Kempten

Church St. Lorenz Basilica

Coat of arms

Kempten

Coordinates: 47°44′N 10°19′E / 47.733°N 10.317°ECoordinates: 47°44′N 10°19′E / 47.733°N 10.317°E

Country

Government

• Lord Mayor

Thomas Kiechle (CSU)

Area

• Total

63.29 km² (24.44 sq mi)

Elevation

674 m (2,211 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

66,947

• Density

1,100/km² (2,700/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

87401–87439

0831

Website

Kempten is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was approximately 64,000 in 2012. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town Cambodunum. Kempten is the oldest urban settlement (town) in Germany.

The Greek geographer Strabon mentions in 50 BC a town of the Celtic Estiones named Kambodunon. This is considered the oldest written reference of any German city. So far no archaeological evidence could be found that this Celtic settlement really existed.

In 15 BC Roman troops led by Nero Claudius Drusus and his brother Tiberius conquered and destroyed an existing Celtic settlement. Later the settlement was named Cambodunum. In the following years the city was rebuilt on a classical Roman city plan with baths, forum and temples. Initially in wood, the city was later rebuilt in stone after a devastating fire that destroyed almost the entire city in the year 69 AD. The city possibly served as provincial capital of Raetia during the first century before Augsburg took over this role. Extensive archaeological excavations at the end of the 19th century and again during the 1950s at what were then the outskirts of Kempten unearthed the extensive structural foundations.

The city was again destroyed in 233 AD by the Alemanni, a Suebic tribe. The original site of Cambodunum was then abandoned and the settlement moved to a strategically safer location on the Burghalde hill overlooking the river Iller.

In the middle of the 5th century the last Roman troops had left the area and the city was entirely taken over by the Alemanni.

After the Romans abandoned the settlement, it was moved from the hill down to the plains located next to the river Iller. In written sources, the town appears as Cambidano. Being still predominantly Alemannic, the town once more was destroyed by the Franks in 683 as a consequence of the city's support of an uprising against the Frankish kingdom.

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Wikipedia