It was named after the two regions of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania (German: Vinterpommern) The state was established in 1945 after World War II through the merger of the historic regions of Mecklenburg and Prussian Western Pomerania by the Soviet military administration in Allied-occupied Germany.

It became part of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, but was dissolved in 1952 during administrative reforms and its territory divided into the districts of Rostock, Schwerin, and Neubrandenburg.

In 2007, the 33rd G8 summit took place at the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm on the Mecklenburg Baltic coast during the chancellorship of Angela Merkel, who represented various constituencies of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the national legislature, the Bundestag.

Sometimes, Mecklenburg is pronounced [ˈmɛklənbʊʁk], because the digraph ⟨ck⟩ marks a preceding short vowel in High German.

[12] Another explanation is that the ⟨c⟩ comes from a mannerism in High German officialese of writing unnecessary letters, a so-called Letternhäufelung (lit.

In the aftermath of the Second World War and German reunification in 1990, the state was constituted from the historic region of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania, both of which had long and rich independent histories.

In the early 12th century, Hither Pomerania passed under Polish suzerainty under Bolesław III Wrymouth, who initiated Christianization, entrusting this task to Otto of Bamberg.

[15] In the late 12th century, Mecklenburg and Hither Pomerania were conquered by Henry the Lion and briefly incorporated into the Duchy of Saxony, joining the Holy Roman Empire in the 1180s.

[14] In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the Obotrites, subjugated its Nikloting dynasty, and Christianized its people.

The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became Grand Duchies in 1815, and in 1870 they voluntarily joined the new German Empire, while retaining their own internal autonomy.

Since the Middle Ages, the area was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes as part of the Duchy of Pomerania, at various times under Polish, Danish and Imperial suzerainty.

5 of Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov, head of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), as the Province of Mecklenburg and West Pomerania (zapadnoi Pomeranii).

[16] During the war, the make-up of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern's population changed, due to wartime losses and the influx of evacuees (mainly from the Berlin and Hamburg metropolitan areas that were subject to air raids).

Most of them settled in rural communities, but the urban population also increased, most notably in Schwerin from 65,000 (1939) to 99,518 (January 1947), in Wismar from 29,463 to 44,173, and in Greifswald from 29,488 to 43,897.

[17] Western Pomerania was additionally stripped of the area around the Pomeranian regional capital Stettin/Szczecin as well as the city itself, despite its location to the west of the river Oder.

After elections on 20 October 1946, a Landtag replaced the Beratende Versammlung and created the constitution of 16 January 1947, for the Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

At the time of German reunification in 1990, the eastern states were reconstituted along their postwar boundaries (with minor adjustments) as they had existed until 1952, and the historic name Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was restored.

The old towns, hundreds of castles and manors, resort buildings, windmills, churches, and various other cultural monuments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have been renovated in recent years.

Sixth-largest in area and fourteenth in overall population among Germany's sixteen Bundesländer (federal states), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is bounded to the north by the Baltic Sea, to the west by Schleswig-Holstein, to the southwest by Lower Saxony, to the south by Brandenburg, and to the east by the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland.

The cities are characterised by a certain "Hanseatic" style also found in other parts of northern Germany (e.g. Lübeck) as well as in countries bordering the Baltic Sea like Estonia (e.g. Tallinn) or Latvia (e.g. Riga).

A common feature of many towns in Mecklenburg and Vorpommern are red Brick Gothic churches and houses dating back to the Middle Ages.

Caspar David Friedrich, a famous romanticist painter born in Greifswald, immortalised parts of the state in several of his paintings.

[20] Following the Reformation, led in Germany by Martin Luther, as well as a period of Swedish rule, the traditional faith in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is Protestantism, specifically Lutheranism.

There are two main types of schools, Regionalschule (for the majority of pupils) and Gymnasium (for the top 30% of each year's students, leading to the university entrance qualification "Abitur").

[28] The essential functions of the Landtag are to elect the Minister-President of the state; to discuss and decide on laws which have been proposed by the government, by any four members of the Landtag, or a people's initiative or petition for a referendum initiated directly by the people; and to control the state government.

Alliance 90/The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) both won around 6% of votes and re-entered the Landtag after previously falling out in 2016 and 2011, respectively.

She stated her motivations for reorienting the coalition as a desire for "a new departure", and described The Left as a "social, pragmatic party" with decisive policy overlap with the SPD.

[30] On 5 November 2021, the SPD and The Left agreed to a coalition government and plan to form a cabinet, which is to be approved by each party-congress by mid-November.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 44.5 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 1.3% of German economic output.

Growing sectors are biotechnology, information technology, life sciences, maritime industry and tourist services.