Dithmarschen

District of Germany in the Land (administrative region) of Schleswig-Holstein; population (1994) 133,000. It is a low-lying, partly marshy area on the west coast between the estuary of the Elbe and the River Eider. The largest town in the area is Heide (population (1995) 20,600).

The ancient Nordalbingia, Dithmarschen was an autonomous peasant state in the early Middle Ages. Dithmarschen was annexed by the Duchy of Holstein in 1559, incorporated with the Danish crown in 1773, and ceded to Prussia in 1866. It retained its own administrative system until 1867. The district is known in local dialect (Plattdeutsch) as Ditmarsh.