The Papenteich.

      A systematic agricultural settlement started about 1000 years ago for the Papenteich ("poppendyk" in platt) region, which was the central region of the Nordwald (translated into english: "Northern Forest") north of the city of Braunschweig (Brunswig) and south of the Aller river. The name most likely is a merger of a regent's name ("Poppo") and the classification as a dense woodland ("Dickicht" in German, in english: thicket) so it's "Poppo's Forest" within the "Northern Forest".
      Documents and deeds of the political and clerical upper classes name some of the villages, e.g. Meine, the villages with the -büttel suffix, Rethen, Vordorf. Delimitations of dioceses and agreements of inheritance name some villages, landmarks, brooks. Systematic registering of contributions of the peasants started in the 15th century. The number of documents about domains and farms increases at the mid of the 17th century following the Thirty Years' War (1616-1648).
      The documents display aspects of the rural feudal structure with its ups and downs of the life. The registers and the published papers allow a rough survey of the farmers and the country folk. They also may form the base for a family tree, which should be completed by further research in official archives.

      During the centuries the woodland was cultivated. Economic conditions caused that partially extensive used farmland was abonded and today forms the recent groves of the Papenteich.
      Also villages were desolated during the centuries by different reasons, eg. international or intestine wars, change of agricultural market in the surrounding cities, local soil changes.

      Today, the Papenteich is a cultivated district between the Harz mointain and the heath Luneburgensis, between Volkswagen (VW) and German National Bureau of Standards (PTB: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt). The agriculture of the Papenteich focusses upon corn and sweet turnip, but there are just a few farmers per village: few farmers today are farming on a larger acres than two decades before. Cattles are not that important for this province.
      Being part of the the urban region of Braunschweig the Papenteich also developes as a recreation area. And the inhabitants of the Papenteich province are commuters, too. They work in Braunschweig, Wolfsburg (Volkswagen VW), Salzgitter, Gifhorn etc.

EXPO 2000

Copyright © 1999 by Heinrich Hinze, Wedesbüttel, D-38527 Meine.