While Zerbst is a small town today, together with Dessau it was one of the two central cities of Anhalt.

In 1793 the line of the princes became extinct, and Anhalt-Zerbst was annexed by the neighbouring principality of Anhalt-Dessau.

Russian empress, Catherine the Great, was, by birth, a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst.

Anhalt-Zerbst comprises plain countryside north of the Elbe River.

The Elbe enters the district in the east, runs through the southeastern part and then forms the southern and western border of Anhalt-Zerbst.