Altmark

See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for a Polish Pomeranian village.

Fieldstone church in Bismark

The Altmark (English:Old March^[1]) is a region in Germany, between Hamburg and Magdeburg, comprising the northern third of Saxony-Anhalt (to the greatest extend in today's districts of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel and Stendal). The region is rural and widely covered with forests. The largest towns are Stendal and Salzwedel.

[edit] History

Before the Migration Period, the Altmark was settled by the Lombards, after which it was populated by Saxons in the northwest and Polabian Slavs in the east. After the Saxon Wars against the Franks, the Saxons were incorporated into the Carolingian Empire; the territory of the later Altmark became part of the Northern March of the Duchy of Saxony. The territory became part of the bishoprics of Verden and Halberstadt within East Francia after the fall of the Carolingian realm. In 1134 Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor, bestowed the Northern March to Albert the Bear; it then became part of Albert's Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157. As the Margraviate of Brandenburg expanded eastward over the following centuries into new territories, such as the Mittelmark and Neumark, the original territory became known as the Altmark (literally "Old March"); it was first mentioned in 1304 as Antiqua Marchia.

As part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Altmark was included within the Kingdom of Prussia upon its creation in 1701. After Prussia's defeat at the hands of Napoleon in 1806, the territory was lost to Prussia under the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit and included within the new Kingdom of Westphalia. It was restored to Prussia upon Napoleon's defeat under Article XXIII of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, becoming part of the new Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.^[1] Within Prussian Saxony, the Altmark was subdivided into the districts of Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Osterburg, and Stendal, all administered within the Magdeburg Region.

The Altmark became part of the new state of Saxony-Anhalt in 1945 after World War II. While part of East Germany, it was administered within Bezirk Magdeburg from 1952–90. With German reunification in 1990, the Altmark became part of a reconstituted Saxony-Anhalt.

Topography and neigbourhood of the Altmark

^ ^a ^b Hansard, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ..., Volume 32. 1 February to 6 March 1816, T.C. Hansard, 1816. pp. 82. Article XXXIII of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna

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