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The Kingdom of Hanover ( German : Königreich Hannover ) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna , with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era . It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover , and joined 38 other sovereign states in the German Confederation in June 1815. The kingdom was ruled by the House of Hanover , a cadet branch of the House of Welf , in personal union with Great Britain between 1714 and 1837. Since its monarch resided in London, a viceroy , usually a younger member of the British royal family , handled the administration of the Kingdom of Hanover.

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91-548: Rosdorf is a municipality in the district of Göttingen , in Lower Saxony , Germany . It is approximately 4 km southwest of Göttingen . Sören Steinberg (SPD) was elected the new mayor in May 2014, and re-elected in 2021. He is the successor of Harald Grahovac (SPD) who was 18 years in office. Before the election, Sören Steinberg was the office manager of Thomas Oppermann . This Göttingen district location article

182-603: A Prussian province ; after 1919 Brunswick became a free state). Historically a close tie existed between the royal house of Hanover ( Electorate of Hanover ) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as a result of their personal union in the 18th century (the personal union was dissolved when Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1837 because Hanover did not allow female rulers). West of

273-562: A constitutional crisis as he tried to suspend parliament and nullify the written constitution of 1819. He also presided over the country during the turbulent Revolutions of 1848 . His son, George V , assumed the throne in 1851. In 1866, during the Austro-Prussian War , Hanover attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation . Hanover's vote in favor of

364-522: A Lower Saxon Constituency Association ( Wahlkreisverband IX (Niedersachsen) ). This indicates that at that time the western administrations of the Prussian Province of Hanover and the state of Oldenburg were perceived as being "Lower Saxon". The forerunners of today's state of Lower Saxony were lands that were geographically and, to some extent, institutionally interrelated from very early on. The County of Schaumburg (not to be confused with

455-488: A dynastic male was still alive. Her uncle Ernest Augustus thus became the ruler of Hanover. His only son succeeded him to the throne as George V . As he backed the losing side in the Austro-Prussian War , his kingdom was conquered by Prussia in 1866 and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, becoming the Prussian Province of Hanover . In January 1871, along with the rest of Prussia, Hanover became part of

546-627: A junior branch of the House of Hanover. In 1884, that branch became extinct with the death of William , a distant cousin of Ernest Augustus. Since Ernest Augustus refused to renounce his claim to annexed Hanover, the Bundesrat of the German Empire ruled that he would disturb the peace of the empire if he ascended the throne of Brunswick. As a result, Brunswick was ruled by a regency until 1913, when his son, also named Ernest Augustus , married

637-635: A male took precedence only over his own sisters. The Congress of Vienna instituted a territorial adjustment between Hanover and Prussia to form more contiguous borders. Hanover increased its area substantially, gaining the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim , East Frisia , the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück , the Lower County of Lingen and the northern part of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster . Hanover also annexed territories that had previously been ruled in personal union by its Elector, such as

728-465: A number of areas to the east, for example, in what is now west and north Saxony-Anhalt. The land of the Saxons was divided into about 60  Gaue . The Frisians had not moved into this region; for centuries they preserved their independence in the most northwesterly region of the present-day Lower Saxon territory. The original language of the folk in the area of Old Saxony was West Low German , one of

819-602: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a German state ( Land ) in northwestern Germany . It is the second-largest state by land area, with 47,614 km (18,384 sq mi), and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany . In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian are still spoken, though by declining numbers of people. Lower Saxony borders on (from north and clockwise)

910-656: Is a depression near Freepsum in East Frisia. The state's economy, population, and infrastructure are centred on the cities and towns of Hanover, Stadthagen, Celle, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg , Hildesheim, and Salzgitter. Together with Göttingen in southern Lower Saxony, they form the core of the Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region . Lower Saxony has clear regional divisions that manifest themselves geographically, as well as historically and culturally. In

1001-759: The British Zone of Occupation . On 23 August 1946, the British Military Government issued Ordinance No. 46 "Concerning the dissolution of the provinces of the former state of Prussia in the British Zone and their reconstitution as independent states" , which initially established the State of Hanover on the territory of the former Prussian Province of Hanover. Its minister president, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf , had already suggested in June 1945

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1092-775: The County of Hohenstein  [ de ] , a Hanoverian exclave in the Eastern Harz mountains), in Osnabrück (for the former Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück ), in Otterndorf (existed 1535–1885 for the Land of Hadeln ) as well as in Stade (existed 1650–1903, until 1885 for the former Bremen-Verden proper without Hadeln, then including the complete Stade region ). A general superintendent chaired each consistory. In 1848,

1183-677: The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , excepting the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel . After his accession in 1714, George Louis of the House of Hanover ascended the throne of Great Britain as George I , and Hanover was joined in a personal union with Great Britain. In 1803, Hanover was conquered by the French and Prussian armies in the Napoleonic Wars . The Treaties of Tilsit in 1807 joined it to territories from Prussia and created

1274-613: The German Empire upon the unification of Germany . Briefly revived as the State of Hanover in 1946, the state was later merged with some smaller states to form the current state of Lower Saxony in West Germany . The territory of Hanover had earlier been a principality within the Holy Roman Empire before being elevated into an electorate in 1708, when Hanover was formed by union of the dynastic divisions of

1365-766: The Hanover Land-Rabbinate  [ de ] ( Hanover and Lüneburg regions ), the Hildesheim Land-Rabbinate (Hildesheim region and Clausthal Mountain Captaincy  [ de ] ), and the Stade Land-Rabbinate  [ nds ] ( Stade region ). In many diaspora areas Jews regarded this a progress and a burden alike, because of the implied financial burden for rabbis and religion teacher, synagogues or schools . The local authorities now requested that

1456-678: The Kingdom of Westphalia , ruled by Napoleon 's youngest brother, Jérôme Bonaparte . French control lasted until October 1813, when the territory was overrun by Russian Cossacks . The Battle of Leipzig , shortly thereafter, spelled the definitive end of the Napoleonic client states , and the electorate was restored to the House of Hanover. The terms of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 not only restored Hanover but also elevated it to an independent kingdom with its Prince-Elector, George III of

1547-461: The Nazi Party seized power in 1933, they quickly transformed Germany into a highly centralized state and divided the entire Third Reich into Gaue which largely superseded (but did not outright replace) Germany's traditional federal system. Nevertheless, some changes to the old state and provincial borders were made in 1937, notably including the city of Cuxhaven being fully integrated into

1638-606: The Netherlands , called the Guelphic Legion . It was eventually disbanded in 1870. Nevertheless, George refused to accept the Prussian takeover of his realm and claimed he was still the legitimate king of Hanover. His only son, Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover , inherited the claim upon George's death in 1878. Ernest Augustus was also first in line to the throne of the Duchy of Brunswick , whose rulers had been

1729-629: The North Sea , the states of Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Brandenburg , Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia , Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia , and the Netherlands . Furthermore, the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen , the other its seaport , Bremerhaven (which is a semi-exclave , as it has a coastline). Lower Saxony thus borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland . The state's largest cities are

1820-760: The Ständeversammlung (lit. Estates Assembly , the Hanoverian parliament) to pass a new law as to the constitution of the Lutheran church. The constitution provided a state synod (parishioners' parliament, German : Landessynode ). But its first session only materialised in 1869 when, after the 1866 Prussian annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover, the Hanoverian Lutherans desired a representative body separate from Prussian rule, though it

1911-482: The district of Tecklenburg and the state of Lippe . Kopf's plan was ultimately based on a draft for the reform of the German Empire from the late 1920s by Georg Schnath and Kurt Brüning. The strong Welf connotations of this draft, according to Thomas Vogtherr, did not simplify the development of a Lower Saxon identity after 1946. An alternative model, proposed by politicians in Oldenburg and Brunswick, envisaged

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2002-428: The north temperate zone of central Europe that is affected by prevailing Westerlies and is located in a transition zone between the maritime climate of Western Europe and the continental climate of Eastern Europe . This transition is clearly noticeable within the state: whilst the northwest experiences an Atlantic (North Sea coastal) to Sub-Atlantic climate, with comparatively low variations in temperature during

2093-432: The "Constituency Association of Lower Saxony" in 1920. In a lecture on 14 September 2007, Dietmar von Reeken described the emergence of a "Lower Saxony consciousness" in the 19th century, the geographical basis of which was used to invent a territorial construct: the resulting local heritage societies ( Heimatvereine ) and their associated magazines routinely used the terms "Lower Saxony" or "Lower Saxon" in their names. At

2184-469: The 1930s, a real Lower Saxony did not yet exist, but there were a plethora of institutions that would have called themselves "Lower Saxon". The motives and arguments in the disputes between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia" were very similar on both sides: economic interests, political aims, cultural interests and historical aspects. After the Second World War most of Northwest Germany lay within

2275-672: The Calvinist congregations elsewhere in Hanover were in a somewhat sorry state. Though some Calvinist congregations of Huguenot origin were organised in the Lower Saxon Confederation ( German : Niedersächsische Konföderation ). The Lutheran church being the state church of Hanover also supervised the Calvinist diaspora parishes outside East Frisia and Bentheim. In 1848 the new Hanoverian law also provided for presbyteries in these Calvinist parishes, which exactly fit

2366-727: The Duchies of Bremen-Verden and the County of Bentheim . It lost those parts of Saxe-Lauenburg to the northeast of the Elbe , which was assigned in personal union to Denmark , except the Amt Neuhaus . Further small exclaves in the east were lost. Hanover comprised a number of territories, which had been Imperial Estates within the Holy Roman Empire . Their respective governments, now called provincial governments, were organised according to partially very old traditions, including different levels of estate participation in rule. In 1823,

2457-514: The Elbe downstream Hamburg are known as the Altes Land (Old Country). Due to its gentle local climate and fertile soil, it is the state's largest area of fruit farming, its chief produce being apples . Most of the state's territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover , and the state of Lower Saxony has adopted the coat of arms and other symbols of the former kingdom. It was created by

2548-592: The German Emperor's daughter, Princess Viktoria Luise and swore allegiance to the German Empire. The Duke then renounced his claim to Brunswick in favour of his son, and the Bundesrat allowed the younger Ernest Augustus to take possession of Brunswick as a kind of dowry compensation for Hanover. The German-Hanoverian Party , which at times supported secession from the Reich , demanded a separate status for

2639-641: The Jewish congregations establish synagogues and Jewish education for the pupils. The land-rabbins , chairing the land-rabbinates, simultaneously fulfilled religious and state functions, like supervising Jewish elementary schools and the teaching of Jewish religion in all schools. The Kingdom of Hanover was thus one of the few states within the German Confederation, where rabbins held a similar semi-state authoritative position as to Jews as did, e.g., Lutheran clergy towards Lutherans. In 1813, George III

2730-622: The Jews , the government took the decisions of the German Confederation on the rights of the Jews, in Johann Smidt 's manipulated formulation, as the legal grounds. In 1842, Hanover finally granted equal rights to Jews and promoted to build up Jewish congregations, where this did not already happen earlier, and a superstructure of four regional land-rabbinates . These were the Emden Land-Rabbinate (Aurich and Osnabrück regions),

2821-676: The Kingdom of Hanover with the King being summus episcopus (Supreme Governor of the Lutheran Church). Regional consistories supervised church and clergy. These were in Aurich , a simultaneously Lutheran and Calvinist consistory dominated by Lutherans (for East Frisia ) and the Lutheran consistories in Hanover (for the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg proper), in Ilfeld (for

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2912-543: The Lutheran parishes were democratised by the introduction of presbyteries ( German : Kirchenvorstände , singular Kirchenvorstand ; literally: church boards ), elected by all major male parishioners and chairing each congregation in co-operation with the pastor , being before the sole chairman. This introduction of presbyteries was somewhat revolutionary in the rather hierarchically structured Lutheran church. In 1864, Carl Lichtenberg , Hanoverian minister of education, cultural and religious affairs (1862–65), persuaded

3003-584: The Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe) around the towns of Rinteln and Hessisch Oldendorf did indeed belong to the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau until 1932, a province that also included large parts of the present state of Hesse, including the cities of Kassel , Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main ; but in 1932 the County of Schaumburg became part of the Prussian Province of Hanover. When

3094-637: The Prussian Province of Hanover under the Greater Hamburg Act . The effect of this Nazi-era change was that in 1946, after the Third Reich had collapsed and when state of Lower Saxony was founded, only four states needed to be merged. With the exception of Bremen and the areas that were ceded to the Soviet Occupation Zone in 1945, all those areas allocated to the new state of Lower Saxony in 1946, had already been merged into

3185-646: The Prussians during its march south towards Austria, at the Battle of Langensalza . However, it was later surrounded and forced to surrender to Prussia. After the personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 with the accession of Queen Victoria, Hanover kept the British royal arms and standard , only introducing a new Crown, after the British model. The centre of this coat of arms and royal standard included

3276-499: The River Hunte a "de-Westphalianising process" began in 1815. After the Congress of Vienna the territories of the later administrative regions ( Regierungsbezirke ) of Osnabrück and Aurich transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe retained state autonomy. Nevertheless, the entire Weser-Ems region (including the city of Bremen ) were grouped in 1920 into

3367-734: The Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of the Nordic Missions , into the existing dioceses of the former prince-bishoprics, whose diocesan territories were thus extended into the diaspora areas. Jews lived all over Hanover in diaspora . Until 1806, they were not allowed to reside in some areas. By the Westphalian and French annexations in 1807 and 1810, all-male inhabitants in later restituted Hanover became Westphalian or French citizens of equal rights. On 17 March 1808, Napoléon Bonaparte restricted

3458-549: The Saxon peoples left their homeland in Holstein about the 3rd century and pushed southwards over the Elbe , where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands, in present-day Northwest Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the Netherlands . From about the 7th century the Saxons had occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to the present state of Lower Saxony, of Westphalia and

3549-522: The United Kingdom, as King of Hanover . The new kingdom was also greatly expanded and became the fourth-largest state in the German Confederation (behind Prussia, Austria and Bavaria ) and the second-largest in northern Germany. George III never visited the kingdom during his 60-year reign. Having succumbed to dementia prior to the elevation of Hanover, it is unlikely that he ever understood that he had gained an additional kingship, and he took no role in its governance. Functional administration of Hanover

3640-484: The Weser-Ems region was placed under the rule of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The word Niedersachsen was first used before 1300 in a Dutch rhyming chronicle ( Reimchronik ). From the 14th century it referred to the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (as opposed to Saxe-Wittenberg ). On the creation of the imperial circles in 1500, a Lower Saxon Circle was distinguished from a Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle . The latter included

3731-444: The accession to the throne by a female if any male of the dynasty had survived. Ernest Augustus , now the eldest surviving son of George III, succeeded to the throne as King of Hanover. Adolph Frederick, the younger brother and long-time Viceroy, returned to Britain. Ernest Augustus had a personally-strained relationship with his niece Queen Victoria, and they frequently squabbled over family affairs. Domestically, his reign began with

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3822-731: The area of Helmstedt. The highest levels of precipitation are experienced in the Harz because the Lower Saxon part forms the windward side of this mountain range against which orographic rain falls. The average annual temperature is 8 °C (46 °F); 7.5 °C (45.5 °F) in the Altes Land and 8.5 °C (47.3 °F) in the district of Cloppenburg . Lower Saxony is divided into 37 districts ( Landkreise or simply Kreise ): Furthermore, there are eight urban districts and two cities with special status: Between 1946 and 2004,

3913-535: The coast East Frisia . The state is dominated by several large northwards-flowing rivers, including the Ems , Weser , Aller , and the Elbe. The highest point in Lower Saxony is the Wurmberg (971 metres or 3,186 feet) in the Harz. Most of the significant hills and mountains are found in the southeastern part of the state. The lowest point in the state, at about 2.5 metres or 8 feet 2 inches below sea level,

4004-598: The course of the year and a surplus water budget, the climate towards the southeast is increasingly affected by the Continent. This is clearly shown by greater temperature variations between the summer and winter halves of the year and in lower and more variable amounts of precipitation across the year. This sub-continental effect is most sharply seen in the Wendland, in the Weser Uplands (Hamelin to Göttingen) and in

4095-436: The division of the British occupation zone into three large states proved to be capable of gaining a majority. Because this division of their occupation zone into relatively large states also met the interests of the British, on 8 November 1946 Regulation No. 55 of the British military government was issued, by which the State of Lower Saxony with its capital Hanover were founded, backdated to 1 November 1946. The state

4186-435: The enclave area. To the southeast, the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands . The northeast and west of the state, which form roughly three-quarters of its land area, belong to the North German Plain, while the south is in the Lower Saxon Hills , including the Weser Uplands , Leine Uplands , Schaumburg Land , Brunswick Land , Untereichsfeld , Elm , and Lappwald . In

4277-420: The end of 2023, there were almost 1,085,315 non-German citizens in Lower Saxony. The following table illustrates the largest minority groups in Lower Saxony: Religion in Lower Saxony (Census 2011): Kingdom of Hanover The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 upon the accession of Queen Victoria because semi-Salic law prevented females from inheriting the Hanoverian throne while

4368-405: The end of the 1920s in the context of discussions about a reform of the Reich, and promoted by the expanding local heritage movement ( Heimatbewegung ), a 25-year conflict started between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia". The supporters of this dispute were administrative officials and politicians, but regionally focussed scientists of various disciplines were supposed to have fuelled the arguments. In

4459-410: The following territories that, in whole or in part, belong today to the state of Lower Saxony: the Bishopric of Osnabrück , the Bishopric of Münster , the County of Bentheim , the County of Hoya , the Principality of East Frisia , the Principality of Verden , the County of Diepholz , the County of Oldenburg , the County of Schaumburg and the County of Spiegelberg . At the same time a distinction

4550-474: The following: The Hanoverian subdivisions into high-bailiwicks and bailiwicks remained unchanged until 1 April 1885, when they were replaced by Prussian-style provinces ( Regierungsbezirke ) and districts ( Kreise ). The Kingdom of Hanover maintained an army after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1832, King William IV of Hanover and the United Kingdom issued his troops with British Army uniforms, but they differed slightly from their original British versions. When

4641-459: The formation of a state of Lower Saxony, that was to include the largest possible region in the middle of the British Zone. In addition to the regions that actually became Lower Saxony subsequently, Kopf asked, in a memorandum dated April 1946, for the inclusion of the former Prussian district of Minden-Ravensberg (i.e. the Westphalian city of Bielefeld as well as the Westphalian districts of Minden , Lübbecke , Bielefeld , Herford and Halle ),

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4732-404: The former Hanoverian president ( Regierungspräsident ) as their first minister-president. Kopf led a five-party coalition, whose basic task was to rebuild a state afflicted by the war's rigours. Kopf's cabinet had to organise an improvement of food supplies and the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by Allied air raids during the war years. Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf remained – interrupted by

4823-437: The foundation of the independent state of "Weser-Ems", that would be formed from the state of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Bremen and the administrative regions of Aurich and Osnabrück. Several representatives of the state of Oldenburg even demanded the inclusion of the Hanoverian districts of Diepholz , Syke , Osterholz-Scharmbeck and Wesermünde in the proposed state of "Weser-Ems". Likewise an enlarged State of Brunswick

4914-422: The four administrative regions or governorates ( Regierungsbezirke ), into which Lower Saxony had been hitherto divided, were dissolved. These were the governorates of Braunschweig, Hanover, Lüneburg and Weser-Ems. The largest towns in Lower Saxony as of 31 December 2017: The name of Saxony derives from that of the Germanic confederation of tribes called the Saxons . Before the late medieval period, there

5005-463: The kingdom was reorganised into high-bailiwicks ( German : Landdrosteien , singular: Landdrostei ), each led by a high-bailiff ( German : Landdrost ) according to unitary standards, doing away with the inherited provincial peculiarities. The high-bailiwicks were subdivided into bailiwicks ( German : Ämter , singular Amt ), presided by a bailiff ( Amtmann , plural Amtleute ). The high-bailiwicks, named after their capitals, were

5096-488: The main transport artery to West Berlin and, from 1945 to 1990 was the busiest European border crossing point. Of economic significance for the state was the Volkswagen concern, that restarted the production of civilian vehicles in 1945, initially under British management, and in 1949 transferred into the ownership of the newly founded country of West Germany and state of Lower Saxony. Overall, Lower Saxony, with its large tracts of rural countryside and few urban centres,

5187-427: The medieval, Welf estates of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg . All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out. Two major principalities survived east of the Weser after the Napoleonic Wars: the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick (after 1866 Hanover became

5278-418: The merger of the State of Hanover with three smaller states on 1 November 1946. Lower Saxony has a natural boundary in the north in the North Sea and the lower and middle reaches of the River Elbe , although parts of the city of Hamburg lie south of the Elbe. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave entirely surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a cooperative body for

5369-436: The mobilisation of Confederation troops against Prussia on 14 June 1866 prompted Prussia to declare war. The outcome of the war led to the dissolution of Hanover as an independent kingdom, which was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and became the Prussian Province of Hanover . In 1871, along with the rest of Prussia, it became part of the German Empire . After George V fled Hanover in 1866, he raised forces loyal to him in

5460-439: The new Lower Saxon constitution entered force, replacing the "Provisional Lower Saxon Constitution" of 1951. It enables referendums and plebiscites and establishes environmental protection as a fundamental state principle. The former Hanoverian Amt Neuhaus with its parishes of Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus (Elbe), Stapel, Sückau, Sumte and Tripkau as well as the villages of Neu Bleckede, Neu Wendischthun and Stiepelse in

5551-480: The northeast of Lower Saxony is the Lüneburg Heath. The heath is dominated by the poor, sandy soils of the geest , whilst in the central-east and southeast in the loess börde zone , productive soils with high natural fertility occur. Under these conditions—with loam and sand -containing soils—the land is well-developed agriculturally . In the west lie the County of Bentheim , Osnabrück Land , Emsland , Oldenburg Land , Ammerland , Oldenburg Münsterland , and on

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5642-439: The northern and eastern border of North Rhine-Westphalia has largely been identical with that of the Prussian Province of Westphalia . Only the Free State of Lippe was not incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia until January 1947. With that the majority of the regions left of the Upper Weser became North Rhine-Westphalian. In the end, at the meeting of the Zone Advisory Board on 20 September 1946, Kopf's proposal with regard to

5733-523: The northern parts of the Central Uplands : the Weser Uplands and the Harz Mountains. Between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills , a range of low ridges. The region in the northeast, the Lüneburg Heath ( Lüneburger Heide ), is the largest heathland area of Germany. In the Middle Ages, the town of Lüneburg was wealthy due to salt-mining and the salt trade. To the north the Elbe valley separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and Brandenburg. The left banks of

5824-433: The original arms of Hanover, which consisted of the two lions of the Brunswick , the rampant lion with hearts of Lüneburg and the horse of Hanover, surmounted by the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire for the Holy Roman office of Archbannerbearer/ Archtreasurer . As Hanover no longer was ruled by the British monarchs, the arms of Hanover was simultaneously removed from the British coat of arms and royal standard, so it

5915-508: The parish of Teldau and the historic Hanoverian region in the forest district of Bohldamm in the parish of Garlitz transferred with effect from 30 June 1993 from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Lower Saxony ( Lüneburg district ). From these parishes the new municipality of Amt Neuhaus was created on 1 October 1993. In 1998 Gerhard Glogowski succeeded Gerhard Schröder who became Federal Chancellor. Because he had been linked with various scandals in his home city of Brunswick, he resigned in 1999 and

6006-420: The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 and Ernst August ascended to the crown of Hanover, he replaced their uniforms with Prussian Army -style ones, which included the pickelhaube spiked helmet for his Guard Corps. By 1866 they wore a more Austrian style of uniform , with only the guard corps keeping the Prussian one. During the Austro-Prussian War , the Hanoverian Army fought and defeated

6097-407: The presbyterian structure of Calvinism. Catholics formed an overall minority in Hanover, but regionally majorities in the former prince-bishoprics. By the annexations in 1803 and 1814 Hanover had become a state of three Christian denominations. In 1824, Hanover and the Holy See thus agreed to integrate diaspora parishes which were located in prevailingly Protestant areas, until then supervised by

6188-445: The province in the Reichstag. The party existed until banned by the Nazi government. With Prussia on the verge of official dissolution (1947), Hanoverian politicians in 1946 took advantage of the opportunity and advocated that the Control Commission for Germany (British Element)  [ de ] (CCG/BE) revive Hanoverian statehood, reconstituting the Prussian Province of Hanover as the State of Hanover . The state saw itself in

6279-437: The regions listed here are part of other, larger regions, that are also included in the list. Just under 20% of the land area of Lower Saxony is designated as nature parks, i.e.: Dümmer , Elbhöhen-Wendland , Elm-Lappwald , Harz , Lüneburger Heide , Münden , Terra.vita , Solling-Vogler , Lake Steinhude , Südheide , Weser Uplands , Wildeshausen Geest , Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen . Lower Saxony falls climatically into

6370-422: The regions that used to be independent, especially the heartlands of the former states of Brunswick , Hanover , Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe , a marked local regional awareness exists. By contrast, the areas surrounding the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg are much more oriented towards those centres. Sometimes, overlaps and transition areas happen between the various regions of Lower Saxony. Several of

6461-465: The rights of Jews in the French-annexed territory by his so-called décret infâme . The Jewish congregations became subject to French regional Jewish consistories or the Royal Westphalian Consistory of the Israelites  [ he ] , respectively. In 1813, when Hanover resumed independence and sovereignty, its government deprived the Jews their legal equality. Arguing it was the French or Westphalian state and not Hanover, which had emancipated

6552-593: The seven East Frisian Islands offshore are popular with tourists. In the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland , an economically emerging but rather sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plain , is almost invariably flat except for the gentle hills around the Bremen geestland . Towards the south and southwest lie

6643-469: The state capital Hanover , Braunschweig (Brunswick), Oldenburg , Osnabrück , Wolfsburg , Göttingen , Salzgitter , Hildesheim , mainly situated in its central and southern parts, except Oldenburg and Lüneburg. Lower Saxony is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas. The northwestern area of the state, on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia and

6734-495: The state's districts and independent towns were grouped into eight regions, with a different status for two regions ( Verwaltungsbezirke ), comprising the formerly free states of Brunswick and Oldenburg. In 1978 these regions were merged into four governorates ( Regierungsbezirke ). In 2005 the Bezirksregierungen (regional governments) were again split into separate bodies. 1946–1978: 1978–2004: On 1 January 2005

6825-494: The successor to Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf. He was replaced in 1970 by Alfred Kubel . The arguments about the Gorleben Nuclear Waste Repository , that began during the time in office of minister president Ernst Albrecht (1976–1990), have played an important role in state and federal politics since the end of the 1970s. In 1990 Gerhard Schröder entered the office of minister-president. On 1 June 1993,

6916-485: The time in office of Heinrich Hellwege (1955–1959) – as the head of government in Lower Saxony until 1961. The greatest problem facing the first state government in the immediate post-war years was the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees from Germany's former territories in the east (such as Silesia and East Prussia ), which had been annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union . Lower Saxony

7007-413: The tradition of the kingdom. Its prime minister, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf , played a central role when the state of Lower Saxony was founded just a few months later by merging Hanover with several smaller states, with the city of Hanover as its capital. The former territory of Hanover makes up 85 percent of Lower Saxony and is the origin of its coat of arms. The Lutheran church was the state church of

7098-610: The varieties of language in the Low German dialect group. The establishment of permanent boundaries between what later became Lower Saxony and Westphalia began in the 12th century. In 1260, in a treaty between the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg the lands claimed by the two territories were separated from each other. The border ran along the Weser to a point north of Nienburg. The northern part of

7189-657: Was a single Duchy of Saxony . The term "Lower Saxony" was used after the dissolution of the stem duchy in the late 13th century to distinguish the parts of the former duchy ruled by the House of Welf from the Electorate of Saxony on one hand, and from the Duchy of Westphalia on the other. The name and coat of arms of the present state go back to the Germanic tribe of Saxons . During the Migration Period some of

7280-478: Was at the western end of the direct escape route from East Prussia and had the longest border with the Soviet Zone. On 3 October 1950 Lower Saxony took over the sponsorship of the very large number of refugees from Silesia . In 1950 there was still a shortage of 730,000 homes according to official figures. During the period when Germany was divided, the Lower Saxon border crossing at Helmstedt found itself on

7371-757: Was formed by a merger of the Free States of Brunswick , of Oldenburg and of Schaumburg-Lippe with the previously formed State of Hanover. But there were exceptions: The demands of Dutch politicians that the Netherlands should be given the German regions east of the Dutch-German border as war reparations , were roundly rejected at the London Conference of 26 March 1949. In fact only about 1.3 km (0.50 sq mi) of west Lower Saxony

7462-657: Was formed with representatives from the regional consistories. While the Calvinist congregations in formerly-Prussian East Frisia had a common roof organisation with the Lutherans there ("Coetus") and the Reformed Church in the former County of Bentheim , then being the state church, had fully established church bodies for Bentheim only ( German : Königlich-Großbrittanisch-Hannoverscher Ober-Kirchenrath , English: Royal British-Hanoverian Supreme Church Council ),

7553-485: Was made with the eastern part of the old Saxon lands from the central German principalities later called Upper Saxony for dynastic reasons. The close historical links between the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of

7644-411: Was one of the industrially weaker regions of the federal republic for a long time. In 1960, 20% of the working population worked on the land. In the rest of the federal territory the figure was just 14%. Even in economically prosperous times the jobless totals in Lower Saxony are constantly higher than the federal average. In 1961 Georg Diederichs took office as the minister president of Lower Saxony as

7735-537: Was proposed in the southeast to include the Regierungsbezirk of Hildesheim and the district of Gifhorn . Had this plan come to fruition, the territory of the present Lower Saxony would have consisted of three states of roughly equal size. The district council of Vechta protested on 12 June 1946 against being incorporated into the metropolitan area of Hanover ( Großraum Hannover ). If the State of Oldenburg

7826-457: Was replaced by Sigmar Gabriel . From 2003 to his election as Federal President in 2010 Christian Wulff was minister president in Lower Saxony. The Osnabrücker headed a CDU-led coalition with the FDP as does his successor, David McAllister . After the elections on 20 January 2013 McAllister was deselected . At the end of 2014, there were almost 571,000 non-German citizens in Lower Saxony. At

7917-526: Was restored to his Hanoverian territories, and in October 1814, they were constituted as the independent Kingdom of Hanover at the Congress of Vienna. The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria because the succession laws in Hanover, based on semi-Salic law , prevented a female inheriting the title if there was a surviving male heir. In the United Kingdom,

8008-575: Was restricted to Lutheran matters only. After the Prussian conquest in 1866, on 19 September 1866, the day before the official Prussian annexation took place and with the last summus episcopus , King George V of Hanover, in exile, the Kingdom's six consistories joined to form today's still-existing church body, the Lutheran State Church of Hanover . An all-Hanoverian consistory, the Landeskonsistorium (state consistory),

8099-416: Was to be dissolved, Vechta District would much rather be included in the Westphalian region. Particularly in the districts where there was a political Catholicism the notion was widespread, that Oldenburg Münsterland and the Regierungsbezirk of Osnabrück should be part of a newly formed State of Westphalia. Since the foundation of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hanover on 23 August 1946

8190-561: Was transferred to the Netherlands, in 1949. → see main article Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II The first Lower Saxon parliament or Landtag met on 9 December 1946. It was not elected; rather it was established by the British Occupation Administration (a so-called "appointed parliament"). That same day the parliament elected the Social Democrat , Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf ,

8281-470: Was usually handled by a viceroy, which during the later years of George III's reign and the reigns of Kings George IV and William IV from 1816 to 1837, was Adolph Frederick , George III's youngest surviving son. When Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne in 1837, the 123-year personal union of Great Britain and Hanover ended. Unlike in Britain, semi- Salic law operated in Hanover, prohibiting

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