Geography and urban development of Dresden past 60 years has made Dresden the fourth largest urban area in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. The most important river in Dresden is the Elbe river, the only navigable body of water to flow through the city. There are also a number of tributaries such as the river Weißeritz. The nearest German cities are Chemnitz (80 km to the southwest), Leipzig (100 km to the northwest) and Berlin (200 km to the north). The Czech capital Prague is about 150 km to the south; the Polish city of Wrocław is about 200 km to the east. There are
History of Hamburg shot or eaten. A popular belief (omen) is that Hamburg will be free and hanseatic as long as swans are living on the Alster river. On 5 August 1284 a great fire destroyed all but one residential house in Hamburg. The first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in German language, the "Ordeelbook" ("Ordeel": sentence) was written by the solicitor of the senate "Jordan von Boitzenburg" in 1270. In 1350 the "Black Death", one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, struck in Hamburg killing more than 6,000, half of the city's population. Two