Hamburg
Hamburg names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Hamburg a free city of the German Empire
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a free city of the German Empire . Politically, Hamburg stands with Lubeck and Bremen, on the same footing as Saxony, Prussia, and other German states. The city state of Hamburg has a territorial area of 160 square miles. It sends one member to the Bundesrath and three to the Reichstag. The city claims to be the outgrowth of a citadel built by Charlemagne in 808. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, about ninety miles from the North Sea . Like Glasgow, the city has spent millions of dollars in deepening the channel of the river, so that large ocean-going vessels may reach its wharves. With its suburbs, it has a river frontage of over five miles. The port is the largest on the European continent. A floating dry dock is the largest in the world. The city is intersected by numerous canals, leading to different parts of the empire. Both river and canals are spanned by beautiful bridges. Large basins or artificial lakes within the city give a desirable frontage for the principal hotels and palaces. The most notable edifice is the Commercial Exchange. The church of St. Nicholas is one of the finest modern churches in existence. Its general style is Gothic or pointed. The western tower, 473 feet high, is one of the notable spires of Europe. There are numerous churches and educational institutions, a large art collection, zoological and botanical gardens, etc. Bath and wash houses have been provided at public expense. The city owns its own gas and electric lighting plants. The street railway companies pay large amounts into the public treasury. An immense filtering plant provides pure water. The city is considered one of the best managed in Europe. Seven railroad lines and numerous canals center here. During the year 1903, 14,198,817 tons of freight were handled at the wharves of Hamburg. It is the most important commercial city in continental Europe. Ranked according to the amount of freight handled, Hamburg is the fourth port in the world. It is exceeded by London, New York , and Chicago only. Hamburg ranks next to New York as a coffee market. The chief manufacturing interests are shipbuilding, iron founding, tobacco and cigar making, sugar refining, distilling, and brewing. The marine insurance business of Hamburg ranks next to that of London. At the beginning of the century the population was reported at 768;349. In 1905 there were 802,793 people in the city and 874,878 in the entire state. Hamburg is the second city in size in Germany. Ninety-two per cent of the people are Protestant. An excellent system of schools is maintained. From 30,000 to 80,000 emigrants set sail from Hamburg annually for the United States. Hamburg is headquarters for wild animals. Carl Hagenback, a Hamburg dealer, has agents in Africa, Asia, Australia, and both Americas, collecting wild animals. If a menagerie, park, zoological garden, or scientific association needs a buffalo from North America, a crocodile from the Nile, a zebra from South Africa, a python from India, a gorilla from the Congo country, a parrot, a monkey, or a constrictor from the Amazon Valley, a chamois from the Alps, a kangaroo from Australia, a polar bear from the Arctic regions, or any one of the thousand and more curious serpents, birds, or beasts, the order may be sent to Hamburg. The animal is to be obtained there if anywhere. It will be sent in halter, crate, cage, or tank by the next outgoing steamer. If the desired specimen is not on hand every effort will be made to secure one. The fortifications were removed in 1815, but they have left their trace in a fine girdle of green round the city, though too many inroads on its completeness have been made by railways and roadways. The oldest portion of the city still retains the name of Altstadt, though nearly all trace of its antiquity has disappeared, as it was rebuilt after the great fire of 1842. The old town lies low, and is traversed by a great number of narrow canals or "fleets" (for the same word which has left its trace in London nomenclature is used in the Low-German city), which add considerably to the picturesqueness of the meaner quarters, and serve as convenient channels for the transport of goods. They generally form what may be called the back streets, and they are bordered by ware-houses, cellars, and the lower class of dwelling-houses. As they are subject to the ebb and flow of the Elbe, at certain times they run quite dry, and afford a field of operation for the fleetenkieker, who wanders along the oozy channel to pick up any articles of value, and at other times they are filled 15 to 20 feet above their ordinary level. As soon as the telegram at Cuxhaven announces high tide three shots are fired from the Stintfang at the harbour to warn the inhabitants of the "fleets", and if the progress of the tide up the river gives indication of danger, other three shots add emphasis to the warning. Then the dwellers on the lower levels make a rapid escape with their property. At the time of the equinoxes the inundation may be repeated for several days in succession; but when all is over the people return like rats to their oozy and dripping abodes. The largest of the public squares of Hamburg is the Hopfenmarkt, which contains the church of St. Nicholas, and is the principal market for fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit.--Britannica.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Germany, one of the three formerly independent Hansa towns, and the greatest commercial port on the continent of Europe; 80 miles from the North Sea, on the N. branch of the Elbe. The town of Altona adjoins it on the W. From the Elbe proceed canals which intersect the E. and lower part of the city in all directions, and it is also intersected by the Alster, which here forms two fine streams, the Binnenalster and Aussenalster. The quays and harbor accommodation are very extensive. After the destructive fire of 1842 whole streets were rebuilt in a magnificent and expensive ve style. The most important public buildings are the church of St. style. Nicholas, a noble Gothic structure with a lofty fty tower and spire, re, built between 1845 and 1874; St. St. Peter's, another lofty Gothic edifice; St. Michael's, the largest of the churches; St. Catharine's, an ancient edifice; St. James', erected in 1354, but surmounted by a modern tower; an elegant Jewish temple; an exchange, a noble edifice, consisting chiefly of a magnificent hall, surrounded by a fine colonnade. There are also the Johanneum institution, containing an ancient college, museums, and the city library, with about 300,000 volumes; several well-endowed hospitals; zoölogical and botanic gardens; the Kunsthalle, a large collection of pictures and sculpture, theaters, etc. Hamburg was prior to the World War of most importance on account of its great shi shipping trade and the business of banking, exchange, marine assurance, etc., carried on in connection with that. It was the first commercial city on the continent of Europe, and ranked only below London and New York in the value of its trade. Its manufactures, though large, are less important, including shipbuilding, tobacco and cigar mak making, iron-founding, brewing, etc. The city owes its foundation to the emperor Charlemagne, who (808-811) built a citadel and a church on the heights between the Elbe and the E. bank of the Alster, as a bulwark against the neighboring pagans. It became important as a commercial city in the 12th century, and in the 13th it combined with Lübeck in forming the Hanseatic League. In 1618 Hamburg was formally acknowledged a free city of the Empire. During the Thirty Years' War its population and prosperity continued to increase on account of the immunity of its position, and in the following century it obtained a large share of the trade with North America. In 1810 was the French empire along with the N. W. it formally incorporated in part of Germany. In 1815 it joined the Germanic Confederation as a free city. In 1888 the city was included in the Zollverein or German Customs Union In the World War (1914-1910 burg, which lived by its shipping interests, suffered heavily owing to the blockade. Vessels rotted in the docks and desolation marked the once flourishing port. Since the Peace of 1919 Hamburg is fast regaining her old supremacy among German ports.
Hamburg GERMANY GENEVA
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GERMANY GENEVA, SWITZERLAND List of Illustrations PARIS-Colored Frontispiece Opposite page 308 GEYSER IN ERUPTION MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's praise of St Nicholas as "one of the finest modern churches in existence" reads painfully now: in the RAF and USAAF firestorm raids of Operation Gomorrah in July 1943 the church was gutted and much of the city burned, killing some 35,000 people, and the ruined tower has been kept ever since as a war memorial rather than rebuilt. The 1937 Greater Hamburg Act swallowed Altona, Wandsbek and Harburg, and the city-state, now a Land of the Federal Republic, holds about 1.9 million people on roughly 300 square miles. The "fleets" that Aiton found picturesque were largely lost to bombing and rebuilding, though the Speicherstadt warehouse district survived and was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015; a North Sea storm surge in February 1962 still drowned more than 300 Hamburgers. The port remains one of Europe's busiest, but it now counts containers rather than coffee sacks, and Carl Hagenbeck's global traffic in wild animals ended with modern conservation law, leaving only the Tierpark that bears his name.
Written for this edition, 2026.