STADE, a small commercial town in the province of Hanover, Prussia, is situated on the navigable Schwinge, 3 ½ miles above its confluence with the Elbe, and 20 miles to the north-west of Hamburg. It carries on a number of small manufactures and has some shipping trade, chiefly with Hamburg, but the rise of Harburg has deposed it from its former position as the chief port of Hanover. There are several brickfields in the neighbourhood, and deposits of gypsum and salt. The fortifications, erected in 1755 and strengthened in 1816, began to be demolished in 1882. Population in 1885, 10,003.

According to the legend, Stade was the oldest town of the Saxons and was built in 321 b.c. Historically it cannot be traced farther back than the 10th century, when it was the capital of a line of counts. In the 12th century it passed to the archbishopric of Bremen. Subsequently entering the Hanseatic League, it rose to some commercial importance. In 1648 Stade became the capital of the principality of Bremen under the Swedes; and in 1719 it was ceded to Hanover, the fate of which it has since shared. The Prussians occupied it without resistance in 1866.