Brandenburg
(
Lower Sorbian:
Bramborska;
Upper Sorbian:
Braniborska) is one of
Germany's sixteen
Bundesländer (federal states) and lies in the east of the country. It is one of the new states recreated in 1990 upon the reunification of the former
West Germany and
East Germany. The capital is
Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but excludes the national capital
Berlin.
Historically Brandenburg was an independent state which grew to become the core of modern Germany (
see below). The state of Brandenburg was named after the town of
Brandenburg an der Havel.
Brandenburg is bordered by
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north,
Poland in the east,
Saxony in the south,
Saxony-Anhalt in the west, and
Lower Saxony in the northwest.
The
Oder River forms a part of the eastern border, the
Elbe River a portion of the western border. The main rivers in the state itself are the
Spree and the
Havel. In the southeast there is a wetlands region called the
Spreewald; it is the northernmost part of
Lusatia, where the
Sorbs, a
Slavic people, still live. These areas are bilingual, i.e.,
German and
Sorbian are both used.
Protected Areas
Brandenburg is known for its intact nature and its ambitious nature protection policy in the 1990s. After the political change, 15 large protected areas were founded, each of them has a state financed administration and rangers, who guide visitors and work for nature protection. Most protected areas have visitor centers.
*
National Park**
Lower Oder Valley National Park(106 km²)
*
Biosphere Reserves**
Spreewald Biosphere Reserve (474 km²)
** Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve (1.291 km²)
** River Landscape Elbe-Brandenburg Biosphere Reserve (533 km²)
*
Nature Parks** Barnim Nature Park (750 km²)
** Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park (594 km²)
**
High Fläming Nature Park (827 km²)
** Märkische Schweiz Nature Park (204 km²)
** Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft Nature Park (490 km²)
** Niederlausitzer Landrücken Nature Park (580 km²)
** Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park (623 km²)
** Schlaube Valley Nature Park (225 km²)
** Uckermark Lakes Nature Park (895 km²)
** Westhavelland Nature Park (1.315 km²)
** Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park (1.080 km²)
See also: List of places in Brandenburg.
Brandenburg is divided into fourteen (rural) counties (
Landkreise),
 |
Brandenburg.jpg |
and four independent cities (
kreisfreie Städte),
#
Brandenburg an der Havel#
Cottbus#
Frankfurt (Oder)#
PotsdamIn late medieval and early modern times, Brandenburg was one of seven
Electorships of the
Holy Roman Empire, and, along with
Prussia, formed the original core of the
German Empire, the first unified German state. It contained the future German capital
Berlin and since 1618 both Brandenburg and Prussia, then
Brandenburg-Prussia, were ruled by
Hohenzollern dukes and later kings of Prussia. Franconian
Nuremberg and Ansbach, Swabian
Hohenzollern, and the eastern European connections of Berlin and the
prince-elector together were instrumental in the rise of that state.
Early Middle Ages
Brandenburg is situated entirely in territory of Germania recorded by
Tacitus in 98 AD. By 600 the first groups of
Slavic people arrived. In 948 Emperor
Otto I the Great established German control during the
Drang nach Osten over the then-largely Slavic inhabitants of the area and founded the
dioceses of
Havelberg and Brandenburg; he died in
983. In the great uprising in 983 the
Slavs wiped out German control from the territory of present-day Brandenburg. The monasteries were burned, priests and Germans officials killed or expelled. The
Slavic tribes living east of the
Elbe River remained independent and pagan for the next 150 years.
12th century
By the beginning of the 12th century the
Ottonian German kings and emperors conquered the Slav-inhabited lands of present-day Brandenburg. Many Slavic inhabitants survived the conquests and live there still today, such as the
Sorbs in
Lusatia. The church brought bishoprics which, with their walled towns, afforded protection for the townspeople from attack. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of
Brandenburg, which in time became the state of Brandenburg, began. In 1134, in the wake of a German
crusade against the
Wends, the German magnate
Albert the Bear was granted the
Northern March by the Emperor
Lothar II. For some time up until the 15th century, some part of the area that would become Brandenburg was inhabited by the Slavic Wends, who still make up a part of the area's modern population.
Albert's control of the region was nominal for several decades, but he engaged in a variety of campaigns against the Wends, as well as more diplomatic efforts which saw his control become more real by the middle of the century. In 1150, he formally inherited Brandenburg from its last Wendish ruler,
Pribislav. Albert, and his descendants the
Ascanians, then made considerable progress in Christianizing and cultivating the lands. There was never any distinction made by any of the German rulers and the Slavic and German tribes intermarried. During the 13th century they began acquiring territory east of the
Oder River, later known as the
Neumark (see also
Altmark).
13th century
In 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end, and from 1323 until 1373 Brandenburg was under the control of the
Wittelsbach family, better known as the rulers of
Bavaria. After a period of rule by the
Luxembourg dynasty, however, the margraviate was granted in 1415 by Emperor
Sigismund to the House of
Hohenzollern, which would rule until the end of
World War I. From the
Golden Bull in 1356 until the Empire's end in 1806, the
Margrave of Brandenburg was also one of the Electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
16th century
Brandenburg was one of the German states to convert in 1539 to
Protestantism in the wake of the
Protestant Reformation, and generally did quite well in the century following, as the dynasty expanded its lands to include the
Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and, along the lower Rhine, the
Duchy of Cleves (1614) and elsewhere. The result was a sprawling, disconnected country that was in poor shape to defend itself during the
Thirty Years' War.
Towards the end of that devastating conflict and after, however, Brandenburg (and its
successor states) enjoyed a string of talented rulers who gradually maneuvered their country towards the heights of power in Europe. The first of these was
Frederick William, the so-called "Great Elector", who worked tirelessly to rebuild and consolidate the nation. He moved the capital from the town of Brandenburg to
Potsdam.
|
Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam |
When Frederick William died in 1688, he was followed by his son
Frederick, third of that name in Brandenburg. As the lands that had been acquired in Prussia were outside the formal boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick assumed (as Frederick I) the title of "
King in Prussia" (1701), basing this promotion from margrave on his title to what were, in actuality, vast but less agriculturally valuable stretches of sandy ground. Brandenburg was still the most important portion of the kingdom (and the state was often referred to informally as
Brandenburg-Prussia) but for the purposes of accuracy, the continuation of this history can be found at
Kingdom of Prussia.
When Prussia was subdivided into provinces in 1815, the territory of the Margraviate of Brandenburg became the
Province of Brandenburg. In 1881, the City of
Berlin was separated from the Province of Brandenburg. Brandenburg had an area of 39,039 km² and a population of 2.6 million (1925). After
World War II, the
Neumark, the part of Brandenburg east of the
Oder-Neisse Line, was annexed by
Poland; the remainder of the province became a state when Prussia was dissolved in 1947. The State of Brandenburg was dissolved in 1952 by the government of
East Germany.
Reunification
The present State of Brandenburg was re-established after
German reunification in 1990. In 1995 the governments of Berlin and Brandenburg proposed to merge the states in order to form a new state with the name of "Berlin-Brandenburg". The merger was rejected in a
plebiscite in 1996: While West Berliners voted for a merger, East Berliners and Brandenburgers voted against it.
For earlier rulers, see
List of rulers of Brandenburg.
# 1947 - 1949:
Karl Steinhoff (
SED, formerly
SPD)# 1949 - 1952:
Rudolf Jahn (SED)# 1990 - 2002:
Manfred Stolpe (SPD)# since 2002:
Matthias Platzeck (SPD)
|
seat results - September 19, 2004 |
See also
Elections in GermanyBrandenburg is served by the same three airports that serve
Berlin. They are
Tegel International Airport,
Tempelhof International Airport, and
Schönefeld International Airport. Schönefeld Airport will eventually become
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, while Tegel and Tempelhof will close after BBI is established.
*
Official website *
Official website of the Tourist Board *
Brandenburg districts and timeline *
Map of Brandenburg in 1789 
