GERMANY : HAMBURG HISTORY
It is very likely that
17,000 years ago nomadic hunter/gatherers entered the prehistoric lower
Elbe river valley after the water, produced from the melting ice during
the last Ice Age, had receded. There is no firm evidence of settlement
before 400 BC. The migration of peoples, especially of Germanic and
Slavic peoples, into Southern and Western Europe. Between AD 400 and 600
the area north of the river Elbe was settled by the Saxons. There is
evidence of Saxon settlement on the Geest above the mouth of the river
Alster where it joins the river Elbe as far back as AD 4. The earliest
discovered ruins are dated AD 5-6.
The history of
Hamburg starts in the year AD 825 with the building of the "Hammaburg",
a moated castle built between the Alster and Elbe rivers. This was
apparently a combination of earth works and a wooden palisade type of
fortress. The second part of the name is clearly "-burg" for "castle",
but there are three contenders for the origin of the "Ham-" part. These
are reported as being: Ham = River Bank in the Saxon tongue of the time
or Hamme being the name of the Beech woods that surrounded the area and
were used in building the walls of the fortress or something fixed in a
marshy area; again presumably in the then local dialect.
Thus it soon became
the seat of the Archbishop Ansgar, who used the castle as a base for
missions to convert the wild heathens of northern Europe. After the
Vikings had burned the building down in AD845, it was rebuilt and
destroyed some 8 times over the next several hundred years.
It was then that
commerce was to take over as the principle function of the city. The
founding of Lübeck on the Baltic coast, allowed Hamburg to become its
port on the North Sea. It was in 1188 that a group of Hamburg merchants
received a charter for the building of a new town, close to the old one,
with a harbour on the Alster and Elbe. This was confirmed and enhanced
the following year of 1189, by the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, in a
charter giving the budding port, special trading rights, toll exemptions
and navigational privileges. Over the next century, Hamburg's economic
importance grew with the development of the Hanseatic League, founded in
Lübeck. Hamburg provided port facilities for Lübeck that opened up the
way to the rest of the world.
Hamburg's role as
protector of trade on the Elbe was enhanced by the purchase of land
bordering the Elbe. A "minor hitch" occurred in 1459, with the death of
the last Schauernburg count of Holstein, whose princely rights past to
the Danish Crown. This was never really fully recognised in anything,
but a formal and ineffectual way and was eventually much later in 1768,
with the Treaty of Gottorp, formally returned to Hamburg.
Towards the end of
the middle ages, the Hanseatic League began to decline and Hamburg began
to make its own way and develop its own economic infrastructure. The
Hamburg Stock Exchange was founded in 1558, the Bank of Hamburg in 1619
and a protective convoy system started in 1662. With this system,
Hamburg's merchantmen were the first to be escorted by men-of-war on the
high seas.
All that time,
Hamburg protected itself by taking a politically neutral position and,
just to be sure, had fortified itself well. Thus despite the devastating
30 year war, Hamburg was able to continue to grow in economic
importance. This process was helped by the emigration into the lower
Elbe area of many Dutch merchants trying to escape the religious wars at
home.
Hamburg's advantage
was brought to an end, when in 1810, due to the Napoleonic wars,
Germany's old order was overthrown and the Hamburg "City State" was
annexed to the French Empire. But with the downfall of Napoleon some 5
years later, Hamburg was able to become a member of the new German
Confederation and after 1819 was known as "The free and hanseatic city
of Hamburg".
Hamburg quickly
resumed its successful position as a trading basis with the newly
developing areas of Africa and Central and Southern America, not
forgetting the Far East. At home, the city was being developed and
expanded with great energy. New warehouse areas and harbour facilities
were built and the city expanded to swallow up neighbouring small towns
and villages. Hamburg managed to survive a disastrous fire in 1842,
which destroyed almost a quarter of the city centre.
There were more
difficulties ahead in both 1st and 2nd world wars, especially during the
latter, when the east of the city was totally destroyed by the
Firestorm, started by allied bombing. During that war some 55,000 people
were killed and 50-60% of all the city's facilities were destroyed and
the reconstruction took over 20 or more years.
Today, Hamburg has
regained its old position as Germany's "Gateway to the World", handling
a very high proportion of modern Germany's imports and exports. It has
retained its City State status and is very proud to be the "Freie und
Hansestadt Hamburg".
