Bouches-de-l'Elbe

Bouches-de-l'Elbe (French pronunciation: [buʃ də lɛlb]; German: Elbmündungen, pronounced [ˈɛlpˌmʏndʊŋən]; both lit. 'Mouths of the Elbe') was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany that survived for three years. It was named after the mouth of the river Elbe. It was formed in 1811, when the region, originally belonging partially to Bremen-Verden (which in 1807 had been intermittently incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia), to Hamburg, Lübeck and Saxe-Lauenburg, was annexed by France. Its territory is part of the present-day German states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Its capital was Hamburg.

Bouches-de-l'Elbe Elbmündungen
Department
Contemporary map (1812)
Location of Bouches-de-l'Elbe in France (1812)
Coordinates: 53.5833°N 9.98333°E / 53.5833; 9.98333
Country	First French Empire
Department	Bouches-de-l'Elbe

The department was subdivided into four arrondissements and the following cantons (situation in 1812, French translated names where applicable):^[1]

• Hamburg (French: Hambourg), cantons: Hamburg (6 cantons), Bergedorf, Hamm and Wilhelmsburg.
• Lübeck (French: Lubeck), cantons: Lübeck (2 cantons), Lauenburg upon Elbe, Mölln, Neuhaus upon Elbe, Ratzeburg, Schwarzenbek and Steinhorst.
• Lüneburg (French: Lunebourg), cantons: Lüneburg, Bardowick, Buxtehude, Garlstorf, Harburg, Hittfeld, Tostedt and Winsen upon Luhe.
• Stade, cantons: Stade, Bremervörde, Freiburg upon Elbe, Himmelpforten, Horneburg, Neuhaus upon Oste, Otterndorf, Ritzebüttel, Jork and Zeven.

Its population in 1812 was 375,976.^[1]

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the department were dissolved and the area was redivided between the Kingdom of Hanover (Bremen-Verden), the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, and the free cities of Hamburg and Lübeck.