The following sheets were initially prompted by a small statistical work that was assigned to me in the year 1834. The materials provided to me were, on one hand, so interesting and enlightening that, on the other hand, I regretted all the more how much we actually lacked a general and comprehensive statistic of Hamburg and its area until now. I considered that numbers are particularly well-suited to provide clarity about the existence and progress of existing institutions in detail, as well as about the state of the national economy as a whole, even if it might not always be possible to provide completely accurate data and one would have to settle for approximate figures. In the spring of 1842, the work was ready for printing—when Hamburg was struck by the terrible fire disaster, shaken! A considerable amount of time passed before the beginning of the Dr.