Editing Independent city (section)

==== ''Stadtstaaten'' of Germany ====
Two cities in Germany, namely [[Berlin]] and [[Hamburg]], are considered city-states (German: ''Stadtstaaten''). Additionally, the state of [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] is officially classified as a city-state although it consists of the two cities of [[Bremen]] and [[Bremerhaven]], which are separated by the state of [[Lower Saxony]]. Together with thirteen area states (German: ''Flächenländer'') they form the sixteen federal [[states of Germany]].<ref name="Mogens, Hansen 2000. Pg. 19" /> Hamburg and Bremen are "[[Free Imperial City|Free]] and [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] Cities".

Generally, the city-states have no other rights or duties than the other states. Through the financial redistribution system of [[Equalization Payments in Germany]] (German: ''Länderfinanzausgleich''), they do receive more money because of their demographic characteristics. The city-states are most distinctive due to the names of their state organs: their governments are called Senate, the prime ministers 'mayor' (Governing Mayor in [[Berlin]] and First Mayor in Hamburg) or President of the Senate (in Bremen) and also the expressions for their state parliaments differ from the other states.

In the 18th century, many German cities were [[free imperial cities]] (German: ''Reichsstädte''), without a principality [[Imperial immediacy|between them and the imperial level]]. After the Napoleonic era, in 1815, four were still city-states: Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck in Northern Germany, and Frankfurt where the [[Federal Convention (German Confederation)|Federal Convention]] was located. Frankfurt was incorporated by Prussia in 1866, and Lübeck became a part of Prussia during the national socialist regime in 1937 (Greater Hamburg Law). After 1945, Berlin was a divided city, and the Western part became a German quasi-state under (Western) Allied supervision. Since 1990/1991, the reunited Berlin is an ordinary German state among others.