Hamburg, Germany

Region Description

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany (after Berlin) and along with its central port, also the second-largest port in Europe (after Rotterdam), ninth-largest port in the world, and the most populous city in the European Union which is not a national capital. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million Hamburgers, the demonym for the city’s inhabitants.

Hamburg’s proper name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg). It makes reference to Hamburg’s membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and also to the fact that Hamburg is a city-state and one of the sixteen Federal States of Germany.

Geography
Hamburg is located on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, directly between Continental Europe to its south, Scandinavia to its north, the North Sea to its west, and the Baltic Sea to its east. Hamburg is located in the position where the River Elbe meets with the rivers Alster and Bille. The central city area is situated around the Binnenalster (“Inner Alster”) and the Außenalster (“Outer Alster”) both of which are originally the river Alster but retained as lakes. The island of Neuwerk and two other islands in the North Sea are also part of Hamburg, forming the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park.

In the quarter Neugraben-Fischbek is the highest rise of Hamburg, the Hasselbrack is 116.2 meters AMSL.[3]