For most of its history, Oldenburg was a poor land surrounded by barren moors and marshes. The city sat upon a small hill that shielded it from the storm tides that scourged the land occasionally and allowed its Frisian rulers to build a small duchy built on agriculture and trade. However, the conquest of the moorlands required powerful steam-powered traction engines that could plow the peat bogs and dredge the canals. Today, it’s a fertile agricultural region with scattered traces of the colonists that transformed the landscape.
The lands surrounding Oldenburg were once a mire of moors and marshes as far as the eye could see. Today, the ingenuity of the German settlers to the region has transformed the barren scrublands into fertile fields and small towns. The secrets of the settlers can still be seen in the details of the landscape: farms elevated higher than the roads, remnants of peat mining, and ancient village foundations. Though the region remains defined by the city of Oldenburg and its 19th-century rulers, an ancient past is waiting to be uncovered.
The city of Oldenburg was founded by Frisian nobility on an ancient hill above the surrounding marshes. Though protected from flood waters and invading armies, the city lacked strategic relevance and remained an economic backwater well into the 19th century. Though the lords of Oldenburg made several attempts to unite Eastern Friesland with force, they would only see some success with Diplomacy.
That being said, the territory of Oldenburg never expanded far beyond its initial borders until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna saw Oldenburg expand by a significant amount, annexing the southern county around the town of Cloppenburg. This current meaning of the Oldenburger Land also includes a portion of the Emsland that once belonged to the Bishops of Münster. This area is somewhat unhelpfully called “Oldenburger Münsterland.” Since this region is primarily Catholic, in contrast to the Protestant Oldenburg, I decided to keep it separate in my definition.
