Lower Saxony

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Administrative region (German Land) in northern Germany, bordered to the north by Schleswig-Holstein and the city-state of Hamburg, to the northeast by Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, to the south by North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, on the east and southeast by Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia respectively, and on the west by the Netherlands; area 47,613 sq km/18,383 sq mi; population (2003 est) 7,959,800. The capital is Hannover, and other major towns include Braunschweig (Brunswick), Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Göttingen, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, and Hildesheim. The region includes the Lüneburg Heath, the Harz and Weser Mountains, and the Elbe, Weser, Aller, Leine, and Ems rivers.

Economy
Industries include cars (the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg is in the east of the state), machinery, electrical engineering, and iron and steel production. There are oil wells in the Emsland, large iron-ore deposits at Watenstedt-Salzgitter, and lignite mines near Helmstedt. Agriculture includes cereals, oats, potatoes, and livestock farming. Emden, Wilhelmschaven, and Cuxhaven are the chief North Sea ports.

Although often coloured yellow, the island is intended to be copper, reflecting the country's name, ‘Copper Island’. Effective date: c. September 1960. >>