Harburg belonged originally to the bishopric of Bremen, and received municipal rights in 1297.
Cotton growing under European direction began about 1900, with the result that in 1901-1902 over 100,000 lb of cotton grown from native, American and Egyptian seed were shipped to Bremen.
Even the free cities were divided, Hamburg and Lubeck for, Bremen and Frankfort against.
The Hamburg stations, connected with the other by the Verbindungs-Bahn (or metropolitan railway) crossing the Lombards-Brucke, are those of the Venloer (or Hanoverian, as it is often called) Bahnhof on the south-east, in close proximity to the harbour, into which converge the lines from Cologne and Bremen, Hanover and Frankfort-on-Main, and from Berlin, via Nelzen; the Klostertor-Bahnhof (on the metropolitan line) which temporarily superseded the old Berlin station, and the Lubeck station a little to the north-east, during the erection of the new central station, which occupies a site between the Klostertor-Bahnhof and the Lombards-Brucke.
In 845 church, monastery and town were burnt down by the Norsemen, and two years later the see of Hamburg was united with that of Bremen and its seat transferred to the latter city.