City in Saxony, Germany
About Leipzig
Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 633,592 residents as of 31 December 2025. It is the eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. Leipzig is located about 150 km (90 mi) southwest of Berlin, in the southernmost part of the North German Plain, at the confluence of the White Elster and its tributaries Pleiße and Parthe.
Names
A once common English spelling of the city's name was Leipsic, among many variants. The Latin name Lipsia was also used in many languages and in the academic publications of the city's university. The name Leipzig is commonly held to derive from lipa, the common Slavic designation for linden trees, making the city's name etymologically related to Lipetsk, Russia. Based on medieval attestations like Lipzk (c. 1190), the original Slavic name of the city has been reconstructed as *Lipьsko, which is also reflected in similar forms in neighbouring modern Slavic languages (Sorbian/Polish Lipsk, Czech Lipsko). This has, however, been questioned by more recent onomastic research based on the very oldest forms like Libzi (c. 1015). The archaic Romanian name of Leipzig, Lipsca, is also derived from a Slavic form. Lipscani, a historical district in the center of Bucharest, is named after it. …
History
Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi (Chronicon, VII, 25) and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165 by Otto the Rich. Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, has become an event of international importance and is the oldest surviving trade fair in the world. This encouraged the growth of the Leipzig merchant bourgeoisie. There are records of commercial fishing operations on the river Pleiße that, most likely, refer to Leipzig dating back to 1305, when the Margrave Dietrich the Younger granted the fishing rights to the church and convent of St Thomas. …
Geography
Leipzig is located in the Leipzig Bay, the southernmost part of the North German Plain, which is the part of the North European Plain in Germany. The city sits on the White Elster, a river that rises in the Czech Republic and flows into the Saale south of Halle. The Pleiße and the Parthe join the White Elster in Leipzig, and the large inland delta-like landscape the three rivers form is called Leipziger Gewässerknoten. The site is characterized by swampy areas such as the Leipzig Riparian Forest (Leipziger Auenwald), though there are also some limestone areas to the north of the city. The landscape is mostly flat, though there is also some evidence of moraine and drumlins. Although there are some forest parks within the city limits, the area surrounding Leipzig is relatively unforested. …
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