A short trip into Duisburg's history

image author: Wolfgang Arendt

In 1987 archaeological finds in Duisburg brought the proof that in the western end of the Hellweg area, at the confluence of Rhine and Ruhr a settlement existed in the 5th-century already.

The actual starting point of the development was a royal court founded around 740. In 883 Normans attacked the village: This attack is the first secure date from Duisburg's history!

Under King Henry the Fowler (919-936) an imperial synod took place in fand in Duisburg. Otto I was holding his royal days here and the royal court was extended to a large. these walls are still underneath the town hall today. Here Henry II was selectd as king in 1002.

The town developed around the royal court at the Burgplatz, long-distance trade made them rich. Around 1125 a town wall was built, brick residences and a first big Salvator church was constructed.

image author: Wolfgang Arendt

Around 1200 Rhine shifted away from Duisburg, trade declined. King Rudolf von Habsburg pawned the town to the earl from Kleve in 1290. Duisburg lost its relationship to the kingdom.

In 1552 Gerhard Mercator, a famous geographer and cosmographer came to Duisburg. Here he designed the forward-looking map project and a global map series, which is named after him: the atlas.

In 1655 a Kleve state university was set up in Duisburg, which existed until 1818. The old tradition was reintroduced with the founding of the comprehensive university Duisburg in 1972.

Duisburg's economical renewed rise started with the setup of the Börtschifffahrt to Nimwegen. In the 18th-century tobacco and chemical factories came into being. The town grew beyond its walls.

image author: Wolfgang Arendt

From 1828 onwards Duisburg was connected with Rhine and Rohr through canals and received a harbour again in 1840. In the following times mines and ironworks determined the fast growth of the city.

During that time Duisburg received with the town hall, finished in 1902 and the theatre, built through a citizens' initiative in 1912 two prominent buildings, which still characterise the town's face today.

In 1929 Hamborn, which had received the charter of a town with 103.000 citizens in 1911 was affiliated to Duisburg together with other areas in the south. The surface doubled and the population rose to 433.000.