Brandenburg (;
Lower Sorbian:
Bramborska;
Upper Sorbian:
Braniborska) is one of the sixteen
states of
Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former
West Germany and
East Germany. The capital is
Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the national capital
Berlin.
Historically, Brandenburg was an independent state, the
Margraviate of Brandenburg, which grew to become the core of independent Prussia and later the German state of Prussia. About a third of historic Brandenburg (land east of the Oder River) was annexed by Poland following the establishment of the new
Oder-Neisse border in 1945 by the Allies. This region was historically known as East Brandenburg. The federal state of Brandenburg is named after the town of
Brandenburg an der Havel.
History
In late medieval and early modern times, Brandenburg was one of seven
electoral states of the
Holy Roman Empire, and, along with Prussia, formed the original core of the
German Empire, the first unified German state. Governed by the
Hohenzollern dynasty from in 1415, it contained the future German capital
Berlin. After 1618 the
Margraviate of Brandenburg and the
Duchy of Prussia were combined to form
Brandenburg-Prussia, which was ruled by the same branch of the
House of Hohenzollern. In 1701 the state was elevated as the
Kingdom of Prussia. Franconian
Nuremberg and
Ansbach, Swabian
Hohenzollern, the eastern European connections of Berlin, and the status of Brandenburg's ruler as
prince-elector together were instrumental in the rise of that state.
Early Middle Ages
Brandenburg is situated in territory known in antiquity as
Magna Germania, which reached to the Vistula river. By the seventh century,
Slavic peoples are believed to have settled in the Brandenburg area. The Slavs expanded from the east, possibly driven from their homelands in present-day Ukraine and perhaps Belarus by the invasions of the
Huns and
Avars. They relied heavily on river transport. The two principal Slavic groups in the present-day area of Brandenburg were the
Hevelli in the west and the
Sprevane in the east.
Beginning in the early 900s,
Henry the Fowler and his successors conquered territory up to the
Oder River. Slavic settlements such as Brenna (
Brandenburg an der Havel), Budusin (
Bautzen), and Chośebuz (
Cottbus) came under
imperial control through the installation of margraves. Their main function was to defend and protect the eastern
marches. In 948 Emperor
Otto I established margraves to exert imperial control over the pagan Slavs west of the Oder River. Otto founded the Bishoprics of
Brandenburg and
Havelberg. The
Northern March was founded as a northeastern border territory of the
Holy Roman Empire. However, a great uprising of
Wends drove imperial forces from the territory of present-day Brandenburg in 983. The region returned to the control of Slavic leaders.
12th century
During the 12th century the
Ottonian German kings and emperors re-established control over the mixed Slav-inhabited lands of present-day Brandenburg, although some Slavs like the
Sorbs in
Lusatia adapted to
Germanization while retaining their distinctiveness. The
Roman Catholic Church brought bishoprics which, with their walled towns, afforded protection from attacks for the townspeople. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of
Brandenburg an der Havel, which was the first center of 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 III. He formally inherited the town of Brandenburg and the lands of the Hevelli from their last Wendish ruler,
Pribislav, in 1150. After crushing a force of Sprevane who occupied the town of Brandenburg in the 1150s, Albert proclaimed himself ruler of the new
Margraviate of Brandenburg. Albert, and his descendants the
Ascanians, then made considerable progress in conquering, colonizing, Christianizing, and cultivating lands as far east as the Oder. Within this region, Slavic and German residents intermarried. During the 13th century the Ascanians began acquiring territory east of the Oder, later known as the
Neumark (see also
Altmark).
Late Middle Ages
In 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end, and from 1323 up until 1415 Brandenburg was under the control of the
Wittelsbachs of
Bavaria, followed by the
Luxembourg dynasty. Under the Luxembourgs, the
Margrave of Brandenburg gained the status of a
prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1415, the Electorate of Brandenburg was granted by Emperor
Sigismund to the
House of Hohenzollern, which would rule until the end of
World War I. The Hohenzollerns established their capital in Berlin, by then the economic center of Brandenburg.
16th and 17th centuries
Brandenburg converted to
Protestantism in 1539 in the wake of the
Protestant Reformation, and generally did quite well in the 16th century, with the expansion of trade along the Elbe, Havel, and Spree Rivers. The Hohenzollerns expanded their territory by acquiring the
Duchy of Prussia in 1618, the
Duchy of Cleves (1614) in the
Rhineland, and territories in
Westphalia. The result was a sprawling, disconnected country known as
Brandenburg-Prussia that was in poor shape to defend itself during the
Thirty Years' War.
Beginning near the end of that devastating conflict, however, Brandenburg enjoyed a string of talented rulers who expanded their territory and 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 royal residence to
Potsdam.
Kingdom of Prussia and united Germany
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 boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick assumed (as Frederick I) the title of "
King in Prussia" (1701). Although his self-promotion from margrave to king relied on his title to the Duchy of Prussia, Brandenburg was still the most important portion of the kingdom. However, this combined kingdom is known as the
Kingdom of Prussia.
Brandenburg remained the core of the Kingdom of Prussia, and it was the site of the kingdom's capitals, Berlin and Potsdam. 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. However, industrial towns ringing Berlin lay within Brandenburg, and the growth of the region's industrial economy brought an increase in the population of the province. The Province of Brandenburg had an area of 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 transferred to
Poland; and its native German population expelled. The remainder of the province became a state in East Germany when Prussia was dissolved in 1947. The State of Brandenburg was completely dissolved in 1952 by the Socialist government of
East Germany.
East Germany and reunified Germany
In 1952, the East German government divided Brandenburg among several
Bezirke or districts. (See
Administrative division of the German Democratic Republic). Most of Brandenburg lay within the Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder), or Cottbus districts, but parts of the former province passed to the Schwerin, Neubrandenburg and Magdeburg districts (town
Havelberg). East Germany relied heavily on
lignite (the lowest grade of coal) as an energy source, and lignite strip mines marred areas of southeastern Brandenburg. The industrial towns surrounding Berlin were important to the East German economy, while rural Brandenburg remained mainly agricultural.
The present State of Brandenburg was re-established on
October 3,
1990. As in other former parts of East Germany, the lack of modern infrastructure and exposure to West Germany's competitive market economy brought widespread joblessness and economic difficulty. In the recent years, however, Brandenburg's infrastructure has been modernized and joblessness has slowly declined.
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.
Geography
Brandenburg is bordered by
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the north,
Poland in the east, the
Freistaat Sachsen 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 well-preserved natural environment and its ambitious natural protection policies which began in the 1990s. 15 large protected areas were designated following
Germany's reunification. Each of them is provided with state-financed administration and a park ranger staff, who guide visitors and work to ensure nature conservation. Most protected areas have visitor centers.
National parksBiosphere reserves- Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve ()
- River Landscape Elbe-Brandenburg Biosphere Reserve ()
Nature parks Political subdivisions
Brandenburg is divided into 14 rural districts (
Landkreise):
and 4 urban districts (
kreisfreie Städte):
Government
Matthias Platzeck
September 2009 state election
