Editing Mainau (section)

== History ==
Until the Napoleonic [[German mediatisation|mediatisation]]s and [[secularisation]]s of small German fiefs this island belonged to the Order of [[Teutonic Knights]]. It was later sold into private ownership. In 1853 Grand Duke [[Frederick I of Baden]] purchased the island as his personal property and used the palace built by the Teutonic Knights as summer palace. At the end of [[World War I]] Baden became a republic with the [[abdication]] of Grand Duke [[Frederick II of Baden|Frederick II]], son of Frederick I. The former Grand Duke retained his private property including Mainau. When he died childless in 1928 the island passed to his sister [[Victoria of Baden]], wife of King [[Gustaf V of Sweden]]. Upon her death two years later she bequeathed the island to her second son [[Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland]] and his descendants. In 1932 Prince Wilhem gave Mainau to his only child [[Lennart Bernadotte]] who owned it until 1974 when he transferred the island to a [[Foundation (non-profit)|foundation]]. Count Bernadotte formed ''Enterprise Mainau GmbH'' in 1991 as a private enterprise to manage the island for the benefit of the ''Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung''. The Count remained active in managing Mainau until his death in 2004 but had appointed his second wife [[Sonja Bernadotte|Sonja]] co-manager in 2001. Widowed, she and their children ran both the foundation and the management company until 2007. Since January 2007 Bettina Bernadotte, the eldest daughter of Lennart and Sonja, directs the Mainau GmbH as current manager, and since 2011 her brother Björn Bernadotte has joined her.<ref>{{cite web |title=Insel Mainau: Mainau GmbH |access-date=15 December 2015 |url=http://www.mainau.de/mainau-gmbh.html |language=de}}</ref>

===Pre- and early history===
In 1862, signs of an earlier population were discovered along the south banks of Mainau and soon exploited by domain administrator Walter: among the items were wedges, a potsherd, flint splinters, an axe and a muller. The pile dwelling settlement made up of six houses was uncovered in the 1930s and dated back to the Neolithic Age (3,000 b.c.). Lake-dwelling settlements of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age were located along the northern shore and the southwestern island along the shallow water zone.