Hamburg
Overview
The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.
But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 in AD 808. The castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 was built on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster
Alster
The Alster is a right tributary of the River Elbe in Northern Germany. It has its source near Henstedt-Ulzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, flows roughly southwards and reaches the Elbe in Hamburg. In the centre of Hamburg the Alster has been dammed...

 and the River Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 as a defence against Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

 incursion. The castle was named Hammaburg, burg meaning castle or fort.
Timeline

1863    The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.

1927    The {{Ship||Cap Arcona}} is launched at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

1938    The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

1940    World War II: In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

1943    World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.

1945    World War II: The liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army.

1960    Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.

1962    A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.

 
x
OK