Zahna is a town and a former municipality in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany not far from Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 2 and about 11 km east of Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It was the seat of the former administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of

Elbaue-Fläming Elbaue-Fläming was a ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ("administrative community") in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated on the right bank of the Elbe, north and east of Wittenberg. The seat of the ''Verwaltungsgeme ...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town

Zahna-Elster Zahna-Elster is a town in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was formed on 1 January 2011 by the merger of the former municipalities Zahna, Dietrichsdorf, Elster (Elbe) Elster is a village and a former municipality in Sa ...

History

Zahna is one of Saxony-Anhalt's oldest towns. It has been proved that Zahna has been inhabited uninterruptedly since about 2000 BC. This has been established by

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

findings from the 6th century BC up until the migration of the

Semnoni The Semnones were a Germanic and specifically a Suevian people, who were settled between the Elbe and the Oder in the 1st century when they were described by Tacitus in '' Germania'': "The Semnones give themselves out to be the most ancient and ...

who settled in the region. After them came the Sorbs who took over their homes. The historic town core shows the form and structure that goes back to Flemish settlement in the High Middle Ages in the twelfth century. The whole

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

north of Wittenberg was so strongly shaped by the Flemings' ways of doing things that the whole area came to be named after them; to this day, it is still called the Fläming and the town belongs to the

Fläming Nature Park The Fläming Nature Park (german: Naturpark Fläming) is a nature park with 824 km2 in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, opened in 2005. It is one of six nature parks in the state Saxony-Anhalt. The park borders in the north to the High Fläming Nature ...

, which was opened in 2005. From 1815 to 1944, Zahna was part of the Prussian

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

and from 1944 to 1945 of the Province of

Halle-Merseburg The Province of Halle-Merseburg (german: link=no, Provinz Halle-Merseburg) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1944 to 1945. The provincial capital was the city Merseburg. Halle-Merseburg was created on 1 July 1944, out of Regie ...

. After World War II, Zahna was incorporated into the State of Saxony-Anhalt from 1945 to 1952 and the Bezirk Halle of East Germany from 1952 to 1990. Since 1990, Zahna has been part of Saxony-Anhalt, since 2011 as a part of

Town partnerships

* Stęszew near Poznań, Poland. *

Edemissen Edemissen is a municipality in the district of Peine, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 7 km north of Peine, and 25 km northwest of Braunschweig. Municipal subdivisions Personalities * Adolf-Friedrich Kuntzen ...

near Peine, Germany.

References

External links

Information about Zahna
Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Zahna-Elster Fläming Heath {{Wittenberg-geo-stub