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Mecklenburg is a geographical area located in Northern Germany. Its borders are the Baltic Sea to the north, the rivers of Recknitz and Trebel to the east, the Elbe river to the southwest, and Lower Saxony and Holstein to the west.

The name "Mecklenburg" derives from a castle named "Mikilenburg" (Old German: "big castle"), located between the cities of Schwerin and Wismar. It was the ancestral seat of the House of Mecklenburg.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 History, 1621-1933 1.3 History since 1934 2 Coat of arms of the duchies of Mecklenburg 3 Geography 4 People from Mecklenburg 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

Mecklenburg is the site of many prehistoric dolmen tombs. Its earliest organised inhabitants may have had Celtic origins.

Over two thousand years ago Germanic (Teutonic) peoples began to come southward from Scandinavia and present day Denmark and the area of Meckelnburg became one of their dwelling places. The traditional symbol for Mecklenburg, the cow head head with hide, is symbolic of this era. At that time these paegan Teutonic peoples would wear animal hides and the head of a horned bull over the top of their head, with the hide draping partway down their back [a representation of this can be seen in the large flanking statues of such peoples at the entrance to the bridge leading to the castle in in Schwerin]. By the 600's these peoples were driven out or assimilated into the invading Western Slavic peoples.

From the seventh through the 12th centuries, the area of Mecklenburg was ruled by these Western Slavic peoples, most notably the Obotrites and other tribes that Frankish sources referred to as "Wends". The 11th century founder of the Mecklenburgian dynasty of Dukes and later Grand Dukes, which lasted until 1918, was Niklot of the Obotrites.

In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the region, subjugated its local lords, and Christianized its people, in a precursor to the Northern Crusades. All this pointing to the fact that the people of Mecklenburg were 'germanized', or 're-germanized' depending on your point of view. However, elements of certain names and words used in Mecklenburg speak to the lingering Slavic influence. An example would be the city of Schwerin, which was originally called Zuarin in the Slavic. Another example is town of Bresegard, the 'gard' portion of the town name derives from the Slavic word 'grad' , meaning city or town.

Since the 12th century, the territory has remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours; one of the few German territories for which this is true. During the reformation the Duke in Schwerin would convert to Protestantism and so would follow the Duchy of Mecklenburg.

Like many German territories, Mecklenburg was sometimes partitioned and re-partitioned among different members of the ruling dynasty. In 1621 it was divided into the two duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the extinction of the Güstrow line in 1701, the Güstrow lands were redivided, part going to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and part going to the new line of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

In 1815, the two Mecklenburgian duchies were raised to Grand Duchies, and subsequently existed separately as such in Germany under enlightened but absolute feudal rule (constitutions being granted on the eve of World War I) until the revolution of 1918. Life in the semi-feudal Mecklenburg could be quite harsh. Practices such as having to ask for permission from the Grand Duke to get married, or having to apply for permission to emigrate, would linger late into the history of Mecklenburg (i.e. 1918), long after such practices had been abandoned in other German areas. Even as late as the later half of the nineteenth century the Grand Duke personally owned half of the countryside. The last Duke abdiacted in 1918, as monarchies fell throughout Europe. The Duke's ruling house reigned in Mecklenburg uninterupted (except for two years) from its incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire until 1918. From 1918 to 1933, the duchies were free states in the Weimar Republic.

Traditionally Mecklenburg has always been one of the poorer German areas, and later the poorer of the provinces, or Länder, within a unified Germany. The reasons for this may be varied, but one factor stands out: agriculturally the land is poor and can not produce at the same level as other parts of Germany. The two Mecklenburgs made attempts at being independent states after 1918, but eventually this failed as their dependence on the rest of the German lands became apparent.

After three centuries of partition, Mecklenburg was united in 1934 by the Nazi government. The Wehrmacht assigned Mecklenburg and Pomerania to Wehrkreis II under the command of General der Infanterie Werner Kienitz, with the headquarters at Stettin. Mecklenburg was assigned to an Area headquartered at Schwerin, which was responsible for military units in Schwerin; Rostock; Parchim; and Neustrelitz.

After World War II, the Soviet government occupying eastern Germany merged Mecklenburg with the smaller neighbouring region of Western Pomerania (German Vorpommern) to form the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Mecklenburg contributed about two-thirds of the geographical size of the new state and the majority of its population. (The Soviets changed the name from "Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania" back to "Mecklenburg" in 1947.)

In 1952, the East German government ended the independent existence of Mecklenburg, creating 3 districts ("Bezirke") out of its territory: Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg.

During German reunification in 1990, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was revived, and is now one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. In this process the remnant of Pomerania not stripped from Germany and handed over to the Poles was attached to Mecklenburg.

The House of Mecklenburg was founded by Niklot, prince of the Obotrites, Chizzini and Circipani on the Baltic See, who died in 1160. His Christian progeny was recognized as prince of the Holy Roman Empire 1170 and Duke of Mecklenburg 8 July 1348. On 27 February 1658 the ducal house divided in two branches: Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The flag of both Mecklenburg duchies is traditionally made of the colours blue, yellow and red. The sequence however changed more than once in the past 300 years. In 1813 the duchies used yellow-red-blue. 23 December 1863 for Schwerin and 4 January 1864 for Strelitz blue-yellow-red was ordered.^[1] Mecklenburg-Schwerin however used white instead of yellow for flags on sea by law of 24 March 1855.^[2]

Siebmachers Wappenbuch gives therefore (?) blue-white-red for Schwerin and blue-yellow-red for Strelitz.^[3] According to this source, the grand ducal house of Schwerin used a flag of 3.75 to 5.625 M with the middle arms on a white quadrant (1.75 M) in the middle.

The middle arms show the shield of Mecklenburg as arranged in the seventeenth century. The county of Schwerin in the middle and in the quartering Mecklenburg (bull's head with hide), Rostock (griffin), principality of Schwerin (griffin and green rectangle), Ratzeburg (crown over gross), Stargard (hand holding ring) and Wenden (bull's head). The shield is held by a bull and a griffin and bears a royal crown.

The dukes of Strelitz used according to Siebmachers the blue-yellow-red flag with just the (oval) shield of Mecklenburg in the yellow band.

Ströhl in 1897 and Bulgaria, ^[4] show another arrangement: The grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin flows a flag (4:5) with the arms of the figures from the shield of arms.

The former Schwerin standard with the white quadrant is now ascribed to the grand dukes of Strelitz. Ströhl mentions a flag for the grand ducal house by law of 23 December 1863 with the middle arms in the yellow band. And he mentions a special sea flag, the same but with a white middle band. 'Berühmte Fahnen' shows furthermore a standard for grand duchess Alexandra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, princess of Hannover (1882-1963), showing her shield and that of Mecklenburg joined by the order of the Wendic Crown in a white oval. On sea the yellow band in her flag was of cause white. The princes (dukes) of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had according to this source their own standard, showing the griffin of Rostock.

Mecklenburg is known for its mostly flat countryside. Much of the terrain forms a morass, with ponds, marshes and fields as common features, with small forests interspersed. The terrain changes as one moves north towards the Baltic Sea.

Under the peat of Mecklenburg are sometimes found deposits of ancient lava flows. Traditionally, at least in the countryside, the stone from these flows is cut and used in the construction of homes, often in joint use with cement, brick and wood, forming a unique look to the exterior of country houses.

Mecklenburg has productive farming, but the land is most suitable for grazing purposes. Nontheless Mecklenburg is a relativley poor region of Germany with a rate of unemployment from 20-25% [Traditionally Mecklenburg has been one of the poorer German areas]. The area has seen an increase in tourism, particularly with regard to the beaches at the Baltic Sea, Isle of Rügen, the mecklenburgian lakeland (Mecklenburgische Seenplatte) as well as the rangy central of Mecklenburg (Mecklenburgische Schweiz) with its pristine nature and the old hanseatic towns well known for the famous Brick Gothic churches.

Ethnically, people from Mecklenburg are a mix of early settlers from Westphalia, the Rhineland and Saxony on the one hand and West Slavic people on the other. A considerable number of Scandinavians have settled over the centuries, particularly in the Hanseatic towns like Wismar and Rostock. There also seems to be evidence of some Frisian or Dutch influence or migration in the area, with surnames of some people containing double 'a's, such as with the surname Graack; such spelling is typically a low country convention (i.e. the Netherlands). There may have been numbers of Huguenot refugees who settled in the area after expulsion from Catholic France.

Linguistically Mecklenburgers retain many features of the plattdeutsch, or low German dialect or language.

Famous people from Mecklenburg include:

• Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian army leader
• Jan Ullrich, cyclist
• Gottlob Frege, logician
• Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Müller, Australian botanist
• Siegfried Marcus, automobile pioneer
• Heinrich Schliemann, classical archaeologist
• Johannes Gillhoff, teacher, author of book on Mecklenburg emigrants to the USA
• Daniel Eggers, nationalist folk-singer
• Fritz Reuter, poet and novelist
• Ludwig Jacoby, (1913-1874), born in Altstrelitz, a Moravian clergyman, missionary to St. Louis, Missouri, and author.^[5]

1. ^ (Ströhl, Deutsche Wappenrolle, Stuttgart, 1897, p. 89)
2. ^ (Ströhl, 86)
3. ^ Siebmachers Wappenbuch (Nurenberg, 1878)
4. ^ Berühmte Fahnen Deutscher Geschichte (Dresden, 1922)
5. ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 

• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
• Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
• Mecklenburg County, Virginia

• Government portal of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
• Map of Mecklenburg in 1871
• Map of Mecklenburg in 1789