Hamburg 2010. Hamburg Hamburg (; ; officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg; ; Low German/Low Saxon: "Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg") is the second-largest city in Germany with a population of over 1.8 million. One of Germany's 16 federal states, it is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The city's metropolitan region is home to more than five million people. Hamburg lies on the River Elbe and two of its tributaries, the River Alster and the River Bille. The official name reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and a
Zoological Garden of Hamburg Zoological Garden of Hamburg The Zoological Garden of Hamburg (German: "Zoologischer Garten zu Hamburg") was a zoo in Hamburg, Germany that operated from 1863 until 1930. Its aquarium, which opened in 1864, was among the first in the world. In the 1850s, Hamburg was the third-largest city in the German Confederation; only Berlin and Vienna were larger. Trading in wild animals had begun in 1820 and a road-house menagerie was in operation in the 1840s. A wealthy merchant named Ernst von Merck, a member of parliament in the German government at Frankfurt am Main in 1848 and 1849, assembled a