Province of Saxony

	Sachsen; Saxony
	Province of Prussia
Flag	Coat of arms
	Saxony (red}, within the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), within the German Empire
Capital	Magdeburg; 52°8′N 11°37′E / 52.133°N 11.617°ECoordinates: 52°8′N 11°37′E / 52.133°N 11.617°E
History
- Established	1816
- Redivided	1 July 1944
- Partly reformed	early 1945
- Disestablished	1945
	Area
- 1939	25,529 km² (9,857 sq mi)
	Population
- 1816	1,197,053
- 1905	2,978,679
- 1939	3,662,546
Density	143.5 /km² (371.6 /sq mi)
Political Subdivisions	Magdeburg; Merseburg; Erfurt

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The subject of this article was previously also known as Saxony. For other uses, see Saxony (disambiguation).

The Province of Saxony (German: Provinz Sachsen) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.

[edit] History

The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:

the former Duchy of Magdeburg and Principality of Halberstadt, which had been part of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807-1813;
the parts of the Margraviate of Brandenburg that were situated to the west of the Elbe River, such as the Altmark;
territory gained from the Kingdom of Saxony after the Battle of Leipzig in 1813: the towns and surrounding territories of Wittenberg, Merseburg, Naumburg, Mansfeld, Querfurt, and Henneberg;
and territory given to Prussia after the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss: lands around Erfurt (formerly directly subordinate to the Emperor of the French as Principality of Erfurt), the Eichsfeld (formerly belonging to the Archbishopric of Mainz) and the former Imperial Cities of Mühlhausen and Nordhausen.

The Province of Saxony was one of the richest regions of Prussia with highly developed agriculture and industry. In 1932 the province was enlarged with the addition of the regions around Ilfeld and Elbingerode, which had previously been part of the Province of Hanover.

On 1 July 1944, the Province of Saxony was divided along the lines of its three administrative regions. The Erfurt Regierungsbezirk was merged with the Herrschaft Schmalkalden district of the Province of Hesse-Nassau and given to the state of Thuringia. The Magdeburg Regierungsbezirk became the Province of Magdeburg, and the Merseburg Regierungsbezirk became the Province of Halle-Merseburg.

In 1945, the Soviet military administration combined Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg with the State of Anhalt into the Province of Saxony-Anhalt, with Halle as its capital. The eastern part of the Blankenburg exclave of Brunswick and the Thuringian exclave of Allstedt were also added to Saxony-Anhalt. In 1947, Saxony-Anhalt became a state.

Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt were abolished in 1952, but were recreated after the reunification of Germany in 1990 with some slight border changes as modern states of Germany.

[edit] Subdivisions

Prior to 1944, the province of Saxony was divided into three Regierungsbezirke. In 1945, only the provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg were re-merged.