The development history of Bremerhaven

Medieval period: Historical documents first mentioned the villages of Gerstdorf and Ulsdorf in 1139, and L?he in 1275. L?he has been this village since the Middle Ages. The administrative and market center of a region. The Archbishop of Bremen and the city of Bremen have been fighting for control of the area. Between 1648 and 1654, this area was occupied by Sweden. From 1719 onwards it was placed under the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, and in 1814 it became part of the Kingdom of Hanover.

The city of Bremerhaven was founded: Due to the continuous desertification of the Weser River, the mayor of Bremen, John Smit, purchased the land in the central area of ??Bremerhaven from the Kingdom of Hanover to build the Bremen Outer Harbor. And named the city Bremerhaven - Hafen means port in German, so the city is also translated as Bremerhaven. In 1830, the construction of the old harbor basin was completed. By 1854, Bremerhaven had developed into the port with the largest immigrant population in Europe. In the second half of the 19th century, port facilities such as the New Harbor Basin, Caesar Harbor Basin, and Caesar Locks were built successively. In 1857, North German Merchant Shipping (also known as North German Lloyd) was established and quickly developed into the largest shipping company in Bremen. It even became the largest shipping company in the world in 1881, and Bremerhaven also became famous overseas. Bremen's port facilities were almost completely destroyed during World War II. In 1962, the cruise terminal was rebuilt on the original Columbus Terminal. Since 1975, the container terminal has expanded step by step and is currently 5 kilometers long.

Fishing Port: Bremerhaven's fishing port (originally belonging to Gestmünde) was known as the largest fishing port in continental Europe as early as 1925. In 1971, the fishing port became an independent city.

Modern and contemporary development: Bremerhaven's surrounding towns underwent several consolidations and were eventually merged into the city of Weserminden. In 1939, even Bremerhaven was included in the city of Weserminden in the Kingdom of Prussia. Only the ocean port area was separately circled and returned to the city of Bremen. In January 1947, the U.S. occupying forces renamed the city of Weserminden to Bremerhaven and placed it as a city in Bremen, the smallest federal state in the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the ocean port area was still owned by the city of Bremen.