Hannover

Basic data:

Geography:

Hanover is located on the southern edge of the North German Plain on the Leine, which flows through the city from the south and north-west in the direction of the Aller, and on the Mittelland Canal. South of the city center is the Maschsee, an approximately 78-hectare artificial lake.

In the south-west of the city, the foothills of the Weser Uplands with arable fertile loess soils, in the north the sandy and moorland landscapes of the Burgdorf-Peiner and Hannoversche Moorgeest border the city area.

The highest elevation in the city is on the south-eastern edge of the Kronsberg at 118.2 m above sea level. NN, the lowest point is in the Klosterforst Marienwerder conservation area at 44 m above sea level. NN.

Climate:

Hanover is in the temperate zone, but is characterized by maritime influences. The coldest month is January with 1.4 °C, the warmest month is July with 17.7 °C. The city has the most precipitation in June with 71 mm, the driest month is February with 36 mm.

City structure:

13 districts, 51 districts

history:

The origin of Hanover lies on a high and therefore flood-free terrace of the Leine (Honovere = the high bank), where a village settlement arose in the Middle Ages. From this settlement inhabited by ferrymen and river fishermen, a small market settlement developed in the High Middle Ages under the protection of the Counts of Roden, which soon received city rights and was sold to the Guelphs. The Guelph duke "Otto the Child" granted Hanover city rights in 1241, which is the oldest mention of the city of Hanover.

As early as 1368 the city, which at that time was already a lively center characterized by self-confident craftsmen, traders and tradespeople, became a member of the Hanseatic League. At that time Hanover acted largely independently.

In the 14th century, the city was fortified with a solid wall, only three gates provided the connection to the outside world: the Leintor, the Aegidientor and the Steintor. The three Gothic churches, Aegidien, Marktkirche and Kreuzkirche, also date from this period, with the first two standing on structures from older buildings. A hundred years later, the town hall was built next to the market church, today the old town hall, which was the center of power in the city for centuries.

During the Thirty Years' War, Duke Georg von Calenberg made the well-fortified town his residence in 1636 and helped it to flourish again in the following 80 years. The old Minorite monastery, which was expanded into a stately castle, and the Calenberger Neustadt are buildings from this era, which set lasting accents on the cityscape of Hanover.

As a result of the lost German War of 1866, the Kingdom of Hanover was annexed by Prussia and became a Prussian province: Hanover, the royal capital, became the Prussian provincial capital.

The connection to Prussia improved the general conditions for Hanoverian industry. The abolition of compulsory guilds and the introduction of freedom of trade resulted in economic growth for Hanover. While the city still had 87,600 inhabitants in 1871, two years later it crossed the border into a city with 100,000 inhabitants and in 1912 the number of inhabitants had tripled again to 313,400.

From a cultural point of view, Hanover was a "suburb of modernity" in the 1920s, particularly because of Kurt Schwitters. The Dadaism he pursued, with the magazine "MERZ" he published and the group he founded, "the abstract hannover", had a world reputation.

In 1924, Europe's first assembly line car rolled off the assembly line in the Hanomag works with the commissary bread. The construction of the Mittelland Canal and later the autobahn also connected the old Hanover junction to modern transport networks.

During the Second World War, Hanover was an important transport hub and, mainly because of the armaments factories located here, was repeatedly the target of Allied air raids from 1940 onwards. Nearly two-thirds of the buildings lay in ruins in 1945. The destroyed one Aegidienkirche was not rebuilt and serves as a memorial for the victims of war and tyranny.

Despite the devastating consequences of the war, Hanover recovered faster than expected. A modern city was built on the rubble, which has remained a large city in the countryside to this day. Hanover became a trade fair city as early as 1947. After 1949 Hanover became the capital of the new federal state of Lower Saxony.

Since 1986 it has hosted the most successful and well-known trade fairs in the information and telecommunications sector, the largest trade fair in the world, CeBIT. In the year 2000 the EXPO 2000 took place in Hanover.

Sights: