HAMBURG 
History

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It is probable that 17,000 years ago nomadic hunter/gatherers entered the prehistoric lower Elbe river valley after the water, produced from the melting ice during the last Ice Age, had receded. There is no firm evidence of settlement before 400 BC. The migration of peoples, especially of Germanic and Slavic peoples, into Southern and Western Europe. Between AD 400 and 600 the area north of the river Elbe was settled by the Saxons. There is evidence of Saxon settlement on the Geest above the mouth of the river Alster where it joins the river Elbe as far back as AD 4. The earliest discovered ruins are dated AD 5-6.

The history of Hamburg starts in the year AD 825 with the building of the "Hammaburg", a moated castle built between the Alster and Elbe rivers. This was apparently a combination of earth works and a wooden palisade type of fortress. The second part of the name is clearly "-burg" for "castle", but there are three contenders for the origin of the "Ham-" part. These are reported as being: Ham = River Bank in the Saxon tongue of the time or  Hamme being the name of the Beech woods that surrounded the area and were used in building the walls of the fortress or something fixed in a marshy area; again presumably in the then local dialect.

Thus it soon became the seat of the Archbishop Ansgar, who used the castle as a base for missions to convert the wild heathens of northern Europe. After the Vikings had burned the building down in AD845, it was rebuilt and destroyed some 8 times over the next several hundred years.

It was then that commerce was to take over as the principle function of the city. The founding of Lübeck on the Baltic coast, allowed Hamburg to become its port on the North Sea. It was in 1188 that a group of Hamburg merchants received a charter for the building of a new town, close to the old one, with a harbour on the Alster and Elbe. This was confirmed and enhanced the following year of 1189, by the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, in a charter giving the budding port, special trading rights, toll exemptions and navigational privileges. Over the next century, Hamburg's economic importance grew with the development of the Hanseatic League, founded in Lübeck. Hamburg provided port facilities for Lübeck that opened up the way to the rest of the world.

Hamburg's role as protector of trade on the Elbe was enhanced by the purchase of land bordering the Elbe. A "minor hitch" occurred in 1459, with the death of the last Schauernburg count of Holstein, whose princely rights past to the Danish Crown. This was never really fully recognised in anything, but a formal and ineffectual way and was eventually much later in 1768, with the Treaty of Gottorp, formally returned to Hamburg.

Towards the end of the middle ages, the Hanseatic League began to decline and Hamburg began to make its own way and develop its own economic infrastructure. The Hamburg Stock Exchange was founded in 1558, the Bank of Hamburg in 1619 and a protective convoy system started in 1662. With this system, Hamburg's merchantmen were the first to be escorted by men-of-war on the high seas.

All that time, Hamburg protected itself by taking a politically neutral position and, just to be sure, had fortified itself well. Thus despite the devastating 30 year war, Hamburg was able to continue to grow in economic importance. This process was helped by the emigration into the lower Elbe area of many Dutch merchants trying to escape the religious wars at home.

Hamburg's advantage was brought to an end, when in 1810, due to the Napoleonic wars, Germany's old order was overthrown and the Hamburg "City State" was annexed to the French Empire. But with the downfall of Napoleon some 5 years later, Hamburg was able to become a member of the new German Confederation and after 1819 was known as "The free and hanseatic city of Hamburg".

Hamburg quickly resumed its successful position as a trading basis with the newly developing areas of Africa and Central and Southern America, not forgetting the Far East. At home, the city was being developed and expanded with great energy. New warehouse areas and harbour facilities were built and the city expanded to swallow up neighbouring small towns and villages. Hamburg managed to survive a disastrous fire in 1842, which destroyed almost a quarter of the city centre.

There were more difficulties ahead in both 1st and 2nd world wars, especially during the latter, when the east of the city was totally destroyed by the Firestorm, started by allied bombing. During that war some 55,000 people were killed and 50-60% of all the city's facilities were destroyed and the reconstruction took over 20 or more years.

Today, Hamburg has regained its old position as Germany's "Gateway to the World", handling a very high proportion of modern Germany's imports and exports. It has retained its City State status and is very proud to be the "Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg".

(Information courtesy of Mike Bailey :  Hamburg History )