voivodeship (province) in western Poland.
It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra Voivodeships, pursuant to the Po ...
in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
. Like adjacent
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
in the south, Lower Lusatia is a settlement area of the West Slavic
Sorbs
Sorbs ( hsb, Serbja, dsb, Serby, german: Sorben; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Branden ...
whose endangered
Lower Sorbian language
Lower Sorbian () is a West Slavic minority language spoken in eastern Germany in the historical province of Lower Lusatia, today part of Brandenburg.
Standard Lower Sorbian is one of the two literary Sorbian languages, the other being the mo ...
is related to
Upper Sorbian
Upper Sorbian (), occasionally referred to as "Wendish", is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in Germany in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, which is today part of Saxony. It is grouped in the West Slavic language branch, together ...
and
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
.
Geography
This sparsely inhabited area within the
North European Plain
The North European Plain (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland – North German Plain; ; pl, Nizina Środkowoeuropejska – Central European Plain; da, Nordeuropæiske Lavland and nl, Noord-Europese Laagvlakte ; French : ''Plaine d'Europe du Nord ...
(
Northern Lowland
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 ...
) is characterised by extended
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...
forests,
heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...
lands and meadows. In the north it is confined by the middle
Spree
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
River with Lake Schwielochsee and its eastern continuation across the Oder at
Fürstenberg Fürstenberg (also Fuerstenberg and Furstenberg) may refer to:
Historical states
* Fürstenberg-Baar, county (1441–1559)
* Fürstenberg-Blumberg, county (1559–1614)
* Fürstenberg-Donaueschingen, county (1617–1698)
* Fürstenberg-Fürsten ...
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...
, the Spree River branches out into the
Spreewald
The Spree Forest (German: ''Spreewald'', ; Lower Sorbian: ''Błota'', i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Ge ...
("Spree Woods")
riparian forest
A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered chann ...
. Other rivers include the
Berste
Berste is a river of Brandenburg, Germany. It flows into the Spree near Lübben.
See also
*List of rivers of Brandenburg
A list of rivers of Brandenburg, Germany:
A
* Alte Oder
* Alte Schlaube
B
* Bäke
* Berste
* Black Elster
* Briese
* ...
and
Oelse
The Oelse is a river in the district Oder-Spree, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Schlaube Valley Nature Park and runs from the Möschensee (lake) in the east from Groß Muckrow (part of Friedland) to the river Spree near Beeskow. I ...
tributaries as well as the
Schlaube
The Schlaube is a river in the district Oder-Spree, Brandenburg, Germany. It is in the Schlaube Valley Nature Park and flows more than through the Schlaube-Valley (German: Schlaubetal), a tunnel valley of the last glacial period.
Its source ...
and the
Oder–Spree Canal
The Oder–Spree Canal (german: Oder-Spree-Kanal ), is a canal in the east of Germany. It links the Dahme river, at Schmöckwitz in the south-eastern suburbs of Berlin, with the River Oder, at Eisenhüttenstadt. It provides an important commerci ...
opened in 1891.
In the east, the
Bóbr
Bóbr ( cs, Bobr, german: Bober, ) is a river which carries water through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder.
Course
The Bóbr has a length of (3 in Czech Republic, 276 in Poland, 10th ...
Żary
Żary (pronounced , german: Sorau, dsb, Žarow) is a town in western Poland with 37,502 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship since 1999. Previously it was located within Zielona Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the admin ...
forms the border with the lands of
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...
. In the west the course of the upper Dahme River down to
Golßen
Golßen (; dsb, Gólišyn) or Golssen is a town in the district of Dahme-Spreewald, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the ''Amt'' ("collective municipality") Unterspreewald.
Geography
It is situated in the northwest of the ...
Saxe-Wittenberg
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg () was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity until ...
. Between Lower and Upper Lusatia is a hill region called the ''Grenzwall'' (literally "border dike", although it is in fact a
morainic
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...
ridge), the eastern continuation of the
Fläming Heath
The Fläming Heath is a region and hill chain that reaches over 100 km from the Elbe river to the Dahme River in the German states Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Its highest elevation is the Hagelberg (201 m). The name Fläming originates fr ...
. In the Middle Ages this area had dense forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian and military traffic. Today it is roughly congruent of the border between Brandenburg and the state of
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 ...
.
In the course of much of the 19th and the entire 20th century, Lower Lusatia was shaped by the lignite (brown coal) industry and extensive
open-pit mining
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mini ...
, by which more than 100 of the region's villages—many of them within the Sorbian settlement area—were damaged or destroyed, especially by order of
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
authorities. While this process is still going on, most notably around
Jänschwalde Power Station
Jänschwalde Power Station is located near the village of Jänschwalde in Brandenburg on the German- Polish border. The lignite-fired power station has an installed capacity of 3,000 megawatts and consists of six 500 MW units. It is the third- ...
, run by '' EPH'', some now exhausted open-pit mines are being converted into artificial lakes, in the hope of attracting tourism, and the area is now referred to as the
Lusatian Lake District
The Lusatian Lake District (german: Lausitzer Seenland, dsb, Łužyska jazorina, hsb, Łužiska jězorina) is a chain of artificial lakes under construction in Germany across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg ...
(''Lausitzer Seenland'').
Today the area comprises the Brandenburg districts of
Oberspreewald-Lausitz
Oberspreewald-Lausitz ( dsb, Wokrejs Górne Błota-Łužyca, hsb, Wokrjes Hornje Błóta-Łužica) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Spree- ...
and
Spree-Neiße
Spree-Neiße ( dsb, Wokrejs Sprjewja-Nysa) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise) the districts Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and Kamenz in Saxony, the di ...
with the
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
of
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...
, as well as parts of
Elbe-Elster
Elbe-Elster is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Teltow-Fläming, Dahme-Spreewald, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Meißen,
Nordsachsen and Wittenberg. The district has a partnership with the Mä ...
,
Dahme-Spreewald
Dahme-Spreewald ( dsb, Wokrejs Damna-Błota) is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city ...
, and
Oder-Spree
Oder-Spree is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the district Märkisch-Oderland, the district-free city Frankfurt (Oder), Poland, the districts Spree-Neiße and Dahme-Spree ...
. Important towns beside Cottbus and the historic capitals Lübben and
Luckau
Luckau ( Lower Sorbian: ''Łuków'') is a city in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. Known for its beauty, it has been dubbed "the Pearl of Lower Lusatia".
Origin of the name
The name appears to be a loc ...
include
Calau
Calau (, dsb, Kalawa) is a small town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 14 km south of Lübbenau, and 27 km west of Cottbus. Calau is also called the home of the Kalauer.
Geo ...
,
Doberlug-Kirchhain
Doberlug-Kirchhain ( dsb, Dobrjoług-Góstkow) is a German town in the district of Elbe-Elster, Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg.
History
937. The town of Kirchhain was built by Margrave Gero. A document written in 1005 mentions the town Doberlug (''Do ...
,
Finsterwalde
Finsterwalde (, dsb, Grabin) is a town in the Elbe-Elster district (German: Landkreis), in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany.
Overview
It is situated on the Schackebach, a tributary of the Kleine Elster, 28 m. W.S.W of Cottbus by rail. Pop. ...
Guben
Guben ( Polish and Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße district, Guben has a population of 20,049. Along with Frankfurt (Oder) and G ...
Lauchhammer
Lauchhammer ( dsb, Łuchow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden.
History
From 1815 to ...
,
Lübbenau
Lübbenau (, dsb, Lubnjow ; officially Lübbenau/Spreewald, L.S. Lubnjow/Błota (meaning ''Lübbenau/Spree Forest'')) is a town in the Upper Spree Forest-Lusatia District of Brandenburg, Germany. It is located in the bilingual German/ Sorbian r ...
,
Senftenberg
Senftenberg ( wen, Zły Komorow) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany, capital of the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district.
Geography
Senftenberg is located in the southwest of the historic Lower Lusatia region at the border with Saxony. It ...
,
Spremberg
Spremberg ( dsb, Grodk) is a municipality near the Saxon city of Hoyerswerda and is in the Spree-Neiße district of Brandenburg, Germany.
First mentioned in 1301, the town alone has 14,028 inhabitants, and the municipality, including other villa ...
,
Vetschau
Vetschau/Spreewald ( dsb, Wětošow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Spreewald, 18 km west of Cottbus.
History
Vetschau was first mentioned in 1302 as Veczicz. ...
, and
Żary
Żary (pronounced , german: Sorau, dsb, Žarow) is a town in western Poland with 37,502 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship since 1999. Previously it was located within Zielona Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the admin ...
in present-day Poland.
Since 1945, when a small part of Lusatia east of the
Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers a ...
was incorporated into
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Żary
Żary (pronounced , german: Sorau, dsb, Žarow) is a town in western Poland with 37,502 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship since 1999. Previously it was located within Zielona Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the admin ...
The area of Lower Lusatia roughly corresponds with the eastern
March of Lusatia
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast '' Marca Geronis''. ...
or
Saxon Eastern March
The Saxon Eastern March (german: Sächsische Ostmark) was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term ''marchia Orientalis'' and originally could refer to either a march ...
between the
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale ...
and
Bóbr
Bóbr ( cs, Bobr, german: Bober, ) is a river which carries water through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder.
Course
The Bóbr has a length of (3 in Czech Republic, 276 in Poland, 10th ...
rivers, which about 965 was severed from the vast ''
Marca Geronis
The ''Marca Geronis'' (march of Gero) was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar (in the 920s) and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero. On Gero's death in 965 it was divi ...
Gero
Gero I ( – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great ( la, magnus),Thompson, 486. Also se was a German nobleman who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he expande ...
in the course of his campaigns against the
Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs ( dsb, Połobske słowjany, pl, Słowianie połabscy, cz, Polabští slované) is a collective term applied to a number of Lechitic ( West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germ ...
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...
; his successor Gero II from 1002 onwards had to face several attacks by Polish duke
Bolesław I Chrobry Boleslav or Bolesław may refer to:
In people:
* Boleslaw (given name)
In geography:
*Bolesław, Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
*Bolesław, Olkusz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
*Bolesław, Silesian Voivodeship, Pol ...
, which did not end until the 1018 Treaty of Bautzen, which ceded large parts of eastern Lusatia to Poland. Emperor Conrad II reconquered the territories in 1031.
In 1136 Conrad the Great of the mighty
House of Wettin
The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...
, margrave of Meissen since 1123, also received the March of Lusatia. This remained under the rule of the Wettin dynasty until in 1303 it was acquired by the
Ascanian
The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.
The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...
margraves of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
Bautzen
Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budi ...
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
. The former Lordship of
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...
was acquired by Brandenburg in 1455 and remained an exclave within the Bohemian kingdom.
Both
Lusatia
Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
s formed separate Bohemian crown lands under the rule of the
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
,
Jagiellon
The Jagiellonian dynasty (, pl, dynastia jagiellońska), otherwise the Jagiellon dynasty ( pl, dynastia Jagiellonów), the House of Jagiellon ( pl, Dom Jagiellonów), or simply the Jagiellons ( pl, Jagiellonowie), was the name assumed by a cad ...
and—from 1526— Habsburg dynasties. In the course of the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
the vast majority of the population turned
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
. The Bohemian era came to an end when Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg ceded the Lusatias to Elector
John George I of Saxony
John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45 year reign.
Biography
Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector Chr ...
under the 1635 Peace of Prague in return for his support in the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
; thus the lands returned to the House of Wettin. As the
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...
had sided with
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 ...
it had to cede Lower Lusatia to
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 ...
in the 1815
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
, whereafter the territory became part of the
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...
. With the implementation of the
Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers a ...
by the 1945
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...
, the lands east of the
Neisse
The Lusatian Neisse (german: Lausitzer Neiße; pl, Nysa Łużycka; cs, Lužická Nisa; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe.expelled by the Communist Authorities.
Coat of arms
The Lower Lusatian bull is first documented in 1363. In 1378, upon the death of Emperor Charles IV, it appeared in gules on a field argent (red on silver), similar to the coat of arms of Luckau, in which the bull has gold horns and hooves, and turns his head to look at the viewer. After over 600 years it is still used today as Lower Lusatia's coat of arms.
Nature reserves and parks
*
Spreewald
The Spree Forest (German: ''Spreewald'', ; Lower Sorbian: ''Błota'', i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Ge ...
biosphere reserve
*
Lusatian Lake District
The Lusatian Lake District (german: Lausitzer Seenland, dsb, Łužyska jazorina, hsb, Łužiska jězorina) is a chain of artificial lakes under construction in Germany across the north-eastern part of Saxony and the southern part of Brandenburg ...
*
Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park
The Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park (german: Naturpark Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft) is a nature park and reserve in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It covers an area of 490 km2 (189 sq mi). It was established on May 24, 1996.
In th ...
*
Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park
The Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park (german: Naturpark Niederlausitzer Landrücken) is a nature park and reserve in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It covers an area of 580 km2 (224 sq mi). It was established on September 9, 1997.
...
See also
*
List of regions of Saxony
A classification of the various regions of Saxony cannot be achieved in any uniform or standard way, as the commonly used names usually represent a mixture of historical regions and geographical features. Many well-known names of regions, such as ...