Hanover

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Hanover Hannover (German) Hannober (Low German)
City
Clockwise from top: view over the city centre, Market Church of Saints George and James, New Town Hall, University of Hannover, Herrenhausen Gardens, Old Town Hall
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Hanover within Hanover Region district
Hanover Show map of Germany Hanover Show map of Lower Saxony
Coordinates: 52°22′N 9°43′E / 52.367°N 9.717°E / 52.367; 9.717
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Hanover Region
Subdivisions	13 districts
Government
• Lord mayor (2019–27)	Belit Onay[1] (Greens)
• Governing parties	SPD / Greens
Area
• City	204.01 km2 (78.77 sq mi)
Elevation	55 m (180 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• City	545,045
• Density	2,700/km2 (6,900/sq mi)
• Metro	1,119,032
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	30001–30669
Dialling codes	0511
Vehicle registration	H
Website	www.hannover.de

Hanover (/ˈhænoʊvər, -nəv-/ HAN-oh-vər, HAN-ə-vər; German: Hannover [haˈnoːfɐ] ^ⓘ; Low German: Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) population makes it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in northern Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. Hanover's urban area comprises the towns of Garbsen, Langenhagen and Laatzen and has a population of about 791,000 (2018).^[3] The Hanover Region has approximately 1.16 million inhabitants (2019)^[4] and is the largest in the Hanover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region, the 17th biggest metropolitan area by GDP in the European Union.

Before it became the capital of Lower Saxony in 1946, Hanover was the capital of the Principality of Calenberg (1636–1692), the Electorate of Hanover (1692–1814), the Kingdom of Hanover (1814–1866), the Province of Hanover of the Kingdom of Prussia (1868–1918), the Province of Hanover of the Free State of Prussia (1918–1947) and of the State of Hanover (1946). From 1714 to 1837 Hanover was by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, under their title of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later described as the Elector of Hanover).

The city lies at the confluence of the River Leine and its tributary the Ihme, in the south of the North German Plain. The city is a major crossing point of railway lines and motorways (Autobahnen), connecting European main lines in both the east–west (Berlin–Ruhr area/Düsseldorf/Cologne) and north–south (Hamburg–Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Munich) directions. Hanover Airport lies north of the city, in Langenhagen, and is Germany's ninth-busiest airport. The city's most notable institutes of higher education are the Hanover Medical School (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover), one of Germany's leading medical schools, with its university hospital Klinikum der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, and the Leibniz University Hanover. The city is also home to International Neuroscience Institute.

The Hanover Fairground, owing to numerous extensions, especially for the Expo 2000, is the largest in the world. Hanover hosts annual commercial trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair and up to 2018 the CeBIT. The IAA Commercial Vehicles show takes place every two years. It is the world's leading trade show for transport, logistics and mobility. Every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hanover, the world's largest marksmen's festival, and the Oktoberfest Hanover.