District Harburg 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'') in Hamburg and

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. It takes its name from the town of Harburg upon Elbe, which used to be the capital of the district but is now part of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

, Heidekreis,

Rotenburg (Wümme) Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district * Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse * Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria * Hersfeld-Rotenbur ...

and

Stade Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

, by the City of Hamburg and the State of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

(District of

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein ...

History

In 1885 the

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 ...

n government established three districts in this region: the District of Harburg, the District of Winsen and the district-free City of Harburg upon Elbe. In 1932 the districts of Winsen and Harburg were merged; the City of

Harburg-Wilhelmsburg Harburg-Wilhelmsburg was a city in the Prussian Province of Hanover briefly in existence from 1927 and 1937, resulting from the merger of the cities of Harburg, Hamburg, Harburg and Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg, Wilhelmsburg. In 1937, Harburg-Wilhelmsburg ...

(which had been merged in 1927) became the capital of the district, although it remained district-free and hence was not a part of the district. In 1937 the City of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg was incorporated into the City of Hamburg with the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

. Harburg and Wilhelmsburg became two boroughs of Hamburg. The District of Harburg remained with the State of Prussia and retained its autonomy. Winsen upon Luhe became the new capital of the District in 1944.

Geography

The District is located south of Hamburg and includes several suburbs of the Hamburg metropolitan area. In the south of the district part of the Lüneburg Heath (''Lüneburger Heide'') is found.

Coat of arms

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 and the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, to which the region belonged before it became part of Prussia. The key is from the arms of the

Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (german: Fürsterzbistum Bremen) — not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic ...

History

Geography

Coat of arms

Cities and municipalities

References

External links