Altes Land

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Altes Land is an area of marshland south of the river Elbe in Hamburg and Lower Saxony around the towns of Stade, Buxtehude, Jork and the Samtgemeinde of Lühe. In Hamburg it includes the boroughs of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder.

The region is the biggest connected fruit growing area of Central Europe and the one the furthest north in the world. It extends over 143 km². 77% of the trees are apples, 12.7% are cherries.

The standard German name Altes Land means "old country" but in fact the name originally has nothing to do with "old": it comes from the history of the area's settlement and is a mistranslation from Low Saxon to standard German. In Low Saxon the name is Olland, going back to the area's colonisation by the Dutch. The first colonisation agreement goes back to 1113 and was made during the time of Archbishop Friedrich I of Bremen. One of the municipalities of the Altes Land is the Hollern, a name which comes from Holländer - the Dutch.

The Altes Land is divided into three "miles" (Meile); the first, second and third miles. These miles are zones along the banks of the Elbe. The First Mile, between the rivers Schwinge and Lühe, was first dyked and then settled in around 1140. The Second Mile is the area east of the first between the Lühe and the Este, an area which was dyked at the end of the 12th century. The Third Mile, between the Este and the Elbe, was only dyked at the end of the 15th century as the area was especially hard-hit by storm tides.

The areas close to the Elbe are those with the highest population. They include the most fertile marshlands; towards Geest the area connects to fens.

The fertile land led to the development of a culture dominated by farming. The villages are known as Marschhufendörfer, a special kind of village where the farmyards are set along a street with the land directly behind them. A characteristic feature is the richly-decorated farmhouses with their elaborate gateways.