Free City of Hamburg: Map & History

History

Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) reported the first name for the vicinity as Treva.

The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in AD 808. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the Alster and the Elbe rivers as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg, burg meaning castle or fort. The origin of the Hamma term remains uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz.

In 834 AD, Hamburg was established as the seat of a bishopric. Its first bishop, Ansgar, later known as the Apostle of the North, founded the city's early Christian institutions. Two years later, Hamburg was linked with Bremen to form the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.

Government

The city of Hamburg is one of 16 German states, therefore the Mayor of Hamburg's office corresponds more to the role of a minister-president than to that of a city mayor. As a German state government, it is responsible for public education, correctional institutions and public safety; as a municipality, it is additionally responsible for libraries, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply and welfare services.

Since 1897, the seat of the government has been Hamburg City Hall (Hamburg Rathaus), with the office of the mayor, the meeting room for the Senate and the floor for the Hamburg Parliament.

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of Hamburg was €119.0 billion in 2018, accounting for 3.6% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €59,600 or 197% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 132% of the EU average. The city has a relatively high employment rate, at 88 percent of the working-age population, employed in over 160,000 businesses. The median gross salary in 2021 was €47,544, which is 9.29% higher than the median gross salary in Germany overall.

The unemployment rate stood at 6.1% in October 2018 and was higher than the German average.

Hamburg has for centuries been a commercial centre of Northern Europe, and is the most important banking city of Northern Germany.

Culture

From the 1760s, the theatre director Abel Seyler—the leader of the Hamburg National Theatre and subsequently the Seyler Theatre Company—established Hamburg as one of the leading European centres of theatrical innovation, promoting experimental productions and pioneering a new more realist style of acting, introducing Shakespeare to a German-language audience, and promoting the concept of a national theatre in the tradition of Ludvig Holberg, the Sturm und Drang playwrights, and serious German opera.

Today Hamburg has more than 40 theatres, 60 museums, and 100 music venues and clubs.