On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:08:22 -0700, Robert Rothenbuhler wrote
(in article <mailman.1138.1206623652.20268.gen-de@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):
> If someone were to tell me they were born in Prussia, what would you
> consider Prussia, Germany? Would it be like saying I was born in the
state
> of Ohio in America?
> What's the difference between Prussia and Preussen?
Besides being the name of a country in the Germany culltural area, the
meaning of being from Prussia (in German, Preussen) may not have a simple
answer. As pointed out, there have been East Prussia and West Prusssia,
plus Prussia has also expanded and contracted as a state over time.
Note these maps:
1789 - Western Europe. note the multiple blue areas labeled as the Kingdom
of
Prussia (Pruessen)
http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/gif/pEu789_WE_a4.htm
1814 German cultural area, Prussia in powder blue
http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/gif/d814_a4.htm
1820, ditto
http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/gif/pEu820_WE_a4.htm
1867 the same area after Prussia annexed the Kingdom of Hanover (Hannover
in
German), and after war over Schleswig-Holstein
http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/gif/d867_a4.htm
Within my small sampling of German immigrant ancestors, it seems as if
German
immigrants in the US seemed to refer mostly to "Germany" after the
unification but to the name of the particular german country before then.
Others may see a different pattern.
1871, Prussia within the Empire
http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/gif/d871_a4.htm
Hank
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