Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and 7th-largest in the European Union with a population of over 1.9 million. The Hamburg Metropolitan Region has a population of over 5.1 million and is the eighth-largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.

At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a estuary to the North Sea, on the mouth of the Alster and Bille. Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest and Europe's third-largest, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. The local dialect is a variant of Low Saxon.

The official name reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it was a fully sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic republic headed constitutionally by a class of hereditary Grand Burghers or . Beset by disasters such as the Great Fire of Hamburg, North Sea flood of 1962 and military conflicts including World War II bombing raids, the city has managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe.

Major regional broadcaster NDR, the printing and publishing firm and the newspapers and are based in the city. Hamburg is the seat of Germany's oldest stock exchange and the world's oldest merchant bank, Berenberg Bank. Media, commercial, logistical, and industrial firms with significant locations in the city include multinationals Airbus, , , , Lufthansa and Unilever. Hamburg is also a major European science, research, and education hub, with several universities and institutions, including the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Laboratory DESY. The city enjoys a very high quality of living, being ranked 28th in the 2024 Mercer Quality of Living Survey.

Hamburg hosts specialists in world economics and international law, including consular and diplomatic missions such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the EU-LAC Foundation, and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, multipartite international political conferences and summits such as Europe and China and the G20. Former German chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Angela Merkel were both born in Hamburg. The former Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, was chancellor from December 2021 until May 2025.

Hamburg is a major international and domestic tourist destination. The and were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg's rivers and canals are crossed by around 2,500 bridges, making it the city with the highest number of bridges in Europe, and with 5 of the world's 29 tallest churches standing in Hamburg, it is also the city with the greatest number of churches surpassing worldwide. Aside from its rich architectural heritage, the city is also home to notable cultural venues such as the and concert halls. It gave birth to movements like and paved the way for bands including the Beatles. Hamburg is also known for several theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Pauli's is among the best-known European red light districts.

History

Origins

Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) reported the first name for the vicinity as Treva.

Etymology

The name ''Hamburg'' comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in AD 808. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name ''Hammaburg'', ''burg'' meaning castle or fort. The origin of the ''Hamma'' term remains uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz.

Medieval Hamburg

In 834 CE, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Verg (2007), p.15

Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times. In 845, six hundred Viking ships sailed up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. In 1030, King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland burned down the city. Valdemar II of Denmark raided and occupied Hamburg in 1201 and in 1214. The Black Death killed at least 60% of the population in 1350.
Hamburg experienced several great fires in the medieval period.

In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. In 1265, an allegedly forged letter was presented to or by the Rath of Hamburg. Verg (2007), p. 26 This charter, along with Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, quickly made it a major port in Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin and core of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a ''hanse'' in London. This was the first time in history that the word ''hanse'' was used for the trading guild of the Hanseatic League. Verg (2007), p. 30

In 1270, the solicitor of the senate of Hamburg, ''Jordan von Boitzenburg'', wrote the first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in the German language, the ''Ordeelbook'' (''Ordeel'': sentence). On 10 August 1410, civil unrest forced a compromise (German: ''Rezeß'', literally meaning: withdrawal). This is considered the first constitution of Hamburg.

In 1356, the ''Matthiae-Mahl'' feast dinner for Hanseatic League cities was celebrated for the first time on 25 February, the first day of spring in medieval times. It continues today as the world's oldest ceremonial meal.

Early modern period

In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and France.

When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced a second layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town" (''Neustadt'') whose street names are still based upon the grid system of roads he introduced.

From the autumn of 1696 to the spring of 1697 the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies was active in Hamburg. While it was unsuccessful in raising capital locally, it commissioned the construction of four vessels in the port. The ''Caledonia'', a ship of 600 tons with 56 guns, and the ''Instuaration'' (later renamed the ''St. Andrew''), a vessel of 350 tons, were launched in March 1697.

Upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Free Imperial City of Hamburg was not incorporated into a larger administrative area while retaining special privileges ( mediatised), but became a sovereign state with the official title of the ''Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg''. Hamburg was briefly annexed by Napoleon I to the First French Empire (1804–1814/1815). Russian forces under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. Hamburg re-assumed its pre-1811 status as a city-state in 1814. The Vienna Congress of 1815 confirmed Hamburg's independence and it became one of 39 sovereign states of the German Confederation (1815–1866).

In 1842, about a quarter of the inner city was destroyed in the " Great Fire". The fire started on the night of 4 May and was not extinguished until 8 May. It destroyed three churches, the town hall, and many other buildings, killing 51 people and leaving an estimated 20,000 homeless. Reconstruction took more than 40 years.

After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a semidemocratic constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult taxpaying males. Other innovations included the separation of powers, the separation of Church and State, freedom of the press, of assembly and association. Hamburg became a member of the North German Confederation (1866–1871) and of the German Empire (1871–1918), and maintained its self-ruling status during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). Hamburg acceded to the German Customs Union or Zollverein in 1888, the last (along with Bremen) of the German states to join. The city experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the 19th century when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's second-largest port. The Hamburg-America Line, with Albert Ballin as its director, became the world's largest transatlantic shipping company around the start of the 20th century. Shipping companies sailing to South America, Africa, India and East Asia were based in the city. Hamburg was the departure port for many Germans and Eastern Europeans to emigrate to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Trading communities from all over the world established themselves there.

A major outbreak of cholera in 1892 was badly handled by the city government, which retained an unusual degree of independence for a German city. About 8,600 died in the largest German epidemic of the late 19th century, and the last major cholera epidemic in a major city of the Western world.

Second World War

Hamburg was a within the administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1934 until 1945. During the Second World War, the Allied bombing of Hamburg devastated much of the city and the harbour. On 23 July 1943, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force firebombing created a firestorm which spread from the (main railway station) and quickly moved south-east, completely destroying entire boroughs such as Hammerbrook, Billbrook and Hamm South. Thousands of people perished in these densely populated working class boroughs. The raids, codenamed Operation Gomorrah by the RAF, killed at least 42,600 civilians; the precise number is not known. About one million civilians were evacuated in the aftermath of the raids. While some of the boroughs destroyed were rebuilt as residential districts after the war, others such as Hammerbrook were entirely developed into office, retail and limited residential or industrial districts.

The Hamburg Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery is in the greater Ohlsdorf Cemetery in the north of Hamburg.

At least 42,900 people are thought to have perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp (about outside the city in the marshlands), mostly from epidemics and in the destruction of Kriegsmarine vessels housing evacuees at the end of the war.

Systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent started on 18 October 1941. These were all directed to ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe or to concentration camps. Most deported persons perished in the Holocaust. By the end of 1942, the ''Jüdischer Religionsverband in Hamburg'' was dissolved as an independent legal entity and its remaining assets and staff were assumed by the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (District Northwest). On 10 June 1943, the Reich Security Main Office dissolved the association by a decree. The few remaining employees not somewhat protected by a mixed marriage were deported from Hamburg on 23 June to Theresienstadt, where most of them perished. About 7800 Hamburg Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, of the nearly 17 thousand who had lived in the city before Hitler's rise to power.

Post-war history

The city was surrendered to British Forces on 3 May 1945, in the Battle of Hamburg, three days after Adolf Hitler's death. After the Second World War, Hamburg formed part of the British Zone of Occupation; it became a state of West Germany in 1949.

On 16 February 1962, a North Sea flood caused the Elbe to rise to an all-time high, inundating one-fifth of Hamburg and killing more than 300 people.

The inner German border – only east of Hamburg – separated the city from most of its hinterland and reduced Hamburg's global trade. Since German reunification in 1990, and the accession of several Central European and Baltic countries into the European Union in 2004, the Port of Hamburg has restarted ambitions for regaining its position as the region's largest deep-sea port for container shipping and its major commercial and trading centre.

Geography

Hamburg is at a sheltered natural harbour on the southern fanning-out of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the northeast. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille. The city centre is around the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and Außenalster ("Outer Alster"), both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The islands of Neuwerk, Scharhörn, and Nigehörn, away in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of the city of Hamburg.

The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the '' Altes Land'' (old land) region, the largest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe. Neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburg's highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at AMSL. Hamburg borders the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.

Climate

Hamburg has an oceanic climate (Köppen: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''), influenced by its proximity to the coast and maritime influences that originate over the Atlantic Ocean. The location in the north of Germany provides extremes greater than typical marine climates, but definitely in the category due to the prevailing westerlies. Nearby wetlands enjoy a maritime temperate climate. The amount of snowfall has varied greatly in recent decades. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, heavy snowfall sometimes occurred, the winters of recent years have been less cold, with snowfall just a few days per year.

The warmest months are June, July, and August, with high temperatures of . The coldest are December, January, and February, with low temperatures of . The annual extreme temperatures range from on 13 February 1940, to on 20 July 2022, and the latter was measured at Hamburg-Neuwiedenthal Meteorological Station, on the same day, a high temperature record of was recorded at Hamburg Airport.

Demographics

On 31 December 2016, there were 1,860,759 people registered as living in Hamburg in an area of . The population density was . The metropolitan area of the Hamburg region (Hamburg Metropolitan Region) is home to 5,107,429 living on .

There were 915,319 women and 945,440 men in Hamburg. For every 1,000 females, there were 1,033 males. In 2015, there were 19,768 births in Hamburg (of which 38.3% were to unmarried women); 6422 marriages and 3190 divorces, and 17,565 deaths. In the city, 16.1% of the population was under the age of 18, while 18.3% was 65 years of age or older. There were 356 people in Hamburg over the age of 100.Bevölkerung in Hamburg am 31.12.2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023

According to the Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, there were 631,246 residents with a migrant background, representing 34% of the population.Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund in den Hamburger Stadtteilen Ende 2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023 Immigrants come from 200 countries. 5,891 people have acquired German cititzenship in 2016.Statistisches Jahrbuch. Hamburg 2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023

In 2016, there were 1,021,666 households, of which 17.8% had children under the age of 18; 54.4% of all households were made up of singles. 25.6% of all households were single parent households. The average household size was 1.8.Selectable data base:

Portuguese community

Hamburg has the largest Portuguese community in Germany; the city is home to about 30,000 people of Portuguese heritage. Many Portuguese sailors and merchants came to Hamburg beginning in the 15th century due to its port. Since the 1970s, there has been a district in Hamburg called the (Portuguese quarter) where many Portuguese people settled and which has a variety of Portuguese restaurants, cafes and shops that attract many tourists. There are several statues, squares and streets in Hamburg that are named after Portuguese historical figures. These include the Vasco da Gama statue on the Kornhaus bridge, which was suggested by Portuguese residents to bring visibility to the Portuguese community in Hamburg.

Afghan community

Hamburg's Afghan community of about 50,000 people is the largest not only in Germany, but also in Europe. They first came to Hamburg in the 1970s before expanding during the Afghan conflict in the 1980s and 1990s where many Afghan migrants chose to live in Hamburg. After 2015 the Afghan population almost doubled due to a new influx from the migrant crisis. There is an area in Hamburg behind the central station where many Afghan restaurants and shops are located. Many carpet businesses in Speicherstadt are operated by Afghan traders, with Hamburg still a global leader in the trade of oriental rugs.

Foreign residents

The breakdown of all Hamburg residents with foreign citizenship (as of 31 December 2016) by their continent of origin is as follows:

Language

As elsewhere in Germany, Standard German is spoken in Hamburg, but as typical for northern Germany, the original language of Hamburg is Low German, usually referred to as ''Hamborger Platt'' (German ''Hamburger Platt'') or '' Hamborgsch''. Since large-scale standardisation of the German language beginning in earnest in the 18th century, various Low German-coloured dialects have developed (contact-varieties of German on Low Saxon substrates). Originally, there was a range of such Missingsch varieties, the best-known being the low-prestige ones of the working classes and the somewhat more bourgeois ''Hanseatendeutsch'' (Hanseatic German), although the term is used in appreciation. All of these are now moribund due to the influences of Standard German used by education and media. However, the former importance of Low German is indicated by several songs, such as the sea shanty Hamborger Veermaster, written in the 19th century when Low German was used more frequently. Many toponyms and street names reflect Low Saxon vocabulary, partially even in Low Saxon spelling, which is not standardised, and to some part in forms adapted to Standard German.

Religion

In 2018, 65.2% of the population was not religious or adhered to religions other than the Evangelical Church or Catholicism.

In 2018, 24.9% of the population belonged to the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the largest religious body, and 9.9% to the Roman Catholic Church. Hamburg is the seat of one of the three bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany, as well as of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg.

According to the publication ("''Muslim life in Germany''"), an estimated 141,900 Muslim migrants (from nearly 50 countries of origin) lived in Hamburg in 2008. About three years later (May 2011) calculations based on census data for 21 countries of origin resulted in a figure of about 143,200 Muslim migrants in Hamburg, making up 8.4% percent of the population. , there were more than 50 mosques in the city, including the Ahmadiyya run Fazle Omar Mosque, which is the oldest in the city, and which hosts the Islamic Centre Hamburg.

A Jewish Community also exists. As of 2022, around 2,500 Jews live in Hamburg.

Government

The city of Hamburg is one of 16 German states, therefore the Mayor of Hamburg's office corresponds more to the role of a minister-president than to that of a city mayor. As a German state government, it is responsible for public education, correctional institutions and public safety; as a municipality, it is additionally responsible for libraries, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply and welfare services.

Since 1897, the seat of the government has been Hamburg City Hall (Hamburg Rathaus), with the office of the mayor, the meeting room for the Senate and the floor for the Hamburg Parliament. From 2001 until 2010, the mayor of Hamburg was Ole von Beust, who governed in Germany's first statewide "black-green" coalition, consisting of the conservative CDU Hamburg and the alternative GAL, which are Hamburg's regional wing of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. Von Beust was briefly succeeded by Christoph Ahlhaus in 2010, but the coalition broke apart on 28 November 2010. On 7 March 2011 Olaf Scholz ( SPD) became mayor. After the 2015 election the SPD and the Alliance 90/The Greens formed a coalition.

Boroughs

Hamburg is made up of seven boroughs (German: ''Bezirke''), which are subdivided into 104 quarters (German: ''Stadtteile''). There are 181 localities (German: ''Ortsteile''). The urban organisation is regulated by the Constitution of Hamburg and several laws.Borough Administration Act Most of the quarters were former independent cities, towns or villages annexed into Hamburg proper. The last large annexation was done through the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, when the cities Altona, Harburg, and Wandsbek were merged into the state of Hamburg.Greater Hamburg Act The ''Act of the Constitution and Administration of Hanseatic city of Hamburg'' established Hamburg as a state and a municipality.Reich Act of the Constitution and Administration of Hanseatic city of Hamburg Some of the boroughs and quarters have been rearranged several times.

Each borough is governed by a Borough Council (German: ''Bezirksversammlung'') and administered by a Municipal Administrator (German: ''Bezirksamtsleiter''). The boroughs are not independent municipalities: their power is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Hamburg. The borough administrator is elected by the Borough Council and thereafter requires confirmation and appointment by Hamburg's Senate. The quarters have no governing bodies of their own.

Following the latest territorial reform of March 2008, the boroughs are Hamburg-Mitte, Altona, Eimsbüttel, Hamburg-Nord, Wandsbek, Bergedorf, and Harburg.

''Hamburg-Mitte'' ("Hamburg Centre") covers mostly the urban centre of the city and consists of the quarters Billbrook, Billstedt, Borgfelde, Finkenwerder, HafenCity, Hamm, Hammerbrook, Horn, Kleiner Grasbrook, Neuwerk, Rothenburgsort, St. Georg, St. Pauli, Steinwerder, Veddel, Waltershof, and Wilhelmsburg. The quarters Hamburg-Altstadt ("old town") and Neustadt ("new town") are the historical origin of Hamburg.

'' Altona'' is the westernmost urban borough, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864, Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937. Politically, the following quarters are part of Altona: Altona-Altstadt, Altona-Nord, Bahrenfeld, Ottensen, Othmarschen, Groß Flottbek, Osdorf, Lurup, Nienstedten, Blankenese, Iserbrook, Sülldorf, Rissen, and Sternschanze