Mansfeld Land () is a region in the southwestern corner of the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. The region derives its name from the counts of Mansfeld, who ruled this region for about 1,000 years.

Geography

In the west and northwest, Mansfeld Land covered the eastern foothills of the

Harz Mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

and is bounded in the east by the

River Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale ...

. To the north and south the territories of the two former county towns of

Eisleben Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as both the hometown of the influential theologian Martin Luther and the place where he died; hence, its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. First mentioned in the late 10th century ...

and Hettstedt form the boundary, whilst the territories of

Sangerhausen Sangerhausen () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, capital of the district of Mansfeld-Südharz. It is situated southeast of the Harz, approx. east of Nordhausen, and west of Halle (Saale). About 26,000 people live in Sangerhausen ( ...

and the town of

Mansfeld Mansfeld (), sometimes also unofficially Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Protestant reformator Martin Luther grew up in Mansfeld, and in 1993 the town became one of sixteen places ...

form the border in the southwest to west. Until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mansfeld Land was made up of the counties of Mansfelder Gebirgskreis (roughly northwest of a line from Annarode via Siersleben to Gerbstedt) and Mansfelder Seekreis (villages southeast of the line). After the foundation of East Germany, these 2 counties were disbanded and transferred to the counties of Hettstedt and

, small areas of Mansfeld Land in the west went to

and in the south to Saalkreis and

Querfurt Querfurt () is a town in the Saalekreis district, or ''Kreis'', in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is located in a fertile area on the Querne, west from Merseburg. In 2020, the town had a population of 10,454. The town Querfurt consists of Q ...

. Since the county reform of 2007, Mansfeld Land – after several years as the independent county of Mansfelder Land – has belonged to the county of

Mansfeld-Südharz Mansfeld-Südharz is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established by merging the former districts of Sangerhausen and Mansfelder Land as part of the reform of 2007. In the German parliament, the Bu ...

. The extent of Mansfeld Land described above is roughly identical with the former County of Mansfeld.

Transport links

* Motorway: A 38 Göttingen/Kassel – Eisleben – Halle/Leipzig * Federal highways: ** B 80 Weserbergland – Nordhausen – Halle ** B 180 Aschersleben – Hettstedt – Zeitz ** B 86 Hettstedt – Mansfeld – Sangerhausen ** B 242 Clausthal-Zellerfeld – Braunlage – Mansfeld * Railway: ** Magdeburg – Hettstedt – Erfurt ** Halle/Saale – Eisleben – Kassel

Economy

Located not far from the Halle-Leipzig industrial region and the heavily industrial province of Halle, Mansfeld Land was one of the most important industrial conurbations in East Germany.

Copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

and the smelting of copper and its roughly 80 accessory metals played a major role. All copper mining, processing and manufacturing firms in the whole of East Germany were operated under the umbrella of the Mansfeld combine, ''Wilhelm Pieck'', which also ran the Mansfeld Mining Railway. Prior to that it was the Mansfeld Company for Mining and Smelting (''Mansfeld AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb''). The closure of mines and smelteries that had been working for almost eight hundred years resulted in an abrupt change to this monostructured economic area whose problems were exacerbated by the political changes of 1989/90. And newly created business parks and the remediation of contaminated sites did not bring the expected economic recovery.

Tourism

The region has the right environment for recreational and cultural tourism around the lake of Süßer See south of Eisleben and in the Harz Foreland and the Luther memorial sites in the Lutheran towns of Eisleben and

. Since 1946 the town of Eisleben has had the official "nickname" of the Luther town (''Lutherstadt''). That takes into account the fact that

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

was born here shortly before his parents moved the few kilometres to Mansfeld. Coincidentally, Luther died in his native town, where he was staying to mediate a dispute between the counts of Mansfeld (one branch of whom maintained a town castle in Eisleben). Tourist attractions include the houses where the Reformer was born and died. The town of Mansfeld was - as regards Luther - always rather overshadowed by the larger Eisleben; after the Wende Mansfeld was allowed to bear the official name: "Mansfeld-Lutherstadt". Today, on the remaining stretch of railway line from Klostermansfeld to Hettstadt via Siersleben, trains of the old Mansfeld Mining Railway recall formerly busy operations on this

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British r ...

that linked all the shafts, numerous smelteries and other premises of the Mansfeld combine. In addition to its very wide-ranging goods traffic, the

mining railway A mine railway (or mine railroad, U.S.), sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mining, mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden (also called variously spoils, w ...

also ran passenger services - and primarily commuter services for the workers.

Literature

* Britta Schulze-Thulin: ''Mansfelder Land und Unteres Saaletal''. Wanderführer für Mitteldeutschland, Vol. 3. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale), 2008, * * ''Hier der Harz und dort die Saale -Das Mansfelder Land''. Multimedialer Streifzug durch die Heimat Martin Luthers. Multimedia-CD-ROM. Schneemann, Berlin o.J., * Renate Seidel: ''Die Grafen von Mansfeld - Geschichte und Geschichten eines deutschen Adelsgeschlechts''. Fouquè Literaturverlag, Frankfurt a.M. 1998,

External links

Official homepage of the county of Mansfeld-Südharz

{{coord missing, Germany Regions of Saxony-Anhalt Copper mining Mansfeld-Südharz Mining in the Harz Mining in Saxony-Anhalt