Hamburg

Flag of Hamburg in 1632.

Hamburg ( /ˈhæmbɜrɡ/; German pronunciation: [ˈhambʊɐ̯k], local pronunciation [ˈhambʊɪç]; Low German/Low Saxon: Hamborg [ˈhaˑmbɔːx]) is the second-largest city in Germany and the seventh-largest city in the European Union. The city is home to over 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (including parts of the neighbouring Federal States of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein) has more than 4.3 million inhabitants. The port of Hamburg is the third-largest port in Europe (after the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Antwerp) and it is among the twenty largest in the world.

Hamburg's official name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg). It reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, and also the fact that Hamburg is a city-state and one of the sixteen States of Germany.

Hamburg in 1632

In 1633 and early 1634, Hamburg guarded its status as an independent imperial city, and had constructed fortifications known as the Wallenlagen to make that point clear. It controlled passage up the Elbe into the North Sea, and, even after months of negotiations, refused to allow the USE Navy's ships to pass. This annoyed Emperor Gustavus enough that he asked John Chandler Simpson if he would be willing to "take Florida", a reference Simpson immediately understood - and agreed to.

In April of 1634, Simpson's fleet of ironclads and timberclads reached Hamburg. The ironclads, firing 10-inch cast iron shells loaded with black powder, reduced the Wallenlagen to rubble while taking no significant damage. Afterward, both the city council and the city's Committee of Correspondence quickly agreed to a proposal for Hamburg to become a province of the United States of Europe, under its own local authorities.