Satellite photo of Hamburg (Germany, May 1988 and June 2015).
Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany, with a population of 1.8 million in 2018. Its name reflects its history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, a city-state, and one of the 16 states of Germany. Hamburg was a fully sovereign state before the unification of Germany in 1871. Before the constitutional changes of 1919, the civil republic was ruled by a class of hereditary grand burgers, or Hanseaten.
Hamburg has been an important financial centre for centuries, and it is the seat of the Berenberg Bank, the second oldest bank in the world.
The city is located on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, between continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, at the confluence of the Elbe and its two right tributaries the Alster and Bille. Hamburg is connected to the North Sea by the Elbe.
Hamburg's city centre is situated around the Binnenalster (Inner Alster) and Außenalster (Outer Alster), formed by damming the Alster to create the lakes.
The island of Neuwerk (in the Wadden Sea) is part of Hamburg, with a population of only 32 in 2016. The uninhabited islands of Scharhörn and Nigehörn (in the North Sea) are also part of Hamburg.
The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land, an area of reclaimed marshland straddling parts of Lower Saxony and Hamburg. This is the largest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe. The Hasselbrack, in Neugraben-Fischbek, is the highest point in Hamburg, at 116.2 metres above sea level.
