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On my way home from a gig (I play keyboard in a local band) I spontaneously decided this would be my contribution for the Water-WWP. Since I had my camera with me I made three panoramas at the harbor front.
Water has played an essential role in the development of Flensburg. It all started with a small fishermen settlement about 1000 years ago.
In the 16th century Flensburg was an important trading town and, with a population of about 5,000 and 200 ships, it was the largest trading centre of the Danish crown, more important than Hamburg or Copenhagen at the time.
During the 30-year war, 1618-1648 and the northern wars, 1712 – 1721 in Schleswig-Holstein, a rapid demise set in.
At the end of the 18th century, under the protection of the Danish King Christian VII, ships sailed to the West Indies bringing back sugar cane, tobacco and rum as semifinished products to be processed in Flensburg.
In 1795 Flensburg's merchant fleet had 295 ships.
After the World War 1, the present Danish-German border was fixed in 1920. North Schleswig became part of Denmark and Flensburg on the German side, a border town.
The harbor doesn't have an important trading role anymore, but Flensburg still has the flair of an old harbor town. Beside the shipyard that was founded in 1872 and today very successfully builds RoRo ships, there are several marinas for modern yachts, a special marina for old ships, which is called "Museum Harbor" with about 20 seagoing old ships, a museum shipyard and the last seagoing passenger steamer ("ALEXANDRA" built in 1908) in Germany.
Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund!
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