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For other uses, see Bremen (disambiguation).
Bremen (IPA: [ˈbʁeːmən]) is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany (official name: Stadtgemeinde Bremen / City Municipality of Bremen). It is a port city, situated along the river Weser, about 60 km (37 mi) south from its mouth on the North Sea. Bremen is one of two towns belonging to the state of Bremen (official name: Freie Hansestadt Bremen1 (Free Hanseatic City of Bremen), referring to its membership in the medieval Hanseatic League), the other being Bremerhaven. In 2005, the population of the city was estimated to be 545,983 (the state including the city Bremerhaven having a total population of 664,080), while the metropolitan area of Bremen-Oldenburg has a population of more than 2.37 million. Thus, Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.
[edit] History
In 150 AD the geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus described Fabiranum or Phabiranum, known today as Bremen. At that time the Chauci lived in the area now called northwestern Germany or Lower Saxony. By the end of the 3rd century, they had merged with the Saxons. During the Saxon Wars (772-804) the Saxons, led by Widukind, fought against the West Germanic Franks, the founders of the Carolingian Empire and lost the war. Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, made a new law, the Lex Saxonum. This law stated that Saxons were not allowed to worship Odin (the god of the Saxons), but rather that they had to convert to Christianity on pain of death. This period was called the Christianisation. In 787 Willehad of Bremen was the first Bishop of Bremen. In 848 the diocese of Hamburg merged with the diocese of Bremen, and in the following centuries the bishops of Bremen were the driving force behind the Christianisation of north Germany. In 888 gained[clarification needed]Archbishop Rimbert, Kaiser Arnulf of Carinthia, the Carolingian King of East Francia, and the market, coin and customs law. The first stone city walls were built in 1032. Around this time trade with Norway, England and the northern Netherlands began to grow, increasing the importance of the city.
In 1186 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa became the first secular ruler of Bremen. From then on, only the emperor and the Senate Governmental authority ruled Bremen. Bremen was formally a Free Imperial City. In fact, however, Bremen did not have complete independence from the Archbishops, in that there was no freedom of religion, and citizens were still forced to pay church taxes. Shortly following Bremen's secularization, in 1260, came its admission to the Hanseatic League. In 1350 the number of citizens reached 20,000. Around then the Hansekogge (cog ship) became a speciality of Bremen. In 1620 Germany's first man-made harbour was built at Vegesack. The Linz Diploma, written in 1646 during the Thirty Years War by Ferdinand III, was a document that confirmed and sealed the imperial immediacy of the city of Bremen. In 1811 Napoleon invaded Bremen and integrated it as the capital of the Département de Bouches du Weser (Department of the Mouths of the Weser) in the French State. 1815 saw the last battle of the Liberation War of Germany, the Battle of Waterloo, in which the armies of Prussia, Great Britain, Austria and Russia defeated the army of Napoleon, resulting in Bremen regaining its sovereignty. The first German steamship was manufactured in 1817 at the yard of Johann Lange. Bremen purchased land from the Kingdom of Hannover in 1827, to establish the city of Bremerhaven (Port of Bremen) as an outpost of Bremen because of the increased silt buildup in the Weser river. Beck's (Brauerei Beck & Co KG), a brewery, was founded in 1837 and remains in operation today. The shipping company The North German Lloyd (NDL) was founded in 1857. The Lloyd was a byword for commercial shipping and is now a part of Hapag-Lloyd. In 1872 the Bremer Cotton Exchange was created. Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG was founded in 1923, and is today part of Airbus, a manufacturer of civil and military aircraft. Borgward, an automobile manufacturer, was founded in 1929, and is today part of Daimler AG. Following the Bombing of Bremen in World War II, Bremen was captured by the British 3rd Infantry Division under General Whistler in late April 1945.[1] After World War II, the city became a part of the American occupation zone as the USA wanted to have a port under its control. Bremen's mayor traveled to the US to seek Bremen's independence from Lower Saxony, as Bremen had traditionally been a city-state. In 1947 Nordmende was founded, a manufacturer of entertainment electronics. In 1958 OHB-System was founded, a manufacturer of medium-sized spaceflight satellites. [edit] Population history
[edit] Politics
The Stadtbürgerschaft (municipal assembly) is made up of 68 of the 83 legislators of the state legislature, the Bremische Bürgerschaft, who reside in the city of Bremen. The legislature is elected by the citizens of Bremen every four years.[2] One of the two mayors (Bürgermeister) is elected President of the Senate (Präsident des Senats) and serves as head of the city and the state. The current President is Jens Böhrnsen. [edit] Main sights
More contemporary tourist attractions include:
[edit] StructuresThe Freie Waldorfschule in Bremen-Sebaldsbrück was Germany's first school built to the Passivhaus low-energy building standard.[3] [edit] Transport
Bremen has an international airport situated in the south of the city. Bremer Straßenbahn AG (translates from German as Bremen Tramways Corporation), often abbreviated BSAG, is the public transport provider for Bremen, offering tramway and bus services. [edit] Industries
Several high-tech industries have settled in the city. Many of Germany's space technology exports are manufactured in EADS Astrium facilities in Bremen, such as the Columbus module of the International Space Station, Europe's Ariane 5 rocket upper stages and the Automated Transfer Vehicle. The telematics, space technology and satellite company OHB-System is also based in the city. Furthermore, Bremen is the home of the second biggest Airbus plant of Germany, producing wing equipment for the A300/A310, A330/A340 and A380 families of aircraft. There is also a Mercedes-Benz factory in Bremen, building the C, CLK, SL, and SLK series of cars. Beginning in 2008, the GLK sport utility vehicle will also be built in Bremen. Beck's and St Pauli Girl beers are brewed in Bremen. It also had a huge number of wine importers, but the number is down to a precious few. Apart from that there is another link between Bremen and wine: about 800 years ago, quality wines were produced here. A large number of food producing or trading companies are located in Bremen with their German or European headquarters: Inbev (Beck's Brewery), Kellogg's, Kraft Foods (Kraft, Jacobs Coffee, Milka Chocolate, Milram, Miràcoli), Frosta (frosted food), Nordsee (chain of sea fast food), Melitta Kaffee, Eduscho Kaffee, Azul Kaffee, Vitakraft (pet food for birds), Atlanta AG (Chiquita banana), chocolatier Hachez (fine chocolate and confiserie), feodora chocolatier6. [edit] Events
[edit] Sports
It is home of the football team SV Werder Bremen which won the German Football Championship for the fourth time and the German Football Cup for the fifth time in 2004, making SV Werder Bremen just the fourth team in German football history to win the double. [edit] Education
The University of Bremen is the largest university in Bremen5. Furthermore Bremen has a University of the Arts and the University of Applied Sciences, more recently the Jacobs University Bremen. [edit] Miscellaneous
[edit] Famous people
[edit] Sister citiesBremen's sister cities are:
[edit] See also[edit] External links
 Learning resources from Wikiversity
[edit] Footnotes[edit] References
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