Also, Greifswald is the site of innovative scientific research, like the Wendelstein physics research center and biotechnology enterprises, most notably the federal Friedrich Loeffler institute for animal diseases like BSE. Before 1945, it embraced the whole area of Pomerania west of the Oder River. In Mecklenburg a dynasty was established in 1160 following a successful Saxon effort to Christianize and Germanize the region’s population. Settlers came from North German Lower Saxony. In spite of his surrender or even with military help from the succeeding Poles, the Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I of the House of Griffins successfully started conquering the areas west of his burgh in Stettin the years after 1121. Mecklenburg–West Pomerania’s population has been declining since 1987, owing to both low birth rates and net out-migration. Mecklenburg … It borders the Baltic Sea (in German: Ostsee) to the north, Schleswig-Holstein to the west, Lower Saxony to the southwest, Brandenburg to the south, and Poland to the east. In the first half of the first millennium, the East Germanic Rugians[7] are reported in the area, who are known to later set up a kingdom far South in Pannonia in the 5th century. Women are only named if they lead their own household, independent of house ownership or not. The maps are deposited in the Landesarchiv Greifswald. The largest fire in the recorded history of Germany’s state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been brought under control. Today the castle houses a museum as well as the State Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts of Livonia and Prussia (dominium maris baltici).Sweden, present in Pomerania with a garrison at Stralsund since 1628, had gained effective control of the Duchy of Pomerania with the Treaty of Stettin in 1630. Vorpommern today is understood as comprising the islands of Rügen and Usedom and the nearby mainland, roughly matching the administrative districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald, though those districts' boundaries with Mecklenburg proper do not match the pre-1945 demarcation. From 1815, all of Western Pomerania was integrated into the Prussian Province of Pomerania, administered as the Region of Stralsund (New Western Pomerania) and Region of Stettin (the old Western Pomeranian region). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Gunthard Stübs, Hinterpommern - Great research of family history research on Pomerania. The central part of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania is traversed from west to east by a plateau of hilly country covered by fertile soil and beech forests. Germany's most thinly populated state is located in the most northeastern part of the country, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is one of Germany's new Länder (states) after 1990. The Slavic inhabitants, also referred to as part of the Wilzen/Veleti, diverged into several small tribes, listed from Northwest to Southeast: The Rujanes or Rani around Rügen, the Circipanes around the Pane (Peene) River, the Redarians around the temple of Rethra, the Wollinians on the isle of Wolin, the Tollensians around the Tollense River and the Ukrainians around the Uecker River in the Uckermark. In Pomerania Germanization proceeded as well, although Polish dukes ruled until 1637, after which much of Pomerania came under the rule of Brandenburg and Prussia. Fishing boats in the harbour at Wismar, Ger. Some settlers from the Harz mountains in central Germany settled near Stettin. Many cities in Mecklenburg and Pomerania flourished during the Middle Ages in association with trade within the Hanseatic League. While the eastward expansion of the latter could be halted for some time by a Slavic uprising of the Southern (Heveller) and Western (Obotrites) neighbors of the western Pomeranian tribes, which even was supported by the Liutizian alliance, the Pomeranians East of the Oder River were conquered by the Polish state in the late 10th century and remained vassals of the dynasty of Piasts until 1007, had to pay tribute to the Poles after 1042, and were conquered again in 1121. In 1814, as a result of the Napoleonic Wars Swedish Pomerania was ceded to Denmark in exchange for Norway in the Treaty of Kiel, and in 1815, as a result of the Congress of Vienna, transferred to Prussia." A list of the best and lessor known archaeology & history sites and museums, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites to visit; a map of archaeological sites and historical landmarks, as well as recommended tours … Seats in the state parliament (Landtag) since 2016: The largest cities/towns in the state are: Besides Rostock all have a population of less than 200,000.