Calvörde

Calvörde is a municipality in the Börde district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Flechtingen.GeographyCalvörde is situated approximately 15km northwest of Haldensleben and 37km northwest of the state capital Magdeburg. It is located between the Drömling range in the west and the Flechtingen Hills in the south. In the north, it borders on Gardelegen in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel district. The main settlement Calvörde proper lies between the Ohre River and the parallel Midland Canal.The municipal area comprises 11 localities (Ortsteile):HistoryArchaeological excavations in the area date back to the Iron Age Jastorf culture about 600-300 BC. The settlement its welf was first documented in 1196, probably named after a ford crossing the Ohre river at the place where today still is a bridge. A trade route which came from Leipzig and Magdeburg in the southeast crossed the river here, leading northwestwards to Lüneburg and Hamburg, with a branch-off to Braunschweig in the west. Calvörde is possibly derived from "bleak (kahl) ford", however, according to local tradition, the emergence of the ford is attributed to a man named Kale and the historic meaning is "Kale's ford".