Hamburg

Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (German)
Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg (Low German)
Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (German); Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg (Low German)
State of Germany
	Flag Coat of arms
Country	Germany
Government
• First Mayor	Peter Tschentscher (SPD)
• Governing parties	SPD / The Greens
• Votes in Bundesrat	3 (of 69)
Area
• City	755 km2 (292 sq mi)
Population (30 September 2016)
• City	1,822,445
• Density	2,413.8/km2 (6,252/sq mi)
• Metro	5,107,429
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code(s)	20001–21149, 22001–22769
ISO 3166 code	DE-HH
Vehicle registration	HH (1906–1945; again since 1956) ; MGH (1945) ; H (1945–1947) ; HG (1947) ; BH (1948–1956) ;
GDP/ Nominal	€ 111/$130 billion (2016)
GDP per capita	€ 62,000/$72,900 (2015)
NUTS Region	DE6
Website	hamburg.de

Hamburg, or in full Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Low German: Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg), is a city in the north of Germany on the banks of the River Elbe, 18 km away from the North Sea. It is also one of the States of Germany.

With a population of about 1.85 million (1850000), it is the biggest German city after Berlin and the sixth largest city of the European Union. The religion is about 37% Protestant, 10% Catholic, 8% Muslim, 38% agnostic, 2% Pagan.

Since it was an important member of the Hanseatic League, the city's official name still includes Hansestadt (Hanseatic city). Other German cities that do the same today are: Lübeck, Rostock, Wismar, Stralsund, Bremen, Greifswald and Demmin. The membership in this trade alliance has influenced the architecture of the city to a great extent. It has also left some marks in the region around the city. Strategic bombing in World War II devastated the city.

In 2017 a consulting company ranked it 17th for best place to live in the world.^[4]

The area of Hamburg is 755.16 km² (291.6 sq mi).^[5] It has an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Economy

Hamburg's harbour is, by shipments, the second largest harbour in Europe (after Rotterdam) and among the ten largest in the world. It is a very important gate to the countries along the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe.

There are about 120,000 businesses in Hamburg.^[6] The company Airbus has an assembly plant for large civil aircraft in Hamburg. 30,000 people are employed in Hamburg's aircraft industries. Only two other places in the world have so many: Seattle in the United States and Toulouse in France.

About half of Germany's nationwide newspapers and magazines are made in Hamburg. Germany's most-viewed television news Tagesschau is broadcast from Hamburg.

Hamburg's red-light district (in Sankt Pauli) is the largest in Europe.

Hamburg Jungfernstieg in 1895

Hamburg 1800

Sister cities

Russia, Saint Petersburg, since 1957
France, Marseille, since 1958
China, Shanghai, since 1986
Germany, Dresden, since 1987
Nicaragua, León, since 1989
Japan, Ōsaka, since 1989
Czech Republic, Prague, since 1990
United States, Chicago, since 1994

Hamburg Media

Hamburgin
Historical sight of the German town of Hamburg
- Blick vom westlichen Wall (vermutlich vom Stintfang, bei der heutigen Jugendherberge) auf die Stadt mit den Kirchtürmen von St. Michaelis, St. Petri, St. Jacobi (im Hintergrund mit verkürztem Turmhelm), St. Nikolai und St. Katharinen (von links nach rechts). Zwischen den beiden letzten das Waisenhaus (mit Dachreiter) und ganz rechts am Bildrand das Baumhaus am Hafen.
Hamburg Eilbek after the 1943 bombing; today around 25% of Hamburg's buildings are from before WW2
Container Terminal at the Port of Hamburg
Hamburg population pyramid in 2022
Hamburg City Hall (front view)
The 7 boroughs and 104 quarters of Hamburg
The part of the North Sea in this aerial picture is called the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park and belongs administratively to the borough of Hamburg-Mitte. Some 50 people live here on the island Neuwerk (visible just above the centre).
Historicist Palmaille, Altona. Nearly 25.000 buildings in Hamburg are from those Gründerzeit times.