Хольштейн аймағының тарихы

Historical region in the Southern half of Schleswig Holstein

Holstein (; ; Holsten; Holsatia) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (Grafschaft Holstein; 811–1474), the later Duchy of Holstein (Herzogtum Holstein; 1474–1866), and was the northernmost territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The history of Holstein is closely intertwined with the history of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig (Slesvig). The capital of Holstein is Kiel. Holstein's name comes from the Holcetae, a Saxon tribe mentioned by Adam of Bremen as living on the north bank of the Elbe, to the west of Hamburg. The name means "dwellers in the wood" or "hill sitters" (Northern Low Saxon: Hol(t)saten; Holzsassen).

After the Migration Period of the Early Middle Ages, Holstein was adjacent to the Obotrites on the coast of the Baltic Sea and the land of the Danes in Jutland. With the conquest of Old Saxony by Charlemagne circa 800, he granted the land north of the Eider River (Schleswig) to the Danes by the Treaty of Heiligen signed in 811. The ownership of what would late become eastern Holstein (districts of Plön and Ostholstein) was given to the Obotrites, namely the Wagrians, and the Saxon elite was deported to various areas of the empire. After 814, however, the Saxons were restored to Western Holstein. The Wagrians were pushed out of the Limes Saxoniae the new border running from the Elbe River near Boizenburg northwards along the Bille River to the mouth of the Schwentine at the Kiel Fjord and the Baltic Sea. For the following 300 years, Holstein continued to be a part of Saxony.

The new county of Holstein was established in 1111; it was first a fief of the Duchy of Saxony, then of the Duchy of Saxe Lauenburg, and finally of the Prince Bishopric of Lübeck. With the establishment of the new territorial unit, expansion to the East began and the Wagrians were finally defeated in 1138. The County of Holstein was ruled by the House of Schaumburg; the first count was Adolf I, Count of Holstein. Holstein was temporarily occupied by Denmark after the Battle of Stellau (1201), but was reconquered by the Count of Schauenburg and his allies in the Battle of Bornhöved (1227).

In 1474 Lauenburg's liege lord, the German Emperor Frederick III, elevated Christian I as Count of Holstein Rendsburg to Duke of Holstein, thus becoming an immediate imperial (reichsunmittelbar) vassal (see imperial immediacy). The Duchy of Holstein retained that status until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.

With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 Holstein's imperial vassal status turned void. It thus became a sovereign state. Because of its personal union with Denmark, the Duchy of Holstein did not come under French occupation during the Napoleonic era (however, the neighboring duchy of Lauenburg was annexed by France in 1811 and became a part of Bouches de l'Elbe). From 1815 to 1864 it was a member of the German Confederation, though still in personal union with Denmark (the King of Denmark being also Duke of Holstein). Following the death of King Frederick VII of Denmark (House of Oldenburg) in 1863, the inheritance of Schleswig and Holstein was disputed. The new king, Christian IX (House of Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg), made his claim to the Danish throne through a female line. The Duke of Augustenborg, a minor scion from another cadet line of the House of Oldenburg, claimed the Duchies, and soon the German Confederation, led by Prussia and Austria, went to the Second Schleswig War with Denmark, quickly defeating it in 1864 and forcing it to cede the duchies. However, the duchies were not given to the Duke of Augustenborg. In 1865 an arrangement was worked out between Prussia and Austria where the Austrians occupied and administered Holstein, while the Prussians did the same in Schleswig. This arrangement came to an end with the Austro Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in Schleswig and Holstein both being incorporated into Prussia as the Province of Schleswig Holstein. Holstein, meanwhile including former Saxe Lauenburg (as of 1876) and the former Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck and Region of Lübeck (both as of 1937) regained statehood, now united with Schleswig, in 1946, when the British occupation government elevated the province to the State of Schleswig Holstein, followed by the official dissolution of Prussia in 1947. For a list of rulers, see Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein and List of rulers of Schleswig Holstein.

As of 1864, Holstein bordered Denmark in the north, the Principality of Lübeck (formerly the Prince Bishopric of Lübeck, an exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg), the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck, and the Duchy of Saxe Lauenburg in the east, and the Kingdom of Hanover and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in the south. It also borders the North Sea in the west and the Baltic Sea in the east. Its only major island is Fehmarn, originally a part of the Duchy of Schleswig until 1867. Cities in Holstein included Kiel, Altona, Glückstadt, Rendsburg, Segeberg, Heiligenhafen, Oldenburg in Holstein, and Plön. It had an area of 8,385 km2.