In 1381, the city of Bremen established de facto rule over the lower Weser stream, including Lehe, later therefore called Bremerlehe.

The Emperor Ferdinand III ordered his vassal Christina of Sweden, then Duchess regnant of Bremen-Verden, to restitute Bremerlehe to Bremen.

In the subsequent peace treaty (First Stade Recess [de]; November 1654) Bremen had to cede Bremerlehe and its surroundings to Swedish Bremen-Verden.

The latter developed plans to found a fortified town on the site, and much later this location became the present-day city of Bremerhaven.

Finally, in 1827, the city of Bremen under Bürgermeister Johann Smidt bought the territories at the mouth of the Weser from the Kingdom of Hanover.

All of Wesermünde, including those parts which did not previously belong to Bremerhaven, was a postwar enclave run by the United States, separate to but within the British zone of northern Germany.

One of the longest based US units at the Kaserne was a US military radio and TV station, an "Amerikanischer Soldatensender", AFN Bremerhaven, which broadcast for 48 years.

In addition to being part of the federal state, the city of Bremen has owned the "overseas port" within Bremerhaven since 1927.

Bremerhaven has a temperate maritime climate; severe frost and heat waves with temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) are rare.

[8] Due to its unique geographic situation,[clarification needed] Bremerhaven suffers from a few transportation difficulties.

A proposed solution is the construction of the A 22, the so-called Küstenautobahn (or "coastal motorway"), which would link Bremerhaven to Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven/Oldenburg (using the Weser tunnel).

Roads leading to the overseas port are frequently overloaded with freight traffic, and solutions are presently[when?]

Additionally, Bremerhaven Hauptbahnhof is served by regional express trains to Hanover (RE 8) and Osnabrück (RE 9) and was reconnected to Deutsche Bahn's Intercity network in late 2021, after nearly 20 years without long-distance rail services in the city.

[15] There are numerous regional buses operated by other companies that depart from Bremerhaven Central Station, to Bad Bederkesa, Beverstedt, Hagen, Nordholz and Otterndorf.

The main attractions for tourists are found at the Havenwelten and include an attraction about climate change, the Klimahaus Bremerhaven 8° Ost [de], the German Emigration Center (since 8 August 2005) and the German Maritime Museum (Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum) by Hans Scharoun from 1975, featuring the Hansekogge, a vintage cog dating from 1380, excavated in Bremen in 1962, and the historical harbour (Museumshafen) with a number of museum ships, such as the Type XXI U-boat Wilhelm Bauer (a museum of its own), and the salvage tug Seefalke from 1924.

The latest addition is the Klimahaus from 2009, simulating travel adventure along the 8th line of longitude and dealing with climate issues.

The Lloyd Werft shipyard is renowned for building and renovating large cruise liners, for example Norway.

Eisbären Bremerhaven (Polar Bears), founded 2001, is a basketball team playing in the German second-tier level league ProA.

The American Football team is the Bremerhaven Seahawks which play in the German Regio Nord of the 3rd League.