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HAMBURG, GERMANY

Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with Hamburg Harbour, its principal port, Hamburg is also the second largest port city in Europe, no. 9 in the world-ranking of ports and the largest city in the European Union which is not a national capital. A large part of the port is a fenced-in duty-free area.

The official name Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; Low Saxon: Free un Hansestadt Hamborg) refers to Hamburg's membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that Hamburg is a City State and one of the sixteen Federal States of Germany.

Hamburg is situated on the southern tip of Jutland Peninsula, geographically centred (a) between Continental Europe and Scandinavia and (b) between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The city of Hamburg lies at the junction of the river Elbe with the rivers Alster and Bille and the city centre is beautifully set around two lakes, the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and the Aussenalster ("Outer Alster").

The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a castle ordered to be built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD. The castle was built on some rocky ground in a marsh between the Alster and the Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion. The castle was named Hammaburg, where "burg" means "castle".

The "Hamma" element remains uncertain. Old High German includes both a hamma, "angle" and a hamme, "pastureland." The angle might refer to a spit of land or to the curvature of a river. However, the language spoken might not have been Old High German, as Low Saxon was spoken there later. Other theories are that the castle was named for a surrounding Hamma forest, or for the village of Hamm, later incorporated into the city. Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany, but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi. However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city was named after the castle. Another theory is that Hamburg comes from ham which is Old Saxon for shore.

In 834 Hamburg was designated the seat of a bishopric, whose first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. In 845 a fleet of 600 Viking ships came up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.

Art Gallery and Gallery of Contemporary Arts (Kunsthalle Hamburg) is located near central station. In 2008 the Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg opened in the HafenCity quarter. Two museum ships near Landungsbrücken bear witness to freight ship (Cap San Diego) and cargo sailing ship (Rickmer Rickmers) time. Museum BallinStadt Emigration City reminds of the vast streams of European people emigrating from those mass accommodation halls between 1850 and 1939 to North and South America. Those people from overseas stemming from emigrants may search in data banks for their ancestors.

The warmest months in Hamburg are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of 19.9 to 22.2 °C (67.8 to 72.0 °F). The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of -1.4 to 0.0 °C (29.5 to 32 °F).

Hamburg is noted for several festivals and regular events. Some of them are street festivals, such as the gay pride Christopher Street Day festival or the Alster fair, held at the Binnenalster. The Hamburger DOM is a northern Germany's biggest fun fair held three times a year. Hafengeburtstag is a funfair to honour the birthday of the port of Hamburg with a party and a ship parade. The biker's divine service in Saint Michael's Church attracts tens of thousands of bikers. Christmas markets in December were held among other locations at the Hamburg Rathaus square. For art and culture the long night of museums offers one entrance fee for about 40 museums until midnight.