Wilhelmsburg

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Wilhelmsburg is a district (Stadtteil) of Hamburg within the borough (Bezirk) of Harburg. It is the biggest district of Hamburg with an area of 35.3 km² and has about 48000 inhabitants. It is situated on an island between the Northern and Southern branches of the Elbe river (Norderelbe and Süderelbe) , together with the other districts of Steinwerder, Veddel and Kleiner Grasbrook. The latter almost exclusively consists of facilities of the Hamburg Harbour. The other districts are technically all islands of their own, as they are all separated by their own dams.

[edit] History

In 1642, George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg acquires three islets in the river Elbe and connects them by means of dams. The resultant island is namsed Wilhelmsburg in his honour.

In 1705, the Principality of Lüneburg passes on to the Electorate of Hanover, and Wilhelmsburg becomes part of the Hanoverian state, which then subsequently becomes the Prussian Province of Hanover in 1866. In 1925 the Prussian authorities designate Wilhelmsburg as a city district, and merge it with nearby Harburg two years later to form the city of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg.

In 1937, Harburg-Wilhelmsburg, along with the cities from the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Altona and Wandsbek, is annexed to Hamburg in the Greater Hamburg Act.