Nordenham

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Nordenham
	Image:Bremerhaven-Position.png

Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Wesermarsch
Population	27660 (30 October 2005)
Area	87.2 km²
Population density	319 /km²
Elevation	0 m
Coordinates	53°30′ N 8°28′ E
Postal code	26954
Area code	04731
Licence plate code	BRA
Mayor	Dr. Georg Raffetseder (CDU)
Website	nordenham.de

Nordenham is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany with a population of roughly 28,000. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser River on the Butjadingen peninsula at the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is located on the other side (east bank) of the river, and has a ship canal that connects to the Elbe River. The seaport is administered from City of Bremen another 50 [km] upriver, which has its own seaport facility dating back to the Hanseatic League, and which administers the one opposite in Bremenhaven as well.

1 History
2 Town twinning
3 Transportation
4 Sons of the city
5 External links

[edit] History

Nordenham developed after the efforts by a merchant, Wilhelm Müller, who traded cattle and sheep to England in the 19th century. One of the oldest parts of the town area is the village Blexen, where the bishop Willehad died in the year 789. In 1404,the Vredeborch was erected by the Hanseatic city of Bremen, a castle to protect interests against the rebellious inhabitants, the Frisians. On that site the town founder Wilhelm Müller later built his farm house and a restaurant.

Between 1499-1514 the area was conquered by the Grand-Dutchy of Oldenburg and in 1813 by the French emperor Napoleon, whose army shot ten local inhabitants at the church in Blexen.

On May 1st, 1908 Nordenham was granted 2nd class town rights and since 1955 Nordenham is an independent town in the Wesermarsch district.

Due to government industrialisation programs in the 1960s and 1970s, various industries opened plants in Nordenham. Among others, the main industries are a nuclear power plant, airplane construction (Airbus) and chemical industry. On the Butjadingen peninsula outside Nordenham people do dairy farming or work in the tourism industry.

[edit] Town twinning

Nordenham's twin cities include:

- Peterlee, County Durham (United Kingdom), since 1981

- Świnoujście (Poland), since 1992

[edit] Transportation

Due to the town's location, transportation connections are below par. There is a ferry to Bremerhaven at Blexen, though it has suffered from steady declines in passenger numbers ever since the Weser tunnel some 10 km south of Nordenham opened. The town is connected to the regional road network by Bundesstraße 212 which intersects with Bundesstraße 437 near the Weser tunnel, offering connections to the A 27 and A 28 motorways.

Nordenham can be reached by RegionalExpress trains; Nordenham railway station sees hourly trains to Bremen. It is expected that Nordenham will be integrated into the Bremen S-Bahn network, which is currently believed to go operational by 2010.

[edit] Sons of the city

The city's most famous son is Roy Horn of "Siegfried & Roy", who grew up in Blexen but soon left town after school and supposedly never returned for a visit after his remarkable breakthrough as a magician. In the IMAX movie "Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box" (1999) his youth in Blexen was shortly mentioned, but the shown landscape there does not bear any resemblance to the real landscape.