Land Hadeln

Enthusiastic historians of late 19th and early 20th century postulated an Old Saxon Gau (district) of that name, but there is no evidence for this theory.

[2] In the Middle Ages, the Land Hadeln was a fairly, but not perfectly, autonomous rural community, applying Saxon Law.

Today the name 'Land Hadeln' is mainly restricted to the dyked marshes in the lowland bay south of the Elbe estuary.

To the south, between the islands of geest, sprawl extensive areas of fen and raised bog, that have been cultivated however, apart from a small terrain remnant in Ahlenmoor.

The economic importance of tourism, especially in the beach resorts of Otterndorf and the bogside lakes near Bad Bederkesa, is steadily increasing.

The first written record of Hadeln is found at the end of the 10th century in the Saxon tribal chronicle (Stammessage) by Widukind of Corvey.

In other medieval chronicles, the area "where the ocean rinses Saxony" ("wo der Ozean Sachsen bespült") is called Haduloha or Hatheleria.

With each change of ruler, the people of Hadeln had their liberties and privileges reaffirmed at the Warningsacker (a legal meeting place) between Otterndorf and Altenbruch.