Middle Ages

Due to the town's favourable geographic position a palatinate was built and the town was soon granted the royal charter of a free city. Duisburg became a member of the Hanseatic League. Around 1000 the river Rhine moved westward from the city. This put an end to the city's development as a trading town and it soon grew into a quiet rural city.
The productions of cartographer Gerardus Mercator and the foundation of a university in 1655 established the city's renown as "Educated Duisburg" ("Duisburgum Doctum").

around 1000, the Rhine moves its river bed from Duisburg
1120 construction of the city wall
1279 "city charter" granted by King Lothar II, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothar III
1445 attack by the Cologne Archbishop was thwarted
1566 Johannes Corputius completes his city map of Duisburg.
1666 Duisburg within the Duchy of Cleves becomes a part of Brandenburg and Prussia

Industrial revolution

1824 construction of the sulfuric acid factory Fr. W. Curtius. Beginning of the industry age in Duisburg.
1828 Franz Haniel builds a dockyard for steamships
1846 railroad line to Düsseldorf
1847 railroad line via Dortmund to Minden
1873 Duisburg becomes an independent city borough.
1904 Birth of the 100,000th resident (Ernst R. Straube)
1921 French Infantry occupy the city on 8 March to secure war reparation payments incurred during World War I.
1929 The city of Duisburg-Hamborn is renamed Duisburg.
1938 (November) The Nazi Germany|Nazis destroy the Jew|Jewish synagogue.

World War II

1941 between 12/13 June British bombers drop a toal of 445 tonnes of bombs
1943 577 British bombers destroy the old city on 12/13 May with 1599 t of bombs: 96,000 people are made homeless.
1944 The city was badly damaged as a total of 2000 t of bombs drop on 22 May; on October 14 this amount was doubled when 2018 Handley Page Halifax|Halifax, Avro Lancaster|Lancaster and De Havilland Mosquito|Mosquito bombers appeared over Duisburg as part of Operation Hurricane (1944)|Operation Hurricane. Numerous similar attacks follow.
1945 The city has under artillery barrage from 3 April 1945. On 12 April 1945 military units of the U.S. 9th Army enter Duisburg. On May 8, 1945 the ADSEC Engineer Group A, led by Col. Helmer Swenholt, commanding officer of the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment, constructed a railroad bridge between Duisburg and Rheinhausen across the Rhine River. This bridge was 2,815 feet (0.86 km) long, and constructed in six days, fifteen hours and twenty minutes, a record time. This Bridge was named the "Victory Bridge".

Post war period

1983 1100 year anniversary
1989 Summer-Universiade in Duisburg.
1999 The new Jewish community center with a synagogue is opened.
2004 On 19 July Duisburg was hit by a tornado. The municipal theatre and parts of the city center were damaged.
2005 Duisburg hosts the 7th World Games.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Duisburg Port

Each year more than 40 million tonnes of various goods are handled with more than 20,000 ships calling at the port. The public harbor facilities stretch across an area of 7.4 km². There are 21 docks covering an area of 1.8 km² and 40 km of wharf. The area of the Logport Logistic Center Duisburg stretches across an area of 2.65 km². A number of companies run their own private docks and 70 million tonnes of goods yearly are handled in Duisburg on average.

Road and rail

Media

There is a local TV station ("STUDIO 47"), which was the first local station to broadcast in North Rhine-Westphalia..

Culture

Besides Düsseldorf Duisburg is a residence of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, one of the major opera houses in Germany. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra is one of Germany's orchestras with an international reputation.

Thanks to its history as a harbor city and a trade and industrial center Duisburg offers a variety of architectural places of interest. The spectrum goes from old churches such as "St Johann Baptist" in Duisburg-Hamborn, which was built in 900, to modern age buildings like Micro-Electronic-Centrum in Duisburg-Neudorf, built in 1995.

Another subject of interest is the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord an abandoned industrial complex open to the public.

The city center locates the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum , the municipal theatre and the shopping street known as "fountain mile".

Sports

Duisburg is involved in many kinds of sports. Nevertheless, most important for its inhabitants is the local soccer club MSV Duisburg. Recently, with the new MSV Arena the city received a brandnew sports stadium for various kinds of sports such as soccer and football.

During the summer months of 2005 the World Games took place in Duisburg. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Duisburg was the stage for preparation of the Portuguese team, residence of the Italian football team, who won the cup in the final match against the team of France.

Duisburg is also known for its rowing- and canoeing regattas and the world championships that take place here regularly. Other popular sports are Icehockey, Baseball, American Football, Water polo and Hockey.

Buildings and Constructions