HANNOVER

English Hanover Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), south central Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany. Hannover is bordered by the Lnder of North Rhine-Westphalia to the southwest and Bremen to the northwest and by the Regierungsbezirke of Lneburg to the north, Braunschweig to the southeast, and Weser-Ems to the west. The district occupies an area of 3,491 sq mi (9,041 sq km) and is coextensive with portions of the former German state of Hanover and the larger historic region of Saxony. Its contemporary boundaries were created by an administrative reorganization in 1977 in which the northwestern half of the former Regierungsbezirk of Hildesheim was merged with a smaller Hannover district. Hannover Regierungsbezirk takes its name from that of the largest city and capital of the Land, which serves also as administrative seat of the district. Central Hannover is crossed from west to east by the Brde, a zone of open arable land lying on the northern border of the Central German Uplands. From its narrow west end at the foot of the Wiehengebirge (Wiehen Mountains), the Brde broadens eastward to form a wide plain that eventually merges into the North Harz Foreland. The fertile loess-loam soils are well drained and support high yields of wheat, sugar beets, and vegetables. Throughout history the Brde terrain has been used as a great highway between eastern and western Europe. Today the route is followed by a dense network of roads, railways, and inland waterways. Hannover, an important traffic and communications centre, is situated on the Mittelland Canal where the Leine valley routeway emerges from the southern hills to intersect the Brde. It is the leading industrial city in Lower Saxony, specializing in food processing, electrical engineering, and rubber processing. Hildesheim, with its electrical and clothing industries, lies in the fertile Innerste valley on the western edge of the North Harz Foreland. South of Hannover the arable land of the Brde penetrates between the forest-covered ridges of the Weserbergland (Weser Hills) and Leinebergland (Leine Hills). Many small towns engage in lumber, paper, or furniture industries. Hameln, the famed town of the Pied Piper and a textile- and carpet-manufacturing centre, sits in the broad fertile valley of the Weser River near the North Rhine-Westphalia border. North of Hannover the glaciated lands of the North German Plain begin. The fertile loess regions change to level Geest, raised sandy blocks of heath and wooded land interspersed with low-lying peat bogs; rye is grown rather than wheat. Some of the peat bogs have been drained to create productive cattle pasture. The largest lake of Lower Saxony, the Steinhuder Meer, is situated on the southern edge of the plain, providing a recreation site for Hannover's large urban population. Oil and natural gas fields are exploited west of the Weser River. Population densities in the district range from fewer than 50 persons per sq mi (20 per sq km) on portions of the North German Plain to densities exceeding 1,300 persons per sq mi (500 per sq km) in much of the Brde zone. The majority of the population are descendants of the western Saxons and speak a Low German dialect. Approximately 80 percent of the people are Protestants. The predominant form of rural settlement is one of irregular, compact villages. Higher education in the district is centred in Hannover and includes a university, medical school, veterinary college, and academy for music and drama. Pop. (1989 est.) 2,006,360. English Hanover city, capital (1946) of Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany, on the Leine River and the Mittelland (Midland) Canal, where the spurs of the Harz Mountains meet the wide North German Plain. First mentioned in documents in 1100, it was chartered in 1241 and joined the Hanseatic League in 1386. From 1495 it belonged to the Calenberg-Celle line of the House of Welf, whose seat it was from 1636. In 1714 George Louis of that house became George I of Great Britain. From 1815 to 1866 the city was capital of the kingdom of Hanover, but in the latter year it was annexed by Prussia; it later became the capital of Hanover province and, in 1946, of Lower Saxony. During World War II about 60 percent of Hannover was destroyed, but on the ruins has arisen a replanned, modern city, highly industrialized but still preserving the parks, public gardens, and woods that earned for it the title of the garden city. Notable among these are the Great Garden (laid out in the 17th century in geometric fashion), the great Hannover woods (Eilenriede), the Maschsee (an artificial lake), the Hermann-Lns Park, the Stadtpark, and the zoological gardens. Most of the city's historic buildings were destroyed or severely damaged in World War II; those that could not be rebuilt include the Leibniz House (1652), where the philosopher G.W. Leibniz lived from 1676 until his death in 1716; the old palace (1752); and the old chancellery (1550). Reconstructed buildings include the old town hall (143580), the opera (184252), the Market Church (134959), the Neustdter Church (which contains the tomb of Leibniz), and the Church of the Cross (1333). The ruined St. Giles' (or St. Aegidius') Church (1347) remains as a memorial to war victims. New government offices have been built around the old Leine Palace (163640, rebuilt 181742), the former residence of the Hanoverian court, which was restored and is now the home of the Diet (Legislature) of Lower Saxony. Rebuilt museums include the Lower Saxony State Museum, with natural-history, prehistory, and ethnology departments and extensive picture gallery; and the Kestner-Museum, with Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Cypriot, and Etruscan antiquities and medieval ecclesiastical art. The Wilhelm Busch Museum specializes in caricatures. The city has a university (established in 1831), a school of veterinary medicine, and other colleges. Hannover is one of the most important traffic junctions in northern Germany and is linked to Berlin by rail, expressway, and air. It is a financial and commercial centre with highly diversified industries, especially manufacture of motor vehicles and machinery. The German Industries Fair (first held in Hannover in 1947), now called Hannover Fair, has had great influence on the city's postwar development. Pop. (1989 est.) 498,495.