History
Holstein Switzerland has been settled for several thousand years. In the Early Middle Ages part of the area was occupied by the Slavic Wends, whose traces may still be found, for example, in Oldenburg, and who founded the settlements of Plön and Eutin. In the Middle Ages, from the 9th century onwards, the region was colonised and controlled by the Carolingian Empire. In the late Middle Ages the towns developed into small centres of local commerce and the local feudal lords (Landadel) expanded their fortified manor houses. At the beginning of the recent era, these manorial seats formed the basis of aristocratic estates (Adliges Güter) which dominated the landscape and the economy from about 1500 until the 20th century. From the 16th century Plön and Eutin became residences of various branches of the House of Oldenburg.
These estates had a thriving cultural scene which, for example, led to Eutin being described at the turn of the 19th century as the "Weimar of the North". Until the middle of the 19th century the area was dominated by Denmark, which initially ran the region as a feoff, but eventually integrated it into the Danish nation-state. In 1867 Holstein Switzerland was transferred to Prussia as part of Holstein. After the end of the First World War some of the traditional estates were broken up. Following the Second World War, tourism has played a leading role in the economy of the region.
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