Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a
state in northeastern
Germany. Brandenburg borders the states of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,
Lower Saxony,
Saxony-Anhalt, and
Saxony, as well as the country of
Poland. With an area of 29,480 square kilometres (11,382 square miles) and a population of 2.5 million residents, it is the
fifth-largest German state by area and the
tenth-most populous.
Potsdam is the state capital and largest city, and other major towns are
Cottbus,
Brandenburg an der Havel and
Frankfurt (Oder).
Brandenburg surrounds the national capital and city-state of
Berlin, and together they form the
Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, the third-largest
metropolitan area in Germany with a total population of about 6.2 million. There was
an unsuccessful attempt to unify both states in 1996 and the states cooperate on many matters to this day.
Brandenburg originated in the
Northern March in the 900s AD, from areas conquered from the
Wends. It later became the
Margraviate of Brandenburg, a major principality of the
Holy Roman Empire. In the 15th century, it came under the rule of the
House of Hohenzollern, which later also became the ruling house of the
Duchy of Prussia and established
Brandenburg-Prussia, the core of the later
Kingdom of Prussia. From 1815 to 1947, Brandenburg was a
province of
Prussia.
Following the
abolition of Prussia after
World War II, Brandenburg was established as a state by the
Soviet Military Administration in Germany, and became
a state of the
German Democratic Republic in 1949. In 1952, the state was dissolved and broken up into multiple regional districts. Following
German reunification, Brandenburg was re-established in 1990 and became one of the five
new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The origin of the name Brandenburg is believed to be
West Slavic brani boru, meaning 'defensive forest'. (
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