Strelitz

Strelitz takes its name from a Polabian word for archers. First recorded as a village in 1278, it grew into a small town and belonged in the seventeenth century to Mecklenburg-Güstrow. After that ruling line ended, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was established in 1701, comprising lands around Strelitz and an outlying territory near Ratzeburg.

Fire destroyed the town and its castle in 1712. The duke and his family withdrew to their hunting lodge beside Lake Zierke, north-west of the old and damaged town. A new settlement, Neustrelitz, grew around the lodge and became the ducal capital in the 1730s. Old Strelitz continued to exist as a small village after the disaster, while the new ducal residence gave its name to the surrounding duchy.