Hamburg 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 free
Accession of Hamburg to the German Customs Union (Zollverein) form a wider more powerful entity. The states which joined fought vigorously against any impairment of their full sovereignty. Hence each member had a veto and the union was not permanent, but had to be renewed after 12 years. Each member sought its own economic advantage. Accordingly, the accession of any of the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg, Bremen or Lübeck would have to be on condition that accession served the city's own advantage. A pre-condition of such advantage was that their territory touched directly with that of the Customs Union, which only happened for Hamburg after 1854, when Hanover joined.