1.
Kugelbake
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The Kugelbake is a historic aid to navigation in the city of Cuxhaven, Germany, at the northernmost point of Lower Saxony, where the River Elbe flows into the North Sea. In the Low German dialect of the Middle Ages, the term referred to all navigational aids – including lighthouses. About 30 meters high and built of wood, the Kugelbake is the landmark of Cuxhaven, since 1913. Large wooden structures guiding mariners have stood on this spot for over 300 years, the Kugelbake stands at a busy shipping lane in the Cuxhaven borough of Döse and was once a vital nautical landmark. At this point, the estuary is about 18 km wide, geographically speaking, the Elbe ends here and the North Sea begins. From a nautical point of view, the Kugelbake can be said to separate the Outer and Lower portions of the Elbe and it is also regarded as the symbolic separation between the Elbe and Weser estuaries. Its distinctive design, well known to skippers, is now a popular tourist destination and it was constructed of wood and had a short service life due to the harsh weather and floods common on the point. It was rebuilt approximately every 30 years, the first reconstruction taking place around 1737, in 1853, the Kugelbake was lit nightly to guide ships in the difficult curvature of the estuary. The light consisted of a fire in a hut located inside the structure. By 1878 the light served only as a reserve because a lightvessel was placed in the channel throughout the year. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the light was reduced to confuse potential enemies, in 1924 it was rebuilt, but instead of the eponymous ball, two round perpendicular composite discs were attached at the top. The current construction was built after 1945, the Kugelbake was also the spot where amateur radio pioneer Jonathan Zenneck experimented with radio communications between the Mainland and ships at sea during the winter of 1899–1900. A wooden hut was built within the structure, equipped with the necessary antennas, the first transmissions were sent between the Kugelbake and the steamship Silvana to a distance of 32 km. In the autumn of 1900, transmissions were sent as far as the Elbe Islands, in 2001 the Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung transferred the Kugelbake to the federal historic properties agency, since the beacon had lost its nautical importance. A foundation was established for the preservation of historic landmark. A Ro-Ro vessel MV Kugelbake was built in 2009 for container traffic on the Elbe and it has crew of 6, a displacement of 3900 metric tons, is 79.3 m long and 18.6 m wide, and is equipped with a 1900 kW power plant
2.
Lower Saxony
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Lower Saxony is a German state situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area, with 47,624 square kilometres, and fourth in population among the sixteen Länder of Germany. In rural areas Northern Low Saxon, a dialect of Low German, and Saterland Frisian, a variety of Frisian, are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining. Lower Saxony borders on 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 city of Bremerhaven. In fact, Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland, the states principal cities include the state capital Hanover, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Hildesheim, Wolfenbüttel, Wolfsburg and Göttingen. The northwestern area of Lower Saxony, which lies on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia, in the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands, the Weser Uplands, between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills, a range of low ridges. Thus, Lower Saxony is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas, Lower Saxonys major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hanover, Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Hildesheim and Göttingen. Oldenburg, near the coastline, is another economic centre. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land. Due to its local climate and fertile soil, it is the states largest area of fruit farming. Most of the territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with several states in 1946. Lower Saxony has a boundary in the north in the North Sea. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a body for the enclave area. To the southeast the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands, in northeast Lower Saxony is Lüneburg Heath
3.
Bremerhaven
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Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham. Though a relatively new city, it has a history as a trade port and today is one of the most important German ports. The town was founded in 1827, but settlements, such as Lehe, were in the vicinity as early as the 12th century, and Geestendorf and these tiny villages were built on small islands in the swampy estuary. In 1381, the city of Bremen established de facto rule over the lower Weser stream, including Lehe, early in 1653, Swedish Bremen-Verdens troops captured Bremerlehe by force. The Emperor Ferdinand III ordered his vassal Christina of Sweden, then Duchess regnant of Bremen-Verden, however, Swedish Bremen-Verden soon enacted the First Bremian War and in the following peace treaty Bremen had to cede Bremerlehe and its surroundings to Swedish Bremen-Verden. The latter developed plans to found a town on the site. Finally, in 1827, the city of Bremen under Burgomaster Johann Smidt bought the territories at the mouth of the Weser from the Kingdom of Hanover. Bremen sought this territory to retain its share of Germanys overseas trade, Bremerhaven was founded to be a haven for Bremens merchant marine, becoming the second harbour for Bremen, despite being 50 km downstream. Due to trade with, and emigration to North America, the port, in 1848, Bremerhaven became the home port of the German Confederations Navy under Karl Rudolf Brommy. The Kingdom of Hanover founded a town next to Bremerhaven. Both towns grew and established the three pillars of trade, shipbuilding and fishing. Following inter-state negotiations at different times, Bremerhavens boundary was several times extended at the expense of Hanoveran territory, Bremerhaven was one of the important harbours of emigration in Europe. All of Wesermünde, including those parts, which did not previously belong to Bremerhaven, was a postwar enclave run by the United States within the British zone of northern Germany, most of the US military units and their personnel were assigned to the citys Carl Schurz Kaserne. One of the longest US units based on the Kaserne was a US military radio and TV station, an “Amerikanischer Soldatensender, ” AFN Bremerhaven, in 1993, the Kaserne was vacated by the US military and returned to the German government. In 1947 the city part of the federal state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and was consequently renamed from Wesermünde to Bremerhaven. Today, Bremerhaven is therefore part of the city-state of Bremen, being to all intents and this is complicated somewhat by the fact that the city of Bremen has owned the overseas port within Bremerhaven since 1927. To further complicate matters, a treaty between the two cities makes Bremerhaven responsible for the administration of those parts owned directly by Bremen
4.
Schleswig-Holstein
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Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its capital city is Kiel, other cities are Lübeck. Also known in more dated English as Sleswick-Holsatia, the Danish name is Slesvig-Holsten, the Low German name is Sleswig-Holsteen, historically, the name can also refer to a larger region, containing both present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the former South Jutland County in Denmark. The term Holstein derives from Old Saxon Holseta Land, originally, it referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the River Elbe, Tedmarsgoi, Holstein and Sturmarii. The area of the tribe of the Holsts was between the Stör River and Hamburg, and after Christianization, their church was in Schenefeld. Saxon Holstein became a part of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagnes Saxon campaigns in the eighth century. Since 811, the frontier of Holstein was marked by the River Eider. The term Schleswig comes from the city of Schleswig, around 1100, the Duke of Saxony gave Holstein, as it was his own country, to Count Adolf I of Schauenburg. Schleswig and Holstein have at different times belonged in part or completely to either Denmark or Germany, the exception is that Schleswig had never been part of Germany until the Second Schleswig War in 1864. For many centuries, the King of Denmark was both a Danish Duke of Schleswig and a German Duke of Holstein, essentially, Schleswig was either integrated into Denmark or was a Danish fief, and Holstein was a German fief and once a sovereign state long ago. Both were for centuries ruled by the kings of Denmark. In the church, following the reformation, German was used in the part of Schleswig. This would later prove decisive for shaping national sentiments in the population, the administration of both duchies was conducted in German, despite the fact that they were governed from Copenhagen. The German national awakening that followed the Napoleonic Wars gave rise to a popular movement in Holstein. This development was paralleled by an equally strong Danish national awakening in Denmark and this movement called for the complete reintegration of Schleswig into the Kingdom of Denmark and demanded an end to discrimination against Danes in Schleswig. The ensuing conflict is called the Schleswig-Holstein Question. e. Not only in the Kingdom of Denmark, but also to Danes living in Schleswig, furthermore, they demanded protection for the Danish language in Schleswig. A liberal constitution for Holstein was not seriously considered in Copenhagen and these demands were rejected by the Danish government in 1848, and the Germans of Holstein and southern Schleswig rebelled
5.
Cuxhaven
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Cuxhaven is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony and it is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint of 14 kilometres by 7 km and its town quarters Duhnen, Döse and Sahlenburg are especially popular vacation spots on the North Sea and home to about 52,000 residents. Cuxhaven is home to an important fishermans wharf and ship registration point for Hamburg as well as the Kiel Canal until 2008, tourism is also of great importance. The city and its precursor Ritzebüttel belonged to Hamburg from the 13th century until 1937, the island of Neuwerk, a Hamburg dependency, is located just northwest of Cuxhaven in the North Sea. In 1394 the city of Hamburg conquered the fortress of Ritzebüttel and made it its stronghold to protect the estuary of the river Elbe, the Hamburg America Line built a large ocean liner terminal at Cuxhaven in 1900. Connected directly to Hamburg by a railway line and station. The ornate assembly hall and associated buildings survived wartime damage and peacetime demolition to be restored in 1998 for use as a museum, on 15 March 1907 Cuxhaven gained city status within the state of Hamburg. In 1937 Cuxhaven became an district of the Stade Region within the Prussian Province of Hanover by the Greater Hamburg Act. In 1972 some municipalities of the rural district of Land of Hadeln were incorporated into the urban district of Cuxhaven. In 1977 Cuxhaven lost the status as urban district and was integrated into the new rural District of Cuxhaven, during the First World War Nordholz Airbase with its airship hangars, near Nordholz to the south of Cuxhaven, was one of the major German naval airship stations. On Christmas Day 1914 it was attacked by Royal Navy seaplanes in the Cuxhaven Raid, between 1945 and 1964 various experiments in rocketry were performed near Cuxhaven. The origins of tourism go back to the year 1816 when a resort was founded in Cuxhaven. Since 1964 Cuxhaven has been a state-recognized climate seaside resort and centre of the holiday region of Cuxland. The town is served by Cuxhaven station, a few kilometers off the Cuxhaven coast lies the island of Neuwerk. At low tide the water recedes so far from the coast that the island can be reached either by hiking or by horse carriage. A modern landmark of Cuxhaven is the Friedrich-Clemens-Gerke Tower, a tower built of concrete. It is not really a landmark, for all the cities in Germany have a similar tower, the High test peroxide Submarine U1407, was raised from where she had been scuttled in Cuxhaven after WWII and rebuilt by the British, being commissioned as HMS Meteorite
6.
Otterndorf
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Otterndorf is a town on the coast of the North Sea in the region of Lower Saxony, Germany, and is part of the Samtgemeinde Land Hadeln. The town is at the mouth of the river Medem on part of the Elbe delta in the district Cuxhaven, Otterndorf possesses many half timbered house in the old part of town which are worth seeing. Otterndorf is twinned with the town of Sheringham in the English county of Norfolk, the first written evidence of the town of Otterndorf dates from the year 1261 in a document written by Godefridus who was a Priest. In 1400, Otterndorf was granted city rights by Eric IV, in 1728 Emperor Charles VI enfeoffed the George II Augustus and his House of Hanover in personal union with the reverted fief of Saxe-Lauenburg. By a redeployment of Hanoverian territories in 1731 the Hanoverian Duchies of Bremen and Verden were conveyed the administration of the neighboured Land of Hadeln. The Kingdom of Hanover incorporated the Land of Hadeln in a union and its territory, including Otterndorf, became part of the new Stade Region. One of Otterndorf’s prominent buildings is in the oldest part of the town and is called the Crane House and this building dates from 1735 although its present façade dates from the later year of 1760. Once owned by the Radiek family the building was the point of this successful family business. The family traded in wine, salt and other spices, the crane effigy atop the house which is the buildings namesake was placed there by Elizabeth Radiek in memory of her late husband. The Crane House today is the location of a museum dedicated the life of Hadeln. Another old building in the town is the Latin school and this unusual building dates from 1614. For many years this school provided the education for the children of the Hadeln farmers. The building once boasted a bell hung from a roof timber on the front but has unfortunately been lost over the years. The schools headmaster from 1778 until 1792 was the German poet, in many of the brick gables of the old buildings of the town, there has been incorporated into the brickwork the patterned shape of a witches broom. The superstitious residents of the believed the “thunder broom” would ward off evil spirits. Other prominent buildings in the include, The Yellow Baroque House. The City Hall, recently restored, displays oil paintings by Karl Otto Matthaei, Carl Long, a British cargo ship by the name of SS Kaffraria owned by Bailey & Leetham of Hull ran aground at Otterndorf on 7 January 1891. The ship had a cargo of general goods such as kitchen utensils, children’s toys, bundles of wool, hand tools
7.
Midlum, Lower Saxony
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Midlum is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Wurster Nordseeküste, originally Midlum was considered part of the Land of Hadeln. In 1219 six members of the family of the Lords of Diepholz, owning estates in and near Midlum, founded the Midlum Nunnery, rather than establishing the nunnery as their proprietary monastery the Diepholz family made it over to the cathedral chapter of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. However, the Diepholz family adopted the advocacy over the nunnery, in 1227 Prince-Archbishop Gebhard of Lippe confirmed and thus recognised the foundation of the convent. Midlums St. Pancras Church, which existed before, was integrated into the convent, no remains of cloister or conventual outbuildings remain, and there are only few documentary references to them. It is possible that the convent followed Cistercian customs without formal incorporation, the convent started the typical Cistercian practice to build up a large autark integrated production. Unlike unsettled and undeveloped areas where Cistercians usually founded new monasteries the farmlands donated to the convent were held by tenants and sparsed in. The convent cleared its feudal farmlands from the unfree peasants tilling them transforming them into dependent agrarian workers or cotters and this transformation posed an immediate hardship for the feudal tenants on the geest in and around Midlum. On outlying estates the convent founded its Vorwerk of Kransburg which today forms a locality of Midlum, the convent cleared the latter two villages from peasants which were thus abandoned. Along the low side of the Wesermünde Geest ridge towards the marshy Land of Wursten there is a narrow strip of wasteland called the Wursten Sietland. While the Wursten Frisians claimed the Sietland as their commons, the convent started to include it into its demesnes, in the valley cuts of the geest between Holßel and Nordholz the convent impounded little becks in order to lay out stewponds for the fish as fasting dishes at lent. Thus the demesne expansion posed a threat for the material survival of the Wursten Frisians as free peasants. Without fuel, timber or fertiliser they could not help it, in the Wursten War the Wursten Frisians repelled a knightly invasion to subject them to manorial jurisdiction. The defeated knights hat to withdraw deep into the Bederkesa Bailiwick and exposed the boundary adjacent to the Land of Wursten, after the victory the Land of Wursten occupied the Midlum parish. The unsettled geest strips within Midlums municipal boundary then adopted the new name Wursten Heath since, however, the convent and the nuns were treated with great care not to deliver Prince-Archbishop Gebhard any pretext. Under the rule of the consuls of the Land of Wursten the demesne expansion of the convent was successfully hindered, soon the Midlum parish and its peasant population became integral parts of the Land of Wursten. The convent declined and blamed this to its location among the perverse and bad people, striving for criminal and unallowed aims, for them and Bremens Prince-Archbishop Gilbert of Brunckhorst hindering the convents demesne and manorial expansion could be nothing else but an unallowed aim. This finally led to the relocation of the convent out of Wursten Frisian control to Wolde, even after the move the convent asserted most of its feudal possessions and privileges in the Midlum parish
8.
Cappel, Lower Saxony
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Cappel is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Wurster Nordseeküste, in the mid-16th century the inhabitants adopted Lutheranism. During the Leaguist occupation under Tilly, they underwent attempts at re-Catholicisation, in 1807 the ephemeral Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the duchy, before France annexed it in 1810
9.
Bad Bederkesa
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Bad Bederkesa is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Geestland and it is situated approximately 20 km northeast of Bremerhaven, and 30 km southeast of Cuxhaven. Bad Bederkesa was the seat of the former Samtgemeinde Bederkesa, a division consisting of several component municipalities. Bad Bederkesa belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, the Knights of Bederkesa, like all the place, had been struck by the plague in 1349/1350, completely extinguishing many knightly family lines. The declining knightly family dropped deep into debt, and – having already sold many a possession – had even pawned half the say in the Bailiwick of Bederkesa to the aspiring Mandelsloh family. In 1381 the citys troops successfully ended the brigandage and captured the Castle of Bederkesa, thus Bremen gained its foothold as to uphold peace and order in its forecourt on the lower Weser course. In 1386 the city of Bremen became the lord of the noble families, holding the estates of Altluneburg and Elmlohe. Their share in jurisdiction, Vogtei and castle had been acquired from the plague-stricken Knights of Bederkesa, in 1421, Bremen acquired also the remaining half in the say of the Bederkesa Knights including their remaining share in the Bederkesa Castle. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, in November 1654, after the Second Bremian War, Bremen had to cede Bederkesa and Lehe to the Duchy of Bremen. In 1715 the Duchy of Bremen became a fief to the House of Hanover, in 1807 the ephemeral Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the Duchy, before France annexed it in 1810
10.
Ringstedt
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Ringstedt is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Geestland, ringstedt belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, established in 1180. In 1807 the ephemeric Kingdom of Westphalia annexed the duchy, before France annexed it in 1810, ringstedt is twinned with the Kentish village of West Farleigh in England. This relationship was built on many years of friendship developed through both communities and their sports clubs, st. Fabian Church, a simultaneum of Reformed and Lutheran congregants
Capital Region
Cornwall
England
Morbihan
France
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Germany
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cuxhaven". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 677.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
Cuxhaven
