"Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg" Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg by S.Cunis

Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg is the complete official name of Hamburg.
The name denotes, that it always used to be a free city, not connected to any regional ruler, and that it belonged to the Hanse, an early european trade community.

Hamburg not only is a city, but at the same time a Bundesland (state of the Federal Republik). Basically the boundaries of the state are identical with those of the city.
Outside of Hamburg, but also belonging to it, is only the island of Neuwerk and the surrounding area on the left hand side of the Elbe estuary, near Cuxhaven.
Earlier, up to 1907, also Cuxhaven did belong to Hamburg.

The largest extension of the area of Hamburg took place in 1937, when Hamburg annexed by dercee (Gross-Hamburg Gestz) Altona, Wandsbek, and Harburg.
These parts up to then had their own history and development and their own suburbs.
So, if you want to discover the special character of some of the parts of Hamburg, it would be a good idea, to take a look at their individual (pre-Hamburg) history too.

Hamburg started as a small bishop's residence ... In the surrounding area many smaller settlements, and even some larger towns (e.g. Altona), developed. But as Hamburg grew, during the years these where bit by bit swallowed by Hamburg.

In general Info No.1 I will give a listing of the administrational regions of Hamburg and of the individual parts (Stadtteile) which belong to it.