Residence City in Principality, Electorate and Kingdom

1636 Duke Georg von Calenberg declares Hanover his residence. At his instigation, a year later, construction of the Leine Castle began on the site of the Minorite monastery, which had been closed in 1533 (today the Lower Saxony state parliament).

Since 1636 At the instigation of the government, the old town and new town will receive a joint new town wall, which will be built according to the modern bastion system. The new town, sponsored by the dukes, develops into an upscale residential area for state officials and court craftsmen.

1649 Duke Georg Wilhelm has the Ballhof built (today: Lower Saxony State Theater).

1666 Duke Johann Friedrich had the Great Garden laid out as part of the Herrenhausen summer residence.

1670 The court and town church of Sankt Johannis is built on the Neustadt. Start of construction 1666.

1674 The city coin is canceled. Large merchant Johann Duve, the most striking figure of early capitalism in Hanover, had leased it since 1666.

1676 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is appointed privy councilor and head of his library by Duke Johann Friedrich. The polymath worked here until his death; since 1698 he lived in the Renaissance house named after him, where he died in 1716.

1678 The first opera, "L'Orontea", is performed in the castle theater of the Leine Castle.

1692 Duke Ernst August acquires the ninth cure of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

1699 A new constitution is imposed on the city council by the government.

1701 Electress Sophie is declared heir to the throne in Great Britain.

1711 Start of construction of the Catholic Clemens Church on the Neustadt, completed in 1718 according to plans by the Venetian Tommaso Giusti.

1714 Elector George Ludwig ascends the English throne as King George I of Great Britain. This marks the beginning of the personal union between Hanover and Great Britain that lasted until 1837.

1725 Christian Ulrich Grupen becomes mayor of the old town of Hanover. The legal scholar, known beyond the city limits, died in 1767 after 42 years in the mayor's office.

1732 The "Weekly Hanoverian Intelligence-Zettul" was the first newspaper to appear in Hanover.

1746 First urban expansion: The Aegidien-Neustadt is laid out according to plans by master builder Georg Friedrich Dinglinger.

1757 During the Seven Years' War, French troops occupied Hanover.

1759 The theater poet August Wilhelm Iffland was born in the Leibnizhaus. Today's Iffland Ring bears his name.

1776 The poet Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty dies in Hanover.

1780 Beginning of the dismantling of the city walls after the city's defenses were rendered ineffective in modern warfare.

1778 Founding of the "Royal Roß-Arzney School", the oldest institution of its kind in Germany. Since 1887 it has been called the University of Veterinary Medicine.

1788 Adolf Freiherr Knigge's enlightening book "About Dealing with People" is published.

1790 After a flight demonstration, the magistrate appoints the balloon pilot Blanchard as an honorary citizen.

1797 Foundation of the Natural History Society.

1798 Johann Thomas Lamminger prints the first Hanover address book, which has been published annually since then.

1803 French troops occupy the Electorate for a decade. In the Kingdom of Westphalia, Hanover was the capital of the "Allerdepartement" from 1810 to 1813.

1814 Hanover becomes a royal residence as a result of the elevation of the old electorate to a kingdom at the Congress of Vienna.

1821 Justification of the city parliament under the designation Bürgervorsteher-Kollegium. Approaches to the separation of administration and judiciary.

1823 A "Spar- und Leih-Casse", today's Stadtsparkasse, is founded.

1824 Issue of a constitutional document for the city. The law passed in London also brings about the long-overdue unification of the old and new towns under one magistrate.

1826 The first gas-powered street lighting on the European mainland is put into operation in Hanover.

1828 Charlotte Kestner, née Buff, model for Lotte in Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther", dies. Tombstone in the garden cemetery.

1831 Founding of a higher trade school, forerunner of today's university. The "Hannoversche Zeitung" is the city's first daily newspaper.

1832 Founding of the "Art Association for the Kingdom of Hanover".

1833 Opening of the City of Hanover Hospital in Linden.

1834 Johann Egestorff, who had taken over a lime kiln in Linden as a journeyman cooper in 1803, dies. He leaves numerous companies employing 400 workers. His son Georg founds an iron foundry and produces steam engines and locomotives (later "Hanomag"). Linden develops into a location for the textile and metal processing industry.

1835 Foundation of the historical association for Lower Saxony.

1837 End of personal union with Great Britain. King Ernst August ascends the Hanoverian throne. One of his first official acts: the repeal of the Basic Law of 1833. The magistrate, council of civic leaders and city director protest like the "Göttingen Seven" against the violation of the Basic Law. City director Rumann is thrown into prison and relieved of his post.

1843 The first train runs from Hanover to Lehrte. Ernst-August-Stadt, a new district between Georgstrasse and the railway, is being built according to plans by Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves. Hanover's train station (Laves) is the first through station in Germany.

1848 Revolution: Unrest brings about a change of government. Parts of the previous opposition are now represented in the government of the Bennigsen-Stüve ministry. There are only a few Democrats and Republicans in the city.

1851 For the first time in Europe, a "Victoria regia" (water lily) is blooming in the Herrenhausen Berggarten.

1852 The court theater on Georgstraße, today the opera house, is opened. Construction began in 1845 based on plans by Laves.

1857 Start of construction of the Guelph Castle, today's University of Hanover.

1859 Incorporation of the suburb of Hanover. The population increases from 35,000 to 55,000 and the urban area grows from 157 to 2,354 hectares.

1861 Unveiling of the equestrian statue of King Ernst August in front of the main train station.

1863 The city administration moves from the old town hall, which has become too small, to the Wangenheimpalais.

1865 The Zoological Garden opens on the edge of the Eilenriede.

For further reading:

Hanover chronicle from the beginnings to the present: Numbers, data, facts. Editors Klaus Mlynek and Waldemar R. Röhrbein. Hanover 1991.

History of the City of Hanover (2 vols.). Eds. Klaus Mlynek / Waldemar R. Röhrbein. Hanover 1992 / 1994.