Brandenburg | |||
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State of Germany | |||
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Coordinates: 52°21′43″N 13°0′29″E / 52.36194°N 13.00806°ECoordinates: 52°21′43″N 13°0′29″E / 52.36194°N 13.00806°E | |||
Country | Germany | ||
Capital | Potsdam | ||
Government | |||
• Minister-President | Dietmar Woidke (SPD) | ||
• Governing parties | SPD / The Left | ||
• Bundesrat votes | 4 (of 69) | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 29,478.63 km2 (11,381.76 sq mi) | ||
Population (2015-12-31) | |||
• Total | 2,484,826 | ||
• Density | 84/km2 (220/sq mi) | ||
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
ISO 3166 code | DE-BB | ||
Vehicle registration | formerly: BP (1945–1947), SB (1948–1953) | ||
GDP/ Nominal | €62 billion (2014) | ||
GDP per capita | €24,200 (2014) | ||
NUTS Region | DE4 | ||
Website | brandenburg.de |
History of Brandenburg and Prussia |
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Northern March pre–12th century |
Old Prussians pre–13th century |
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Margraviate of Brandenburg 1157–1618 (1806) |
Teutonic Order 1224–1525 |
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Duchy of Prussia 1525–1618 |
Royal (Polish) Prussia 1466–1772 |
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Brandenburg-Prussia 1618–1701 |
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Kingdom in Prussia 1701–1772 |
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Kingdom of Prussia 1772–1918 |
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Free State of Prussia 1918–1947 |
Klaipėda Region (Lithuania) 1920–1939 / 1945–present |
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Brandenburg (Germany) 1947–1952 / 1990–present |
Recovered Territories (Poland) 1918/1945–present |
Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) 1945–present |
Significant foreign born populations | |
Nationality | Population (2014) |
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Poland | 13,034 |
Russia | 6,105 |
Romania | 3,944 |
Ukraine | 3,556 |
Vietnam | 3.302 |
Turkey | 2,305 |
Syria | 1,794 |
Brandenburg ( listen ; Low German: Brannenborg, Lower Sorbian: Bramborska) is one of the sixteen federated states of Germany. It lies in the northeast of the country covering an area of 29,478 square kilometers and has 2.48 million inhabitants. The capital and largest city is Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the national capital and city-state Berlin forming a metropolitan area.
Originating in the medieval Northern March, the Margraviate of Brandenburg grew to become the core of the Kingdom of Prussia, which would later become the Free State of Prussia with part being the province of Brandenburg. Brandenburg is one of the federal states that was re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former East Germany and West Germany.
In late medieval and early modern times, Brandenburg was one of seven electoral states of the Holy Roman Empire, and, along with Prussia, formed the original core of the German Empire, the first unified German state. Governed by the Hohenzollern dynasty from 1415, it contained the future German capital Berlin. After 1618 the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were combined to form Brandenburg-Prussia, which was ruled by the same branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1701 the state was elevated as the Kingdom of Prussia. Franconian Nuremberg and Ansbach, Swabian Hohenzollern, the eastern European connections of Berlin, and the status of Brandenburg's ruler as prince-elector together were instrumental in the rise of that state.