Uckermark District

Uckermark District| is a Kreis (district) in the northeastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from the south) Barnim and Oberhavel, the districts Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Vorpommern-Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and to the east Poland (Police County and Gryfino County). It is the largest district of Germany areawise. The district is named after the historical region of Uckermark.

Geography
The Uckermark is named after the Uecker river, which is a tributary of the Oder. The Oder River, forming the Polish border, bounds the district in the east. The district is characterised by 600 lakes and 2,800 km of rivers. Rare animals still live in the lakeland, such as ospreys, beavers and otters.

The western parts of the Lower Oder Valley National Park are located in the district.

History
The Uckermark was originally divided between the administrative units Uckerkreis and Stolpirischer Kreis. In 1817 as part of the Province of Brandenburg, a third district was created in the area, the district Angermünde, and the other two districts were renamed to Prenzlau and Templin. The current district Uckermark was created in 1993 by merging the previous districts Angermünde, Prenzlau and Templin, as well as the previously district-free city Schwedt.