The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is located in the northern German lowlands on the lower reaches of the Elbe, around 100 kilometres from the mouth of the Elbe into the North Sea. After Berlin, Hamburg is the second largest German city with almost 1.9 million inhabitants on an area of 755.3 square kilometres. The city-state of Hamburg is one of the 16 federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Geographically, Hamburg is located in the north of Germany (53° 33′ N, 10° 0′ E). To the north and towards the coast, Hamburg borders on the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and to the south on Lower Saxony. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is both a city and a city state of the Federal Republic of Germany. Hamburg is divided into seven districts: Hamburg-Mitte, Altona, Eimsbüttel, Hamburg-Nord, Wandsbek, Bergedorf and Harburg. Hamburg is also the centre of the Hamburg metropolitan region, which has a population of 5.4 million.
The world is at home in Hamburg. For centuries, trade and seafaring have characterised the cosmopolitan climate of this city. Today, over 32,000 trading companies make Hamburg Germany's leading centre for foreign trade. The connection with China is particularly close: more than 500 Chinese companies have settled here, making Hamburg the most important China centre in Europe.
Hamburg cultivates its international relations through a broad network of city partnerships and cooperation programs. These partnerships promote cultural exchange and dialogue on many levels. The first city partnership was concluded with St. Petersburg in 1957 (currently dormant), followed by Marseille in 1958, Shanghai, Osaka and León between 1986 and 1989 and Chicago in 1994. The most recent twinning agreement is with Dar-es-Salaam.
Another way of extending contact to other cities is the HamburgAmbassador program. The HamburgAmbassadors are appointed to this honorary position by the First Mayor. Officially, the appointed persons appear abroad as "Honorary Representative of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg". The aim is to build up an international network that will further raise the city's profile worldwide.
More:
🔗 Politics & administration of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg
🔗 Facts & figures about Hamburg
🔗 Location profile of the Hamburg metropolitan region
Hamburg facts
