Altona

Altona, a town and port of Germany, on the right bank of the Elbe. It is so closely connected with Hamburg as to be almost a suburb of that city, though it is in Schleswig-Holstein, a different province. The town is handsome and prosperous, having been founded for 200 years, and fostered by the Danes as a rival to the neighbouring port. After the war of 1864 the Germans took possession of it. The imports and exports are considerable, nor are manufactures wanting, such as sugar, starch, velvet, silk, cotton stuffs, tobacco, etc. A railway connects Altona with Kiel.