Coordinates: 53°33′N 10°00′E

Hamburg
Hamburg (German: [ˈhambʊʁk] ( listen), locally also  [ˈhambʊɪ̯ ç] ( listen); Low Saxon: Hamborg
[ˈhambɔːç] ( listen)), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hamburg
Hansestadt Hamburg; Low Saxon: Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),[8] is the second-largest city in Hamborg (Low German)
Germany after Berlin, as well as the overall 7th largest city and largest non-capital city in the
European Union with a population of over 1.85 million.[9] Hamburg is 941 km2 in area. Hamburg's City and state
urban area has a population of around 2.5 million[1] and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
which has a population of over 5.1 million people in total. The city lies on the River Elbe and two of its
tributaries, the River Alster and the River Bille. One of Germany's 16 federated states, Hamburg is
surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south.

The official name reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and a
free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it was a fully View of the Binnenalster
sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic republic headed constitutionally by a class of
hereditary grand burghers or Hanseaten. Beset by disasters such as the Great Fire of Hamburg, North
Sea flood of 1962 and military conflicts including World War II bombing raids, the city has managed
to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe.

Hamburg is Europe's third largest port, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. Major regional broadcaster
NDR, the printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr and the newspapers Der Spiegel and Die Zeit
are based in the city. Hamburg is the seat of Germany's oldest stock exchange and the world's oldest
merchant bank, Berenberg Bank. Media, commercial, logistical, and industrial firms with significant
locations in the city include multinationals Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf, and Unilever.
Hamburg is also a major European science, research, and education hub, with several universities and
institutions. The city enjoys a very high quality of living, being ranked 19th in the 2019 Mercer Quality Elbphilharmonie St Catherine's
of Living Survey.[10] Church

Hamburg hosts specialists in world economics and international law, including consular and
diplomatic missions as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the EU-LAC Foundation,
and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, multipartite international political conferences and
summits such as Europe and China and the G20. Both former German chancellors Helmut Schmidt
and Angela Merkel were born in Hamburg. The former Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, has been the Hafencity Speicherstadt
current German chancellor since December 2021.

Hamburg is a major international and domestic tourist destination. The Speicherstadt and
Kontorhausviertel were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2015.[11] Hamburg's rivers and
canals are crossed by around 2,500 bridges, making it the city with the highest number of bridges in
Europe.[12] Aside from its rich architectural heritage, the city is also home to notable cultural venues Hamburg City Hall Port of Hamburg
such as the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle concert halls. It gave birth to movements like
Hamburger Schule and paved the way for bands including the Beatles. Hamburg is also known for
several theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Pauli's Reeperbahn is among the best-known
European entertainment districts.

History Flag
Coat of arms

Origins
Hamburg
Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) reported the first name for the vicinity as Treva.[13]

Etymology

The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor
Charlemagne ordered constructed in AD 808. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River
Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg,
burg meaning castle or fort. The origin of the Hamma term remains uncertain,[14] but its location is
estimated to be at the site of today's Domplatz.[15][16]

Medieval Hamburg Show map of Germany

Show map of Europe
In 834, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The Show all
first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Coordinates: 53°33′N 10°00′E
Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the
Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.[17] Country Germany
Government
Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times. In 845, 600  • Body Bürgerschaft of
Viking ships sailed up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at Hamburg
Hamburg in 1150 that time a town of around 500 inhabitants.[17] In 1030, King  • First Mayor Peter Tschentscher
(SPD)
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland burned down the city. Valdemar II of Denmark raided and occupied  • Second Mayor Katharina Fegebank
Hamburg in 1201 and in 1214. The Black Death killed at least 60% of the population in 1350.[18]  • Governing SPD / Greens
Hamburg experienced several great fires in the medieval period.[19] parties
 • Bundesrat 3 (of 69)
In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial votes
City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. In 1265, an  • Bundestag 16 (of 736)
seats
allegedly forged letter was presented to or by the Rath of Hamburg.[20] This charter, along with
Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, quickly made it a Area
major port in Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin and core of the  • City 755.22 km2
powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and (291.59 sq mi)
Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a hanse in London. This was the first time in history
Population (2021-12-31)[2]
that the word hanse was used for the trading guild of the Hanseatic League.[21] In 1270, the solicitor
 • City 1,906,411
of the senate of Hamburg, Jordan von Boitzenburg, wrote the first description of civil, criminal and
 • Density 2,500/km2
procedural law for a city in Germany in the German language, the Ordeelbook (Ordeel: sentence).[22] (6,500/sq mi)
On 10 August 1410, civil unrest forced a compromise (German: Rezeß, literally meaning: withdrawal).  • Urban 2,484,800[1]
This is considered the first constitution of Hamburg.[23]
 • Metro 5,425,628
In 1356 was celebrated for the first time the Matthiae-Mahl feast dinner for Hanseatic League cities Demonym(s) German: Hamburger
on 25 February, the first day of spring in medieval times. It continues today as the world's oldest (male), Hamburgerin
ceremonial meal.[24] (female)
English:
Hamburger(s),[3] [4]
Early modern period Hamburgian(s)
Time zone UTC+1 (Central (CET))
In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and  • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (Central
France. (CEST))
Postal code(s) 20001–21149, 22001–
When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced a second layer to the fortifications to protect against the 22769
Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town"
Area code(s) 040
(Neustadt) whose street names still date from the grid system of roads he introduced.[25]
ISO 3166 code DE-HH
Vehicle HH (1906–1945; again
Upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Free Imperial City of Hamburg was not
registration since 1956)
incorporated into a larger administrative area while retaining special privileges (mediatised), but
became a sovereign state with the official title of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Hamburg MGH (1945)
was briefly annexed by Napoleon I to the First French Empire (1804–1814/1815). Russian forces H (1945–1947)
under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. Hamburg re-assumed its pre-1811 status as a HG (1947)
city-state in 1814. The Vienna Congress of 1815 confirmed Hamburg's independence and it became BH (1948–1956)
one of 39 sovereign states of the German Confederation (1815–1866).
GRP (nominal) €123 billion (2019)[5]
In 1842, about a quarter of the inner city was destroyed in the "Great Fire". The fire started on the GRP per capita €67,000[6] (2019)
night of 4 May and was not extinguished until 8 May. It destroyed three churches, the town hall, and
NUTS Region DE6
many other buildings, killing 51 people and leaving an estimated 20,000 homeless. Reconstruction
took more than 40 years. HDI (2021) 0.972[7]
very high · 1st of 16
After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a semidemocratic Website hamburg.com (https://
constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult www.hamburg.com/)
taxpaying males. Other innovations included the separation of powers, the separation of Church and
State, freedom of the press, of assembly and association. Hamburg became a member of the North German
Confederation (1866–1871) and of the German Empire (1871–1918), and maintained its self-ruling status
during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). Hamburg acceded to the German Customs Union or Zollverein in
1888, the last (along with Bremen) of the German states to join. The city experienced its fastest growth during
the second half of the 19th century when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the
city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's second-largest port.[26] The Hamburg-America Line, with Albert
Ballin as its director, became the world's largest transatlantic shipping company around the start of the 20th
century. Shipping companies sailing to South America, Africa, India and East Asia were based in the city.
Hamburg was the departure port for many Germans and Eastern Europeans to emigrate to the United States Hamburg, c. 1600
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Trading communities from all over the world established themselves
there.

A major outbreak of cholera in 1892 was badly handled by the city government, which retained an unusual
degree of independence for a German city. About 8,600 died in the largest German epidemic of the late 19th
century, and the last major cholera epidemic in a major city of the Western world.

Second World War

Hamburg was a Gau within the administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1934 until 1945. During the Hamburg in 1811
Second World War, the Allied bombing of Hamburg devastated much of the city and the harbour. On 23 July
1943, the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Force firebombing created a firestorm which spread
from the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) and quickly moved south-east, completely destroying entire boroughs such as Hammerbrook,
Billbrook and Hamm South. Thousands of people perished in these densely populated working class boroughs. The raids, codenamed Operation
Gomorrah by the RAF, killed at least 42,600 civilians; the precise number is not known. About one million civilians were evacuated in the
aftermath of the raids. While some of the boroughs destroyed were rebuilt as residential districts after the war, others such as Hammerbrook were
entirely developed into office, retail and limited residential or industrial districts.

The Hamburg Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery is in the greater Ohlsdorf Cemetery in the north of Hamburg.
At least 42,900 people are thought to have perished[27] in the Neuengamme concentration camp (about 25 km
(16  mi) outside the city in the marshlands), mostly from epidemics and in the bombing of Kriegsmarine
evacuation vessels by the RAF at the end of the war.

Systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent started on 18 October
1941. These were all directed to ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe or to concentration camps. Most deported
persons perished in the Holocaust. By the end of 1942 the Jüdischer Religionsverband in Hamburg was
dissolved as an independent legal entity and its remaining assets and staff were assumed by the Reich
Association of Jews in Germany (District Northwest). On 10 June 1943 the Reich Security Main Office
dissolved the association by a decree.[28] The few remaining employees not somewhat protected by a mixed
marriage were deported from Hamburg on 23 June to Theresienstadt, where most of them perished. Hamburg Eilbek after the 1943
bombing

Post-war history

The city was surrendered to British Forces on 3 May 1945, in the Battle of Hamburg,[29] three days after Adolf
Hitler's death. After the Second World War, Hamburg formed part of the British Zone of Occupation; it
became a state of what was then West Germany in 1949.

On 16 February 1962, a North Sea flood caused the Elbe to rise to an all-time high, inundating one-fifth of
Hamburg and killing more than 300 people.

The inner German border – only 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of Hamburg – separated the city from most of its Flak tower on the Heiligengeistfeld
hinterland and reduced Hamburg's global trade. Since German reunification in 1990, and the accession of in Hamburg – one of four enormous
several Central European and Baltic countries into the European Union in 2004, the Port of Hamburg has fortress-like bunkers in Hamburg
restarted ambitions for regaining its position as the region's largest deep-sea port for container shipping and
its major commercial and trading centre.

Geography
Hamburg is at a sheltered natural harbour on the southern fanning-out of the Jutland Peninsula, between
Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic
Sea to the northeast. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille. The city centre is around
the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and Außenalster ("Outer Alster"), both formed by damming the River Alster
to create lakes. The islands of Neuwerk, Scharhörn, and Nigehörn, 100 kilometres (60  mi) away in the Container Terminal at the Port of
Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of the city of Hamburg.[30] Hamburg

The neighborhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land (old land)
region, the largest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe. Neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburg's highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at
116.2 metres (381 ft) AMSL.[31] Hamburg borders the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.

Climate

Hamburg has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), influenced by its proximity to the coast and maritime influences that originate over the Atlantic
Ocean. The location in the north of Germany provides extremes greater than typical marine climates, but definitely in the category due to the
prevailing westerlies.[32] Nearby wetlands enjoy a maritime temperate climate. The amount of snowfall has varied greatly in recent decades. In
the late 1970s and early 1980s, heavy snowfall sometimes occurred,[33] the winters of recent years have been less cold, with snowfall just a few
days per year.[34][35]

The warmest months are June, July, and August, with high temperatures of 20.1 to 22.5 °C (68.2 to 72.5 °F). The coldest are December, January,
and February, with low temperatures of −0.3 to 1.0 °C (31.5 to 33.8 °F).[36]
 Climate data for Hamburg-Fuhlsbuttel (Hamburg Airport), elevation: 15 m, 1981-2010 normals

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

14.4 17.2 23.0 29.7 33.5 34.6 40.1 37.3 32.3 26.1 20.2 15.7 40.1
Record high °C (°F)
(57.9) (63.0) (73.4) (85.5) (92.3) (94.3) (104.2) (99.1) (90.1) (79.0) (68.4) (60.3) (104.2)

3.5 4.4 8.0 12.3 17.5 19.9 22.1 22.2 17.9 13.0 7.5 4.6 13.2
Average high °C (°F)
(38.3) (39.9) (46.4) (54.1) (63.5) (67.8) (71.8) (72.0) (64.2) (55.4) (45.5) (40.3) (55.8)

1.0 1.6 4.6 7.8 12.5 15.2 17.4 17.4 13.7 9.5 4.9 2.3 9.0
Daily mean °C (°F)
(33.8) (34.9) (40.3) (46.0) (54.5) (59.4) (63.3) (63.3) (56.7) (49.1) (40.8) (36.1) (48.2)

−1.4 −1.2 1.1 3.3 7.4 10.5 12.7 12.5 9.6 6.0 2.4 0.0 6.2
Average low °C (°F)
(29.5) (29.8) (34.0) (37.9) (45.3) (50.9) (54.9) (54.5) (49.3) (42.8) (36.3) (32.0) (43.2)

−22.8 −29.1 −15.3 −7.1 −5.0 0.6 3.4 1.8 −1.2 −7.1 −15.4 −18.5 −29.1
Record low °C (°F)
(−9.0) (−20.4) (4.5) (19.2) (23.0) (33.1) (38.1) (35.2) (29.8) (19.2) (4.3) (−1.3) (−20.4)

67.8 49.9 67.7 43.0 57.4 78.6 76.7 78.9 67.4 67.0 69.2 68.9 792.6
Average rainfall mm (inches)
(2.67) (1.96) (2.67) (1.69) (2.26) (3.09) (3.02) (3.11) (2.65) (2.64) (2.72) (2.71) (31.20)

Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) 12.1 9.2 11.3 8.9 9.6 11.3 11.4 10.2 10.8 10.5 11.7 12.4 129.4

Mean monthly sunshine hours 46.9 69.0 108.8 171.6 223.4 198.7 217.5 203.1 144.6 107.9 53.0 37.4 1,581.9

Average ultraviolet index 0 1 2 4 5 6 6 5 4 2 1 0 3

[36] [37] [38]
Source: WMO (UN), DWD and Weather Atlas

View climate chart 1986-2016 or 1960-1990

Climate data for Hamburg-Fuhlsbuttel (Hamburg Airport), elevation: 15 m, 1961-1990 normals and extremes

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

12.8 16.7 23.0 29.7 29.2 32.7 33.2 34.8 30.3 24.0 20.2 15.7 34.8
Record high °C (°F)
(55.0) (62.1) (73.4) (85.5) (84.6) (90.9) (91.8) (94.6) (86.5) (75.2) (68.4) (60.3) (94.6)

2.7 3.8 7.2 11.9 17.0 20.2 21.4 21.6 18.0 13.3 7.6 4.0 12.4
Average high °C (°F)
(36.9) (38.8) (45.0) (53.4) (62.6) (68.4) (70.5) (70.9) (64.4) (55.9) (45.7) (39.2) (54.3)

0.5 1.1 3.7 7.3 12.2 15.5 16.8 16.6 13.5 9.7 5.1 1.9 8.7
Daily mean °C (°F)
(32.9) (34.0) (38.7) (45.1) (54.0) (59.9) (62.2) (61.9) (56.3) (49.5) (41.2) (35.4) (47.6)

−2.2 −1.8 0.4 3.0 7.2 10.4 12.2 11.9 9.4 6.3 2.5 −0.7 4.9
Average low °C (°F)
(28.0) (28.8) (32.7) (37.4) (45.0) (50.7) (54.0) (53.4) (48.9) (43.3) (36.5) (30.7) (40.8)

−20.8 −18.7 −13.8 −6.5 −2.2 0.6 4.2 1.8 −0.6 −3.3 −15.4 −18.5 −20.8
Record low °C (°F)
(−5.4) (−1.7) (7.2) (20.3) (28.0) (33.1) (39.6) (35.2) (30.9) (26.1) (4.3) (−1.3) (−5.4)

61.0 41.0 56.0 51.0 57.0 74.0 82.0 70.0 70.0 63.0 71.0 72.0 768
Average precipitation mm (inches)
(2.40) (1.61) (2.20) (2.01) (2.24) (2.91) (3.23) (2.76) (2.76) (2.48) (2.80) (2.83) (30.23)

Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 12.0 9.0 11.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 12.0 11.0 11.0 10.0 12.0 12.0 131

Mean monthly sunshine hours 42.2 67.0 104.7 160.7 216.8 221.8 206.7 207.3 141.1 100.7 53.0 35.2 1,557.2

Source: NOAA[39]

Demographics
On 31 December 2016, there were 1,860,759 people registered as living in Hamburg in an area of 755.3 km2 Historical population
(291.6  sq  mi). The population density was 2,464/km2 (6,380/sq  mi).[41] The metropolitan area of the Year Pop. ±%
Hamburg region (Hamburg Metropolitan Region) is home to 5,107,429 living on 196/km2 (510/sq mi).[42] 950 500 —    
1430 16,000 +3100.0%
There were 915,319 women and 945,440 men in Hamburg. For every 1,000 females, there were 1,033 males. In
1840 136,956 +756.0%
2015, there were 19,768 births in Hamburg (of which 38.3% were to unmarried women); 6422 marriages and 1900 705,738 +415.3%
3190 divorces, and 17,565 deaths. In the city, the population was spread out, with 16.1% under the age of 18,
1910 931,035 +31.9%
and 18.3% were 65 years of age or older. 356 people in Hamburg were over the age of 100.[43]
1920 1,026,989 +10.3%
According to the Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, the number of people with a migrant 1930 1,145,124 +11.5%
background is at 34% (631,246). [44] Immigrants come from 200 countries. 5,891 people have acquired 1940 1,725,500 +50.7%
German cititzenship in 2016.[45] 1945 1,350,278 −21.7%
1950 1,605,606 +18.9%
In 2016, there were 1,021,666 households, of which 17.8% had children under the age of 18; 54.4% of all 1961 1,840,543 +14.6%
households were made up of singles. 25.6% of all households were single parent households. The average 1970 1,793,640 −2.5%
household size was 1.8.[46] 1975 1,717,383 −4.3%
1980 1,645,095 −4.2%
1985 1,579,884 −4.0%
Foreign citizens in Hamburg 1990 1,652,363 +4.6%
[45] 2000 1,715,392 +3.8%
Hamburg residents with a foreign citizenship as of 31 December 2016 is as follows 2010 1,786,448 +4.1%
2012 1,734,272 −2.9%
2013 1,746,342 +0.7%
2014 1,762,791 +0.9%
2015 1,787,408 +1.4%
2016 1,810,438 +1.3%
 Citizenship Number % 2018 1,841,179 +1.7%
2020 1,852,478 +0.6%
Total 288,338 100%
Population size may be affected by
Europe 193,812 67.2% changes in administrative divisions.

European Union 109,496 38%

Largest groups of foreign
Asian 59,292 20.6%
residents[40]
African 18,996 6.6%
Nationality Population (31
American 11,315 3.9% December 2021)
Australian and Oceanian 1,234 0.4%  Turkey 44,280
24,635
Language  Afghanistan
 Poland 23,310
As elsewhere in Germany, Standard German is spoken in Hamburg, but as typical for northern Germany, the  Syria 17,725
original language of Hamburg is Low German, usually referred to as Hamborger Platt (German Hamburger
Platt) or Hamborgsch. Since large-scale standardization of the German language beginning in earnest in the  Russia 10,375
18th century, various Low German-colored dialects have developed (contact-varieties of German on Low  Romania 10,010
Saxon substrates). Originally, there was a range of such Missingsch varieties, the best-known being the low-  Iran 9,725
prestige ones of the working classes and the somewhat more bourgeois Hanseatendeutsch (Hanseatic
German), although the term is used in appreciation.[47] All of these are now moribund due to the influences of  Portugal 9,065
Standard German used by education and media. However, the former importance of Low German is indicated  Bulgaria 8,830
by several songs, such as the famous sea shanty Hamborger Veermaster, written in the 19th century when  North 7,770
Low German was used more frequently. Many toponyms and street names reflect Low Saxon vocabulary,
Macedonia
partially even in Low Saxon spelling, which is not standardised, and to some part in forms adapted to
Standard German.[48]  Italy 7,570
 Ghana 7,550

Religion  Serbia 7,405

 Croatia 6,685
Religion in Hamburg – 2018 65.2% of the population is not religious or adherent other
religion percent  China 6,335
religions than the Evangelical Church or Catholicism.[49]
None or other 65.2%  India 6,100
EKD Protestants 24.9%
In 2018, 24.9% of the population belonged to the North Elbian  Greece 6,095
Roman Catholics 9.9%
Evangelical Lutheran Church, the largest religious body, and
9.9% to the Roman Catholic Church. Hamburg is seat of one of  Spain 6,040
the three bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany and seat of the Roman Catholic  Iraq 5,400
Archdiocese of Hamburg.

According to the publication Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland ("Muslim life in Germany"), an estimated 141,900 Muslim migrants (from
nearly 50 countries of origin) lived in Hamburg in 2008.[50] About three years later (May 2011) calculations based on census data for 21 countries
of origin resulted in a figure of about 143,200 Muslim migrants in Hamburg, making up 8.4% percent of the population.[51] As of 2021, there were
more than 50 mosques in the city,[52] including the Ahmadiyya run Fazle Omar Mosque, which is the oldest in the city,[53] and which hosts the
Islamic Centre Hamburg.

A Jewish community exists.[54]

Government
The city of Hamburg is one of 16 German states, therefore the Mayor of Hamburg's office corresponds more to
the role of a minister-president than to the one of a city mayor. As a German state government, it is
responsible for public education, correctional institutions and public safety; as a municipality, it is additionally
responsible for libraries, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply and welfare services.

Since 1897, the seat of the government has been the Hamburg Rathaus (Hamburg City Hall), with the office of
the mayor, the meeting room for the Senate and the floor for the Hamburg Parliament.[55] From 2001 until
2010, the mayor of Hamburg was Ole von Beust,[56] who governed in Germany's first statewide "black-green"
coalition, consisting of the conservative CDU Hamburg and the alternative GAL, which are Hamburg's
regional wing of the Alliance 90/The Greens party.[57] Von Beust was briefly succeeded by Christoph Ahlhaus
in 2010, but the coalition broke apart on 28 November 2010.[58] On 7 March 2011 Olaf Scholz (SPD) became
mayor. After the 2015 election the SPD and the Alliance 90/The Greens formed a coalition. Hamburg City Hall (front view)

Boroughs

Hamburg is made up of seven boroughs (German: Bezirke) and subdivided into 104 quarters (German: Stadtteile). There are 181 localities
(German: Ortsteile). The urban organization is regulated by the Constitution of Hamburg and several laws.[8][59] Most of the quarters were
former independent cities, towns or villages annexed into Hamburg proper. The last large annexation was done through the Greater Hamburg Act
of 1937, when the cities Altona, Harburg and Wandsbek were merged into the state of Hamburg.[60] The Act of the Constitution and
Administration of Hanseatic city of Hamburg established Hamburg as a state and a municipality.[61] Some of the boroughs and quarters have
been rearranged several times.

Each borough is governed by a Borough Council (German: Bezirksversammlung) and administered by a Municipal Administrator (German:
Bezirksamtsleiter). The boroughs are not independent municipalities: their power is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Hamburg. The
borough administrator is elected by the Borough Council and thereafter requires confirmation and appointment by Hamburg's Senate.[59] The
quarters have no governing bodies of their own.