POTSDAM

city, capital of Brandenburg Land (state), eastern Germany, on the southwest border of Berlin. It is sited where the Nuthe River flows into the Havel River, the confluence becoming a series of lakes. First mentioned in 993 as a Slav settlement known as Poztupimi, it was chartered in 1317. It became Brandenburg's electoral residence in 1640 under Frederick William, the Great Elector, and the Prussian royal residence under Frederick II the Great, during whose reign (1740-86) it was an intellectual and military centre and virtual capital of Prussia. In the 18th century a colony of Dutch immigrants gave their quarter of the city, and some other parts as well, a distinctly Dutch flavour. The city suffered severe damage in World War II, but many monuments survived and others were restored. The Cecilienhof Palace was the scene (July 17-Aug. 2, 1945) of the Potsdam Conference of the Allied leaders. From 1952 to 1990 the city was capital of the Potsdam Bezirk (district) of East Germany (German Democratic Republic). Notable landmarks include the Sans Souci Palace (1745-47), a masterpiece of German Rococo architecture; the Neue Kammern ("New Rooms"; 1747); the Bildergalerie ("Picture Gallery"; 1755-63); the Orangerie (1851-60); and the Neues Palais ("New Palace"; 1763-69). The Nikolai Church (1830-37) and the Brandenburg Gate (1770) escaped serious damage during World War II. Potsdam has scientific institutes, a meteorological service, an academy of political science and law, a college of finance, a college of education, institutes of agriculture and medicine, several observatories, a conservatory, and the Central Institute for Astrophysics. Potsdam has locomotive-building and boatbuilding, engineering, electrotechnical, textile, and food-processing industries. The incorporated suburb of Babelsburg is a centre of the German film industry. Pop. (1990 est.) 141,430. village and town (township), St. Lawrence county, northern New York, U.S., on the Raquette River, 30 miles (48 km) east of Ogdensburg. The village was settled in 1803-04 as a cooperative community (disbanded 1810). The State University of New York College at Potsdam (founded 1816 as St. Lawrence Academy) and Clarkson University (1896) give it an academic atmosphere. The town was organized in 1806 and got its name from its reddish sandstone deposits, which were similar to those of Potsdam, Prussia (now in Germany). The quarries, abandoned in 1922, were once important, and Potsdamian was the name given by American geologists to the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician rock formations. The village was separately incorporated in 1831; part of Norwood village is also in the town. The community has a large dairy industry, several hydroelectric-power developments, and hardwood and paper mills. Area town, 102 square miles (263 square km). Pop. (1990) village, 9,756; town, 16,822; (1998 est.) village, 9,491; town, 16,142.