One of the better known cities in Germany is Hamburg. Located in the Norddeutscher Bundesland, Hamburg has a great history and is known as one of the centers of learning both yesterday and today. Hamburg is full of art, social events, political history and much, much more. It thrives on tourism, and imports/exports form its harbors. With its 1.8 million inhabitants that occupy an area of 755 km2 , Hamburg is no little town. .
Like most German cities, Hamburg has many different chapters to its story. Primitive Hamburg, called "Hammaburg- by its earliest settlers appeared over some previous fortifications around the beginnings of the ninth century. In 845 A.D., Vikings completely decimated the Hammaburg, destroying its castle. After Slavs overran the entire region during most of the tenth century, two castles were built which still stand today. It is then that Hammaburg became recognized as the city of Hamburg. These castles became strongholds against later invasion of the 30 years war. From the twelfth century to the early seventeenth century, Hamburg developed, growing politically, socially and economically. In 1712, disaster struck as the plague wiped out one in every seven people. Hamburg ran with a crutch for the next hundred years as it became overwhelmed with a weak economy and natural disaster. This position changed in 1806 when it fell under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. At the end of Napoleon's rule in 1815, Hamburg entered the Deutscher Bund, which was a primitive version of federation. 1842 became known for the great fire that wiped out half of the entire city. Hamburg became part of the Norddeutscher Bund, which it is still part of today. As the city was booming, a cholera epidemic killed more than 8,600 deaths. This could have been prevented were it not for the "slums- which had people living in close quarters with bad plumbing, etc. By the turn of the century, Hamburg was boasting almost one million residents.