Schleswig-Flensburg

Schleswig-Flensburg
Schleswig-Flensburg
	District
Country	Germany
State	Schleswig-Holstein
Capital	Schleswig
Area
• Total	2,072 km2 (800 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2018)
• Total	200,025
• Density	97/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	SL
Website	schleswig-flensburg.de

Schleswig-Flensburg (Danish: Slesvig-Flensborg) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Dithmarschen and Nordfriesland, the Region Syddanmark in Denmark, the city of Flensburg and the Baltic Sea.

HistoryEdit

Written history in the area began about 800 AD, when the Danish Viking settlement of Haithabu was founded. Later the neighbouring city of Schleswig took the place of Haithabu and became a powerful town in the 11th century. It later lost its power to Lübeck.

The district was established in 1974 by merging the former districts of Flensburg-Land and Schleswig. Due to the proximity of Denmark and the regional history there is a large percentage of Danish inhabitants.

GeographyEdit

The countryside is generally plain. The Schlei, a firth of the Baltic Sea, is the southern border of this district. All the land north of the Schlei and south of Flensburg is called the peninsula of Angeln. Angeln was the ancient home of the Germanic people known as the Angles, who migrated to England in the early Middle Ages.

Coat of armsEdit

The coat of arms displays two lions, symbolising the old duchy of Schleswig. At the bottom of the arms there is a wavy line symbolising the Baltic Sea and its firths.