Cottbus lies in the Sorbian settlement area (Serbski sedleński rum) of Lower Lusatia, and is the second-largest city on the River Spree after Berlin, which is situated around 125 km (78 mi) downstream.

The city is located on the shores of Germany's largest artificial lake, the Cottbuser Ostsee (Chóśebuski pódzajtšny jazor).

In the 10th century, the Wends constructed the largest Slavic castle of Lower Lusatia, a gord, on a Spree island.

Cottbus is the seat of the Brandenburg University of Technology (German: Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus–Senftenberg, Lower Sorbian: Bramborska techniska uniwersita Chóśebuz–Zły Komorow).

The Wendish Quarter is a part of the city supposed to resemble the traditional Sorbian architectural style, constructed of prefabricated concrete slabs in East Germany between 1984 and 1989.

Names in different languages: The settlement was established in the tenth century, when Sorbs erected a castle on a sandy island in the River Spree.

It was an exclave almost completely surrounded by Bohemian Lower Lusatia (with a short border with the Electorate of Saxony to the south-west).

In 1807, following the War of the Fourth Coalition, Cottbus was ceded by Prussia to the Kingdom of Saxony by the Treaty of Tilsit, reuniting it with Lower Lusatia.

Lower Lusatia was also ceded to Prussia and both became part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg (and Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt), where they remained until 1947.

In the 19th century, the Bramborski Serbski Casnik Sorbian newspaper was published in the city, and in 1880, the first Lower Lusatian department of the Maćica Serbska organization was established there.

[8] In interwar Germany, the town was the site of a concentration camp for unwanted Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

Summers are very warm for being so far north, while winters are often mild due to prevailing trade winds from the Atlantic Ocean facing little natural obstacles on the way to the area.

Snowfall is a regular occurrence with 36 days of snow cover annually,[13] but Cottbus remains mild enough that it usually thaws quickly.

[15] Cottbus is also home to the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) and the maths/science-oriented Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium, named after the physicist Max Steenbeck.

There are several lignite-fired power stations in the area around Cottbus (Lausitz) fed through local open pit mining.