Flag
Statistics
Capital:	Magdeburg
Area:	20,447 km²
Inhabitants:	2,580,626(2001)
pop. density:	126 inh./km²
Homepage:	sachsen-anhalt.de http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/
ISO 3166-2:	DE-ST
Politics
Minister-President:	Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU)
Ruling party:	CDU/FDP coalition
Map

With an area of 20,447 km² and a population of 2.6 million, Saxony-Anhalt (German Sachsen-Anhalt) is one of the new German Bundesländer (federal states) included until 1990 in East Germany. The capital is Magdeburg.

Contents

1 Geography 2 History 3 List of Minister-Presidents of Saxony-Anhalt 4 External link

Geography

Lying to the north-east of central Germany, it is eighth largest in area and (since 1996) tenth in population among the country's sixteen Bundesländer. It borders on the states of Lower Saxony to the north-west, Brandenburg to the east, Saxony to the south-east and Thuringia to the south-west.

Most of the state is plain and agriculturally used, but in the south-west there is the eastern part of the Harz mountains. The main river of Saxony-Anhalt is the Elbe, running through the state from southeast to northwest. The second largest river, the Saale, is a tributary of the Elbe.

See also List of places in Saxony-Anhalt.

Until 2003 Saxony-Anhalt was divided into three Regierungsbezirke - Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg. Since 2004 the 21 districts are the primary division of the state

Altmarkkreis Salzwedel Anhalt-Zerbst Aschersleben-Staßfurt Bernburg Bitterfeld Bördekreis Burgenlandkreis

Halberstadt Jerichower Land Köthen Mansfelder Land Merseburg-Querfurt Ohrekreis Quedlinburg

Saalkreis Sangerhausen Schönebeck Stendal Weißenfels Wernigerode Wittenberg

Furthermore there are three independent towns, which don't belong to any district:

• Dessau
• Halle (Saale)
• Magdeburg

History

The state was created shortly before reunification, covering much the same area as an earlier unit (1947-52) comprising the former Anhalt, the former Prussian Province of Saxony and some small exclaves of the former Brunswick-Lüneburg. The state and its larger cities have lost population since 1989 with migration to the former West Germany.

List of Minister-Presidents of Saxony-Anhalt

1. 1945 - 1949: Erhard Hübener
2. 1949 - 1952: Werner Bruschke
3. 1990 - 1991: Gerd Gies (CDU)
4. 1991 - 1993: Werner Münch (CDU)
5. 1993 - 1994: Christoph Bergner (CDU)
6. 1994 - 2002: Reinhard Höppner (SPD)
7. since 2002: Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU)

External link

• Official governmental portal http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/