Nordhausen
| Nordhausen | |||
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View of Nordhausen (city centre)
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 Nordhausen
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Location of Nordhausen within Nordhausen district
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| Coordinates: 51°30′18″N 10°47′28″E / 51.50500°N 10.79111°ECoordinates: 51°30′18″N 10°47′28″E / 51.50500°N 10.79111°E | |||
| Country | Germany | ||
| State | Thuringia | ||
| District | Nordhausen | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Dr. Klaus Zeh (CDU) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 105.27 km2 (40.64 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2015-12-31) | |||
| • Total | 42,217 | ||
| • Density | 400/km2 (1,000/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | ||
| Postal codes | 99734 | ||
| Dialling codes | 03631 | ||
| Vehicle registration | NDH | ||
| Website | www.nordhausen.de | ||
| Imperial City of Nordhausen | ||||||||||
| Reichstadt Nordhausen | ||||||||||
| Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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 Nordhausen in the 17th century
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| Capital | Nordhausen | |||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||
| Historical era | High Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Settlement founded | 650-700 | ||||||||
| • | Reichsfreiheit | 27 July 1220 | ||||||||
| • | Reichsfreiheit confirmed | 1290 | ||||||||
| • | New city constitution | 14 February 1375 | ||||||||
| • | Joined Hanseatic League | 1430 | ||||||||
| • | Reformation | 1523 | ||||||||
| • | Ceded to Prussia | 1802 | ||||||||
| • | Ceded to Westphalia | 1807–13 | ||||||||
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Nordhausen is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Nordhausen district and the urban centre of northern Thuringia and the southern Harz region; its population is 42,000. Nordhausen is located approximately 60 km (37 miles) N of Erfurt, 80 km (50 miles) W of Halle, 85 km (53 miles) S of Braunschweig and 60 km (37 miles) E of Göttingen.
Nordhausen was first mentioned in records in the year 927 and became one of the most important cities in central Germany during the later Middle Ages. The city is situated at Zorge river, a tributary of the Helme within the fertile region of Goldene Aue (golden floodplain) at the southern edge of the Harz mountains. In the early 13th century, it became a free imperial city, so that it was an independent and republican self-ruled member of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to its long-distance trade, Nordhausen was prosperous and influential, with a population of 8,000 around 1500. It was the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt, today's capital, and Mühlhausen, the other free imperial city in the land.
Nordhausen was once known for its tobacco industry and is still known for its distilled spirit, Nordhäuser Doppelkorn. Industrialization accompanied railway construction that linked the cities to major markets in the mid-19th century. In the late 19th century, narrow-gauge railways were constructed in this region through the Harz mountains. In December 1898 the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) or NWE added a line, with the full network operating by 1899. The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways are maintained today by local authorities and frequented primarily by tourists.
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