Potsdam-Mittelmark

Statistics
State:	Brandenburg
Capital:	km²
Inhabitants:	199,585 (2002)
pop. density:	83 inh./km²
Car identification:	PM
Homepage:	http://www.potsdam-mittelmark.de
Map

Potsdam-Mittelmark is a Kreis (district) in the western part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from the north clockwise) the district Havelland, the district free cities Brandenburg and Potsdam, the Bundesland Berlin, the district Teltow-Fläming, and the districts Wittenberg, Anhalt-Zerbst and Jerichower Land in Saxony-Anhalt.

Geography

The district includes the southern banks of the Havel river and the northern parts of the Fläming (a wooded hill chain).

History

The district was created in 1993 by merging the previous districts Belzig, Brandenburg-Land and Postdam-Land.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is divided into four fields. The lefttop one shows a red eagle as the symbol of Brandenburg. The three oak-leaves in the topright both symbolize the prevalent oak forests, but also the three previous districts which were morged to form the current one. In the bottomright are two bishopric keys, which stand for the diocese of Brandenburg. The black-and-golden bars in the bottomleft are the symbol of Saxony, and symbolize that the area around Belzig, Brück, Wiesenburg and Niemegk belonged to Saxony until 1815.

Towns and municipalities

Cities	Ämter	free municipalities
Beelitz Belzig Brück¹ Havelsee¹ Niemegk¹ Teltow Treuenbrietzen Werder (Havel) Ziesar¹ ¹ inside a Amt	Beetzsee Brück Niemegk Wusterwitz Ziesar	Groß Kreutz/Emster Kleinmachnow Kloster Lehnin Michendorf Nuthetal Schwielowsee Seddiner See Stahnsdorf Wiesenburg/Mark