Oldenburg (state)

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Oldenburg (Low German: Ollnborg) is a historical state in today's Germany named for its capital, Oldenburg.

Oldenburg originated as a county that developed around the town of Oldenburg within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1777, Oldenburg was made a duchy and acquired the Oldenburger Münsterland to the south in 1803. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and occupation by Napoleonic France, it was made an independent country by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1829 it was raised to the status of a grand duchy. In 1871, it joined the German Empire, and in 1918, it became a free state within the Weimar Republic. In 1925, Oldenburg had an area of 6,427 km² and 545,172 inhabitants. In 1937, it lost the exclave districts of Eutin near the Baltic coast and Birkenfeld in southwestern Germany to Prussia and gained the City of Wilhelmshaven; however this was a formality, as the Nazis had de facto abolished the federal states in 1934. In 1939, Oldenburg had an area of 5,375 km² and 580,000 inhabitants. After World War II, Oldenburg was merged into the newly founded state of Lower Saxony as the administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) of Oldenburg, both of which became a part of West Germany. This region was then merged into the Weser-Ems administrative region in 1978 and Oldenburg ceased to exist as an official regional designation. Today, Oldenburg can refer to either the area of the Grand Duchy or that of the Duchy without Oldenburger Münsterland but rarely to the post-1937 Nazi designation.

For further regional history, see Oldenburg.de:Oldenburg (Land) ko:올덴부르크 주 nl:Oldenburg (land) pl:Oldenburg (kraina)