Osterburg

Osterburg lies in the Altmark of northern Germany, on a medieval trade route leading from Magdeburg toward the Baltic and North Sea towns. Its name appears in twelfth-century records, and its commercial connections made it one of the Altmark towns associated with the Hanseatic League. In 1363 Emperor Charles IV confirmed its rights and liberties.

The Thirty Years' War devastated Osterburg. After the town had begun to recover, a fire in 1761 destroyed about two thirds of its houses. Rebuilding reshaped the town, which became a district seat in 1816 under Prussian administration.