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Statistics
Capital:	Hanover
Area:	47,600 km²
Inhabitants:	7,956,416 (2001)
pop. density:	160 inh./km²
Homepage:	niedersachsen.de (http://www.niedersachsen.de/)
ISO 3166-2:	DE-NI
Politics
Minister-President:	Christian Wulff[?] (CDU)
Ruling party:	CDU/FDP
Map

Ammerland Aurich Bentheim Celle Cloppenburg Cuxhaven Diepholz Emsland Friesland Gifhorn Goslar Göttingen Hamelin-Pyrmont (Hameln-Pyrmont)	Hanover (Hannover) Harburg Helmstedt Hildesheim Holzminden Leer Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüneburg Nienburg Northeim Oldenburg Osnabrück Osterholz	Osterode Peine Rotenburg Schaumburg Soltau-Fallingbostel Stade Uelzen Vechta Verden Wesermarsch Wittmund Wolfenbüttel

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

The districts are grouped into four Regierungsbezirke:

Brunswick (Braunschweig)
Hanover (Hannover)
Lüneburg
Weser-Ems

History

The area is named for the Saxons, who moved there from what is today the neighbouring state of Schleswig-Holstein towards the middle of the 1st millennium AD. Originally the region was simply called Saxony, but as the center of gravity of the Duchy of Saxony gradually moved up the Elbe, towards the present day states of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, the region was given the name Lower Saxony, which it bore as an Imperial Circle Estate[?] from the late 15th Century.

The state was founded in 1946 by the British military administration, who merged the former states of Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the former Prussian province of Hanover.