At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a 110 km (68 mi) estuary to the North Sea, on the mouth of the Alster and Bille.

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 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.

Major regional broadcaster NDR, the printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr and the newspapers Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are based in the city.

Media, commercial, logistical, and industrial firms with significant locations in the city include multinationals Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf, Lufthansa and Unilever.

Hamburg is also a major European science, research, and education hub, with several universities and institutions, including the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Laboratory DESY.

[21] In 1270, the solicitor of the senate of Hamburg, Jordan von Boitzenburg, wrote the first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in the German language, the Ordeelbook (Ordeel: sentence).

After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a semidemocratic constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult taxpaying males.

At least 42,900 people are thought to have perished[29] in the Neuengamme concentration camp (about 25 km, 16 mi outside the city in the marshlands), mostly from epidemics and in the destruction of Kriegsmarine vessels housing evacuees at the end of the war.

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 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.

Originally, there was a range of such Missingsch varieties, the best-known being the low-prestige ones of the working classes and the somewhat more bourgeois Hanseatendeutsch (Hanseatic German), although the term is used in appreciation.

[57] 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.

Politically, the following quarters are part of Altona: Altona-Altstadt, Altona-Nord, Bahrenfeld, Ottensen, Othmarschen, Groß Flottbek, Osdorf, Lurup, Nienstedten, Blankenese, Iserbrook, Sülldorf, Rissen, and Sternschanze.

[70] Bergedorf consists of the quarters Allermöhe, Altengamme, Bergedorf—the centre of the former independent town, Billwerder, Curslack, Kirchwerder, Lohbrügge, Moorfleet, Neuengamme, Neuallermöhe, Ochsenwerder, Reitbrook, Spadenland, and Tatenberg.

[70] Harburg is situated on the southern shores of the river Elbe and covers parts of the port of Hamburg, residential and rural areas, and some research institutes.

The quarters are Altenwerder, Cranz, Eißendorf, Francop, Gut Moor, Harburg, Hausbruch, Heimfeld, Langenbek, Marmstorf, Moorburg, Neuenfelde, Neugraben-Fischbek, Neuland, Rönneburg, Sinstorf, and Wilstorf.

The Elbphilharmonie (Elbe Philharmonic Hall), opened in January 2017, houses concerts in a sail-shaped building on top of an old warehouse, designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron.

The lavish and spacious Planten un Blomen park (Low German dialect for "plants and flowers") located in the centre of Hamburg is the green heart of the city.

[88] An important meeting place for Hamburg musicians from the 1970s to the mid-80s was the jazz pub Onkel Pö, which was originally founded in the Pöseldorf neighbourhood and later moved to Eppendorf.

The high proportion of independent labels in the city, which include Audiolith, Dial Records, Grand Hotel van Cleef, among others, is striking.

As Europe's largest club festival, it offers several hundred program points around the Reeperbahn in Hamburg over four days and is one of the most important meeting places for the music industry worldwide.

[109] There is Bratkartoffeln (pan-fried potato slices), Finkenwerder Scholle (Low Saxon Finkwarder Scholl, pan-fried plaice), Pannfisch (pan-fried fish with mustard sauce),[110] Rote Grütze (Low Saxon Rode Grütt, related to Danish rødgrød, a type of summer pudding made mostly from berries and usually served with cream, like Danish rødgrød med fløde),[111] and Labskaus (a mixture of corned beef, mashed potatoes, and beetroot, a cousin of the Norwegian lapskaus and Liverpool's lobscouse, all offshoots off an old-time one-pot meal that used to be the main component of the common sailor's humdrum diet on the high seas).

In particular, the spokesperson of the Rote Flora said that the autonomous cultural centre had a traditionally good relationship with its neighbours and local residents, since they were united in their fight against gentrification in that neighbourhood.

A memorial for English engineer William Lindley,[130] who, beginning in 1842, reorganised the drinking water and sewerage system and thus helped to fight against cholera, is near Baumwall railway station in Vorsetzen street.

It is bordered to the north, separated by the customs channel to Hamburg's city centre, west and south by the Elbe, and to the east, bounded by the upper harbour, Rothenburgsort.

[142] The area of Reeperbahn, in the quarter St. Pauli, is Europe's largest red light district and home of strip clubs, brothels, bars, and nightclubs.

Some of Germany's largest publishing companies, Axel Springer AG, Gruner + Jahr, and Bauer Media Group, are located in the city.

One accompanies the contented little kippers of a striving society; mackerels from Stade, sole from Finkenwerder, herrings from Cuxhaven swim in expectant throngs through the streets of my city and lobsters patrol the stock exchange with open claws....