Schaumburg 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 ...

(''Landkreis'') 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 ...

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 (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg,

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 ...

and

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) ...

, and the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

(districts of

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The ...

and

Minden-Lübbecke Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück. Geography This is the northernmost district of North ...

History

Landkreis Schaumburg was created on August 1, 1977 within the framework of the Kreisreform (district reform) of

by combining the former districts of Schaumburg-Lippe and Grafschaft Schaumburg. The town of Hessisch Oldendorf was reallocated to Landkreis Hameln-Pyrmont. The communities of Großenheidorn, Idensermoor-Niengraben and Steinhude had already been allocated to the community of Wunsdorf and thereby became part of Landkreis

. The Landkreis Schaumburg essentially duplicates the borders of Schaumburg at the time of the Middle Ages. Schaumburg was a medieval county, which was founded at the beginning of the 12th century. Shortly after, 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 ...

appointed the counts of Schaumburg to become counts of

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

as well. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

the

House of Schaumburg The House of Schaumburg was a dynasty of German rulers. Until c. 1485, it was also known as the House of Schauenburg. Together with its ancestral possession, the County of Schaumburg, the family also ruled the County of Holstein and its partitions ...

had no male heir, and the county was divided into Schaumburg (which became part of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...

) and the County of

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

(1640). As a member of the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...

, Schaumburg-Lippe raised itself to a principality. In 1815, Schaumburg-Lippe joined the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

, and in 1871 the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. In 1918, it became a republic. The tiny

Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe The Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe (german: link=no, Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe) was created following the abdication of Prince Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe on 15 November 1918. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic, headed by a ...

existed until 1946, when it became an administrative area within

. Schaumburg-Lippe had an area of 340 km², and a population of 51,000 (as of 1934). Hessian Schaumburg was annexed 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 em ...

along with the rest of Hesse-Kassel in 1866. After

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 ...

, Schaumburg and Schaumburg-Lippe became districts within the state of

, until they were merged again in 1977.

Geography

The district (''Landkreis'') of Schaumburg has its northern half located in 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 Balt ...

and the southern half in the

Weser Uplands The Weser Uplands (German: ''Weserbergland'', ) is a hill region in Germany, between Hannoversch Münden and Porta Westfalica, along the river Weser. The area reaches into three states, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Important ...

(''Weserbergland''). The Weser Uplands consist of hilly ridges and include the Wesergebirge, Harrl, Süntel, Bückeberg and Deister. The

Schaumburg Forest The Schaumburg Forest (german: Schaumburger Wald) is a wooded region, about with an area of around 40 km², in the district of Schaumburg in the German federal state of Lower Saxony. Location The Schaumburg Forest lies immediately east of ...

is a continuous strip of woods running in a direction of approximately 60 degrees along the northern border of the district. Just beyond the northern border of the district is

Lake Steinhude 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 29,1 km² shallow lake that is the largest in Northern Germany. The river Weser flows westward along the south of the Wiehengebirge through a broad valley and the town of Rinteln. The landscape is bordered to the west by the River Weser which is in the neighbouring district of Minden-Lübbecke. It flows north through the

Westphalian Gap Weser watershed The Porta Westfalica, also known as the Westphalian Gap, is a gorge and water gap where the Weser river breaks through the passage between the mountain chains of the Wiehen Hills in the west and the Weser Hills (part of the Wese ...

towards the 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 ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. In the flat North German Plain to the east of Schaumburg district lies

, the capital city of

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is almost identical to the old arms of Schaumburg, which had been used since the 12th century. Schaumburg Castle, in mediaeval times the seat of the

Counts of Schaumburg The County of Schaumburg (german: link=no, Grafschaft Schaumburg), until ca. 1485 known as Schauenburg, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Lower Saxony. Its territory was more or less congruent with ...

, is located on the '' Nesselberg'' ("nettle mountain") in Schaumburg, a locality in the town of

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...

. The

nettle {{redirect, Nettle Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" includ ...

leaf in the middle of the arms has become the heraldic symbol of Holstein, symbolising the historical connection between Holstein and Schaumburg.

Towns and municipalities

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Samtgemeinde A ''Samtgemeinde'' (; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of municipalities, equivalent to the '' Ämter'' in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenb ...

n (collective municipalities) with their member municipalities

References

External links