CChronica Maps

Berlin: History, Former Names & Timeline

A small town in the Margraviate of Brandenburg that grew with Prussia into the capital of the German Empire, then was divided by a wall for twenty-eight years.

Map showing Berlin in 1945Berlin
Border map for 1945. See Europe in 1945.

Explore Berlin in the interactive map

Former names of Berlin

FromNameNote
1237Cölln / Berlin

Timeline of Berlin

YearEvent
1237Cölln first appears in the records
1701Capital of the Kingdom of Prussia
1871Capital of the German Empire
1945The Red Army takes Berlin; the Third Reich falls
1948Berlin Blockade and Airlift
1961The Berlin Wall is built
1989The Berlin Wall falls
1991The Bundestag votes to move the capital to Berlin

Who ruled Berlin

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

PeriodState
500 BC–401 BCUnclaimed / no data
400 BC–324 BCHallstatt culture
323 BC–699Unclaimed / no data
700–799Proto-Slavs
800–899Slavonic tribes
900–999Slavic tribes
1000–1099Pomerania
1100–1199Prussians
1200–1782Holy Roman Empire
1783–1879Prussia
1880–1913Germany
1914–1919German Empire
1920–1944Germany
1945–1959Germany (Soviet)
1960–1993East Germany
1994–todayGermany

Battles and sites near Berlin

Landmarks in and around Berlin

Nearby cities