GPS April 2020

The First Issue of Bremen
Lawrence R. Mead
The old German state of Bremen is located on the Weser
river and consists of two separate parts (see Map, Image 1):
Bremen proper, capital city Bremen, and the important
port city of Bremerhaven near the mouth of the Weser. Also
included is the harbor town of Vegesack, not explicitly labeled
on the map. Bremen was the second largest of three major
states in the Hanseatic League, the largest being Hamburg and
the third Lübeck. Bremerhaven was built on land purchased
from Hannover explicitly to build a port near the mouth of the
river; upriver, silt accumulation was somewhat hindering deepwater
traffic. Nearby, is the famous dry dock the Geestemünde
Freihafen. 1 In Bremen, the important Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping
company was founded in 1857. Bremen became part of
the North German confederation on Jan. 1, 1868.
Image 1. Map, Bremen in yellow, center
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German Postal Specialist