St. Pauli
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St. Pauli (full name: Sankt Pauli) is a district of the German city of Hamburg and a district of the State of Hamburg.
The district has about 27.000 inhabitants (2002) on 2.6 kmē. It is situated directly at the Elbe river close to the Hamburg port.
At the beginning of the 17th century it developed as a suburb called 'Hamburger Berg' (Hamburg mountain) outside the gates of the nearby city of Hamburg and close to the city of Altona. The name comes from a hill in that area that was planed by Hamburg in 1620 for defence reasons (free field of fire for the artillery). Therefore initially it was not allowed to settle there, but soon businesses which were not wished inside Hamburg, e.g. for their smell or noise, were banned to 'Hamburger Berg'. Also the rope makers (or 'Reeper' in Low German language) went here because in the city it was hard to find enough space for their work. St. Pauli's most famous street Reeperbahn reminds of this until today. When it became officially allowed to live there at the end of the 17th century the city government moved workhouses and (pestilence) hospitals out of the city to 'Hamburger Berg' which later was named after its church 'St. Pauli'.
St. Pauli has a long tradition of amusement business. The big port of Hamburg led many sailors to Hamburg who preferably spent their spare time (as long as their ships were unloaded and loaded again) in this area. Since then there is prostitution in St. Pauli. And still it is best known as Hamburg's red-light district.
The district is nowadays one of the poorest throughout former West Germany. There have been various social fights during the last decades (examples are Hafenstrasse, Rote Flora and Bambule).
St. Pauli is known as well as a center for the German punk movement.
St. Pauli's most prominent symbol is its eponymous football club, F.C. St. Pauli.