Federal States: Der Hohe Norden - HANSESTADT HAMBURG
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In the basics about Germany series, another entry that will be tagged for easy reference. After reunification with the eastern parts, there are 16 federal German states. We are still in the North and will be moving south over time. Note that there also are different culturally connected regions that do not always mirror official statelines - we'll get to that later as it falls into the "culture" category.
Hansestadt Hamburg
City Stats
Hamburg is Germany's 2nd largest city. It also features the 2nd largest port city in Europe, and 9th largest port in the world. The city's official name Freie Hansestadt Hamburg refers to Hamburg's membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that it is a City State.
Hamburger Hafen
Location
Located on the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg is centered between Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and the North and Baltic Sea. It lies at the junction of the Elbe, Alster and Bille rivers. The city center is set around 2 lakes, the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and the Außenalster ("Outer Alster"). As an international city of trade, Hamburg is the commercial and cultural centre of Northern Germany.
Hamburg City Hall
Language
Hamburg's original language is Low Saxon, usually referred to as Hamburger Platt. It is still in use, albeit by a minority, and is rarely spoken in public places. Various Low German dialects have developed from it - originally, they ranged from the low-prestige dialects of the working class of the docks to the more “posh”, bourgeois Hanseatendeutsch. Due to “proper” German having been propagated by education and media in the last 100 years, dialects are disappearing more and more today, making way for a just slightly accented version of Hochdeutsch.
Migration brought numerous dialects from all over the German-speaking world to the city and there is a large foreign language community. There also is a sizeable population of Sinti and Roma (“Gypsy/Zigeuner”) which makes Hamburg one of the few locations in the world in which both Sinti and Romany are spoken.
Demographics
65% of Hamburg's inhabitants are ethnic German
35% belong to other groups (mostly Turkish, Iranian, Afghan, Russian, Polish, Portuguese and Ghanaian) - this includes people of only partially non-German origin.
38% are Protestant,
10% Catholic, and
1% Muslim, while
40% profess no official religion.
There is also a large number of Hindus and Sikhs.
Hamburg bei Nacht
Culture
Hamburg boasts the largest concentration of media in Germany, and is home to a scene strongly influenced by young hipsters working for big name companies such as Gruner+Jahr, Axel Springer Verlag, NDR and Studio Hamburg and large advertising agencies such as Jung von Matt, Springer & Jacoby, and Scholz & Friends. Since Hamburg has been a port of international trade for centuries, tolerance and open-mindedness are among its residents’ most notable traits. Music, film and fashion are focal points of life here. Some of Germany’s hottest hip-hop bands, such as Fettes Brot, Absolute Beginner and Eimsbusch started here. Fatih Akin, an increasingly popular German-Turkish filmmaker works out of Hamburg. There's a rather impressive selection of new fashion labels such as Hotel, 0190 and Mägde und Knechte, as well as established brands such as Jil Sander that do very well in Hamburg.
The city also is home to 2 of the most influential theaters in the country.
Today's café crowd hangs out in neighborhoods like the Schanzenviertel, Eimsbüttel, Altona and St. Pauli, where they are most likely to be spotted sipping lattes at a Portuguese bakery or dining out in the booming restaurant, bar and club district at places such as the Mandalay Bar, Better Days Project, or Golden Pudel Club. On the streets close to Hamburg’s (in)famous redlight district St. Pauli, visitors are as likely to hear English, Turkish or Portuguese being spoken as they are to hear German. Local residents run from artists to media executives, to families to anarchists and eco-warriors and everything in between. This mixture creates an atmosphere conductive to the creation of new ideas that makes Hamburg the "city with the most vivid urban youth culture in Germany," to quote German hipster magazine Musicscene.
For the best images of Hamburg on Flickr see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/hamburg/interesting/
And for something entirely random that's just cool:
http://www.strandkai-club.de/
In the basics about Germany series, another entry that will be tagged for easy reference. After reunification with the eastern parts, there are 16 federal German states. We are still in the North and will be moving south over time. Note that there also are different culturally connected regions that do not always mirror official statelines - we'll get to that later as it falls into the "culture" category.
Hansestadt Hamburg
City Stats
Hamburg is Germany's 2nd largest city. It also features the 2nd largest port city in Europe, and 9th largest port in the world. The city's official name Freie Hansestadt Hamburg refers to Hamburg's membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that it is a City State.
Hamburger Hafen
Location
Located on the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg is centered between Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and the North and Baltic Sea. It lies at the junction of the Elbe, Alster and Bille rivers. The city center is set around 2 lakes, the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and the Außenalster ("Outer Alster"). As an international city of trade, Hamburg is the commercial and cultural centre of Northern Germany.
Hamburg City Hall
Language
Hamburg's original language is Low Saxon, usually referred to as Hamburger Platt. It is still in use, albeit by a minority, and is rarely spoken in public places. Various Low German dialects have developed from it - originally, they ranged from the low-prestige dialects of the working class of the docks to the more “posh”, bourgeois Hanseatendeutsch. Due to “proper” German having been propagated by education and media in the last 100 years, dialects are disappearing more and more today, making way for a just slightly accented version of Hochdeutsch.
Migration brought numerous dialects from all over the German-speaking world to the city and there is a large foreign language community. There also is a sizeable population of Sinti and Roma (“Gypsy/Zigeuner”) which makes Hamburg one of the few locations in the world in which both Sinti and Romany are spoken.
Demographics
65% of Hamburg's inhabitants are ethnic German
35% belong to other groups (mostly Turkish, Iranian, Afghan, Russian, Polish, Portuguese and Ghanaian) - this includes people of only partially non-German origin.
38% are Protestant,
10% Catholic, and
1% Muslim, while
40% profess no official religion.
There is also a large number of Hindus and Sikhs.
Hamburg bei Nacht
Culture
Hamburg boasts the largest concentration of media in Germany, and is home to a scene strongly influenced by young hipsters working for big name companies such as Gruner+Jahr, Axel Springer Verlag, NDR and Studio Hamburg and large advertising agencies such as Jung von Matt, Springer & Jacoby, and Scholz & Friends. Since Hamburg has been a port of international trade for centuries, tolerance and open-mindedness are among its residents’ most notable traits. Music, film and fashion are focal points of life here. Some of Germany’s hottest hip-hop bands, such as Fettes Brot, Absolute Beginner and Eimsbusch started here. Fatih Akin, an increasingly popular German-Turkish filmmaker works out of Hamburg. There's a rather impressive selection of new fashion labels such as Hotel, 0190 and Mägde und Knechte, as well as established brands such as Jil Sander that do very well in Hamburg.
The city also is home to 2 of the most influential theaters in the country.
Today's café crowd hangs out in neighborhoods like the Schanzenviertel, Eimsbüttel, Altona and St. Pauli, where they are most likely to be spotted sipping lattes at a Portuguese bakery or dining out in the booming restaurant, bar and club district at places such as the Mandalay Bar, Better Days Project, or Golden Pudel Club. On the streets close to Hamburg’s (in)famous redlight district St. Pauli, visitors are as likely to hear English, Turkish or Portuguese being spoken as they are to hear German. Local residents run from artists to media executives, to families to anarchists and eco-warriors and everything in between. This mixture creates an atmosphere conductive to the creation of new ideas that makes Hamburg the "city with the most vivid urban youth culture in Germany," to quote German hipster magazine Musicscene.
For the best images of Hamburg on Flickr see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/hamburg/interesting/
And for something entirely random that's just cool:
http://www.strandkai-club.de/