Anhalt Gazetteers: Difference between revisions

The Duchy of Anhalt was established on 19 Oct. 1863 by the union of the duchies of Anhalt-Dessau-Cöthen and Anhalt Bernburg.  Until 1918 and the establishment of the German Republic, Anhalt was governed by one of the most ancient ruling houses of germany, descending from a son of Albert the Bear, Margrave of Saxony in the 13th century.  The rulers of Anhalt took the title of prince in 1218.  In the 16th century Anhalt accepted the reformation.  Thus the area is almost entirely Evangelical Lutheran as reflected in the parish listings of this gazetteer.  the area was divided over the years into four principalities; Dessau, Bernburg, Cöthen and Zerbst, each ruled by various branches of the family.  In 1793, on the extinction of the Zerbst line, the territory was divided into three principalities.  On the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the three princes of Anhalt each took the title of Duke.  The Cöthen line died out and that territory joined Dessau in 1847 and finally in 1863, with the extinction of the Bernburg line, all Anhalt was united under Leopold IV of Anhalt-Dessau.  In 1871 the Duchy of Anhalt joined the german Empire.  After 1918, Anhalt became a free state of the republican German Reich.  After 1945, Anhalt was part of the German Democratic Republic.  

Anhalt was bordered mainly by the Prussian Province of Sachsen, by which it was nearly surrounded.  It also shared its northeast border with the province of Brandenburg.  On the west it was bordered by the province of Hannover and the Ducy of Braunschweig.  Its territory included 2347.33 square kilometers.  In 1875, the population was 213,565.