Augsburg summary

Trace the history of Augsburg, a city in Bavaria, Germany

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Augsburg.

Rotes Tor (tower), Augsburg, Germany
Rotes Tor (tower), part of the old town wall, and the church of Saints Ulrich and Afra (left), Augsburg, Germany.

Augsburg, City (pop., 2002 est.: 257,800), Bavaria, southern Germany. Founded as a Roman colony by Augustus c. 14 bc, it was the seat of a bishopric by ad 739. It became an imperial free city in 1276 and joined the Swabian League in 1331. The Fugger and Welser families made the city a major banking and commercial centre in the 15th–16th centuries. The Augsburg Confession was read at the Diet of 1530; the Peace of Augsburg was concluded in 1555; and the League of Augsburg was formed in 1686. The city became part of Bavaria in 1806. It was heavily bombed during World War II. Sites of interest include the Fuggerei (1519), the world’s oldest housing settlement for the poor.

Bavaria Summary

Bavaria, largest Land (state) of Germany, comprising the entire southeastern portion of the country. Bavaria is bounded to the north by the states of Thuringia and Saxony, to the east by the Czech Republic, to the south and southeast by Austria, and to the west by the states of Baden-Württemberg

Germany Summary

Germany, country of north-central Europe, traversing the continent’s main physical divisions, from the outer ranges of the Alps northward across the varied landscape of the Central German Uplands and then across the North German Plain. One of Europe’s largest countries, Germany encompasses a wide