Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg

Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Ernestine Saxon duchies held by the House of Wettin in what is now Thuringia. It originated in 1603, when the duchy of Saxe-Weimar was divided and a separate duchy of Saxe-Altenburg was created for the sons of Duke Frederick William I. That first line died out in 1672, and its lands passed to Saxe-Gotha, forming Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. When that house also became extinct in 1825, Altenburg was transferred to Saxe-Hildburghausen; in 1826 the duke exchanged his ancestral lands with Saxe-Meiningen and took the title Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. The recreated duchy consisted of two non-contiguous blocks, the Ostkreis around Altenburg and the Westkreis around Eisenberg, separated by Reuss-Gera territory. With 1,323 square kilometres and about 207,000 inhabitants in 1905, it was among the smallest German states; its economy rested on agriculture, forestry and small industry, and a thirty-member parliament shared power with the duke. Saxe-Altenburg joined the German Empire in 1871. The monarchy ended in November 1918, and in 1920 the territory became part of the new state of Thuringia.