Salzgitter is an
independent city in southeast
Lower Saxony,
Germany, located between
Hildesheim and
Braunschweig. Together with
Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven
Oberzentren of Lower Saxony (roughly equivalent to a
metropolitan area). With 109,142 inhabitants and (as of 30 January 2004), its
area is the largest in Lower Saxony and one of the largest in
Germany. Salzgitter originated as a conglomeration of several small towns and villages, and is today made up of 31 boroughs, which are relatively compact conurbations with wide stretches of open country between them. The main shopping street of the young city is in the borough of Lebenstedt, and the
central business district is in the borough of Salzgitter-Bad. The city is connected to the
Mittellandkanal and the
Elbe-Seitenkanal by a
distributary. The nearest
metropolises are Braunschweig, about to the northeast, and
Hanover, about to the northwest. The
population of the City of Salzgitter has exceeded 100,000 inhabitants since its foundation in 1942 (which made it a city in contrast to a
town by the German definition), when it was still called
Watenstedt-Salzgitter. Beside Wolfsburg,
Leverkusen and
Eisenhüttenstadt, Salzgitter is therefore one of the few cities in Germany founded during the 20th century.