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Niedersachsen Lower Saxony
Flag	Coat of arms
Details
Location
Coordinates	52°45′″N 9°8′″E / Expression error: Unexpected / operator, Expression error: Unexpected / operatorCoordinates: 52°45′″N 9°8′″E / Expression error: Unexpected / operator, Expression error: Unexpected / operator
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Administration
Country	Germany
NUTS Region	DE9
Capital	Hanover
Minister-President	Christian Wulff (CDU)
Governing parties	CDU / FDP
Votes in Bundesrat	6 (of 69)
Basic statistics
Area	47,624 km² (18,388 sq mi)
Population	7,984,000 (11/2006)[1]
- Density	168 /km² (434 /sq mi)
Other information
GDP/ Nominal	€ 188 billion (2005)
Website	www.niedersachsen.de

With an area of 47,624 square kilometres (18,388 sq mi) and nearly eight million inhabitants, Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen [ˈniːdɐzaksn̩]) lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Länder (states) of Germany. In rural areas Low German is still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining.

Lower Saxony borders on (from north and clockwise) the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony. The state's principal cities include Hannover, Braunschweig (Brunswick), Osnabrück, Oldenburg, and Göttingen.

The northwestern portion of Lower Saxony is a part of Frisia; it is called Ostfriesland (East Frisia) and lies on the coast of the North Sea. It includes seven islands, known as the East Frisian Islands. In the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the gentle hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Highlands, the Weserbergland (Weser mountain range) and the Harz mountains. Lower Saxony's major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hannover, Hildesheim, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter and Braunschweig. Oldenburg, near the northwestern coastline, is another economic center. The region in the northeast is called Lüneburger Heide (Lüneburg Heath), the largest heathland area of Germany and in medieval times wealthy due to salt mining and salt trade. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. The banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land (Old Country), the state's largest area of fruit farming, its chief produce being apples.

See also List of places in Lower Saxony.

Lower Saxony is divided into 38 districts (Landkreise or simply Kreise):

Ammerland Aurich (includes Juist, Norderney and Baltrum) Grafschaft Bentheim Celle Cloppenburg Cuxhaven Diepholz Emsland Friesland (includes Wangerooge) Gifhorn Goslar Göttingen Hamelin-Pyrmont (Hameln-Pyrmont)	Hanover (Hannover) Harburg Helmstedt Hildesheim Holzminden Leer (includes Borkum) Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüneburg Nienburg Northeim Oldenburg Osnabrück Osterholz	Osterode Peine Rotenburg Schaumburg Soltau-Fallingbostel Stade Uelzen Vechta Verden Wesermarsch Wittmund (includes Langeoog and Spiekeroog) Wolfenbüttel

Furthermore there are ten urban districts:

1. Braunschweig (Brunswick)
2. Delmenhorst
3. Emden
4. Göttingen ¹
5. Hannover ²
6. Oldenburg
7. Osnabrück
8. Salzgitter
9. Wilhelmshaven
10. Wolfsburg

¹ following the "Göttingen Law" of January 1, 1964, the town of Göttingen is incorporated into the district (Landkreis) of Göttingen, but the rules on urban districts still apply, as long as no other rules exist.
² following the "Law on the region of Hannover", Hannover counts since November 1, 2001 as an urban district as long as no other rules apply.

Ordinance No. 55, with which on November 22, 1946 the British military government founded the state Lower Saxony retroactively to November 1, 1946.

The area is named after the Saxons. The Saxons lived in today's state of Schleswig-Holstein and merged with the Chauci on the left bank of the river Elbe until the middle of the 1st millennium AD. They then expanded over the whole of today's Lower Saxony and further. Originally the region was simply called Saxony, but as the center of gravity of the Duchy of Saxony gradually moved up the Elbe, towards the present-day states of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, the region was given the name of Lower Saxony, which it bore as an Imperial Circle Estate from the late 15th century on.

The state was founded in 1946 by the British military administration, who merged the former states of Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the former Prussian province of Hanover.

After the Second World War, the military authorities appointed the first Legislative Assembly (Landtag) in 1946, followed by a direct election of Lower Saxony's legislature a year later. It resulted in the election of Social Democrat leader Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf, who became the first prime minister. Kopf led a five-party coalition, whose basic task was to rebuild a state affected by the war's rigours. Kopf's cabinet had to organise an improvement of food supplies and the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by the Allied air raids of the war years. In addition, the first state government also faced the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees from Germany's former territories in the east (such as Silesia and East Prussia), which had been annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union.

Between 1978 and 2004, the state's districts and independent towns were grouped into four administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke): Since 2004 the Bezirksregierungen have been broken up again.

• Braunschweig (Brunswick)
• Hannover (Hanover)
• Lüneburg
• Weser-Ems

Niedersachsen is one of Europe's leading producers of oil. Wheat, potatoes, rye, and oats are some of their major agricultural products. Mineral products include iron and lignite. Manufacturing is another large part of their economy. In fact, Lower Saxony is also the second largest shareholder of car maker Volkswagen, owning 20.3% of the company. ^[2]

The coat of arms shows a white horse (Niedersachsenross) on red ground, which is an old symbol of the Saxon people.

The political direction of the State of Lower Saxony has evolved and has been a reflection of its times. In general terms, the political preferences of Lower Saxony's citizens tend to be oriented along the lines of Germany's federal politics. Basically, the parties constituting the federal government could often rely on a state administration sympathetic to its policy aims. Particularly in recent times, however, this rule has given way to a more flexible and, to some extent, volatile attitude amongst voters in one of Germany's most populous states.

See also: Lower Saxony state election, 2003

The SPD vote share fell dramatically, and Christian Wulff (CDU) was able to form a CDU-FDP coalition and become Prime Minister instead of Sigmar Gabriel (SPD).

Seat results — SPD in red, CDU in black, Greens in green, FDP in yellow

1. 1946 - 1955: Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf (SPD)
2. 1955 - 1959: Heinrich Hellwege (DP)
3. 1959 - 1961: Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf (SPD)
4. 1961 - 1970: Georg Diederichs (SPD)
5. 1970 - 1976: Alfred Kubel (SPD)
6. 1976 - 1990: Ernst Albrecht (CDU)
7. 1990 - 1998: Gerhard Schröder (SPD)
8. 1998 - 1999: Gerhard Glogowski (SPD)
9. 1999 - 2003: Sigmar Gabriel (SPD)
10. since 2003: Christian Wulff (CDU)

• Official governmental portal
• Official website for tourism, holiday and leisure in Lower Saxony
• map with tourist highlights, notepad and personal guide

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States	Baden-Württemberg · Bavaria · Brandenburg · Hesse · Lower Saxony · Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · North Rhine-Westphalia · Rhineland-Palatinate · Saarland · Saxony · Saxony-Anhalt · Schleswig-Holstein · Thuringia
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Former states	Baden · Württemberg-Baden · Württemberg-Hohenzollern