| (Flag of Hanover) | (Royal Coat of Arms) |
Hanover (German: Hannover) is a historical territory in today's Germany.
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a state of the Holy Roman Empire, was frequently subdivided into different principalities, each of which was ruled by a duke; one of these was the Principality of Calenberg. It was first created when it was split off from the Principality of Brunswick in 1432. It fell to the Principality of Wolfenbüttel in 1584. In 1635 it was separated again from Wolfenbüttel, together with the Principality of Göttingen, with which it would stay joined.
In 1636, the capital of the Principality of Calenberg was moved from Pattensen to Hanover, and hence it also became known as Hanover.
In 1692, Duke Ernest Augustus received the additional title of prince-elector. The principality was then also known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg or, informally, the Electorate of Hanover. In 1714, the Hanoverian electors became kings of Great Britain (see House of Hanover). The influence of the electors in Germany grew also: they inherited the Principality of Lüneburg in 1705, and the formerly Swedish territories of Bremen and Verden in 1719. As part of the German Mediatisation of 1803, the Electorate received the Bishopric of Osnabrück.
In 1803, the Electorate was occupied by France, which ruled over it in some form or another for the next ten years. From 1807 on, the Hanoverian territority was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. In 1813, the Electorate was restored, and in October of 1814 it became the Kingdom of Hanover at the Congress of Vienna, in order to make George III equal to the upstart King of Württemberg in German affairs. The Congress of Vienna installed a territorial exchange between Hanover and Prussia, in which Hanover increased its area substantially. Hanover gained the Bishopric of Hildesheim, East Frisia, the Lower County of Lingen, and the northern part of the Bishopric of Münster. It lost those parts of the Duchy of Lauenburg to the right of the Elbe, and several small exclaves in the east.
The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria because the succession laws (Salic Law) in Hanover prevented a female inheriting the title if there was any surviving male heir (in the United Kingdom, a male only took precedence of his own sisters). In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Hanover was annexed by Prussia and became the Province of Hanover.
States of the German Confederation | States of the Holy Roman Empire | Former monarchies
Hannover (Land) | 하노버 주 | Hannover (land) | ハノーファー王国 | Hannover (stat) | 汉诺威 (地区)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
"Hanover (state)".
Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world