Stade
District
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
Capital	Stade
Area
• Total	1,266 km2 (489 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2021)[1]
• Total	206,496
• Density	160/km2 (420/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	STD
Website	landkreis-stade.de

Stade is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has its seat in Stade and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.

History

The district of Stade was established in 1932 by merging three smaller precursor districts.

Geography

Location

The district is situated at the southern banks of the Elbe river, between the city of Hamburg and the river's mouth. The western border of the district is the Oste, a narrow tributary of the Elbe. The land between the Oste and the town of Stade is traditionally called Kehdingen. The area to the east of Stade is known as the Altes Land (literally "Old Land"). It is characterised by thousands of fruit trees.

Bordering districts

It is surrounded by (from the north and clockwise) the Schleswig-Holstein districts Dithmarschen, Steinburg and Pinneberg (all on the other side of the Elbe river), the city-state of Hamburg as well as the Lower Saxony districts Harburg, Rotenburg and Cuxhaven.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays:

• a castle, symbolising Stade as the former seat of the Counts of Stade
• the key from the arms of the Archbishopric of Bremen, to which the area once belonged
• a white horse, representing Hanover and Lower Saxony

Towns and municipalities