Hamburg

Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
Hamborg

Conventional short name:
Local:	Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
English:	Hamburg
National motto: THE MOTTO!
Area:	AREA
Cities:
Capital:	CAPITAL CITY
Largest:	LARGEST CITY
Other:	OTHER CITIES
Currency:	CURRENCY
Established:	YEAR, DECREE OR REASON
Languages:
Official:	OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Others:	OTHER LANGUAGES
Population:	POPULATION ADJECTIVE
RULER:	NAME
Organizations:	Holy Roman Empire

Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire was founded in the first ten years of the 9th century as Hamma Burg, or fortified town. In 834, a matter of twenty years after the founding, Hamburg became a bishopric, under Ansgar, the Apostle of the North.

In 845 at least 600 Viking ships came up the Elbe river and laid waste to Hamburg, which then numbered 500 inhabitants. Its bishopric was then combined with nearby Bremen. The city was again burned in 1030 by Mieszko II of Veneda. The Bishopric was finaly removed after raids in 1066 and 1072.

Frederick I Barbarossa is reputed to have given Hamburg charter to free access up the Lower Elbe, and its proximity to the trade routes of the North and Baltic Seas made it a major port in Northern Europe. The original Allianz with Lubeck is credited as the birth of the Hanseatic League.

In the 1520's Lutheranism was embraced and Hamburg became a haven for refugees from persecution.

Hamburg was heavily bombed during the Great Wars and now the centre of the city has almost no buildings from before 1945 and none before 1940.