Bismarck

Bismarck, city (1990 pop. 49,256), state capital and seat of Burleigh co., S central N.Dak., on hills overlooking the Missouri River; inc. 1873. The trade center for a large spring-wheat, livestock, and dairying region, Bismarck is also a financial and telecommunications center, and development of the oil reserves in the nearby Williston Basin is important. Lewis and Clark camped nearby in 1804–5. With the beginning of river traffic in the 1830s, a steamboat port called the "Crossing on the Missouri" emerged here. In 1872, Camp Greeley (later Camp Hancock) was erected to protect workers building the Northern Pacific RR. When the railroad reached the fort the next year, a town was laid out, subsequently named Bismarck in the hope of attracting German investment in the railroad. Bismarck boomed as a river port and railroad center, a gateway for western expansion, and supply point for the Black Hills gold rush (1874). It became the territorial capital in 1883.

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Bismarck

City (pop., 2000: 55,532), capital of North Dakota, U.S. It was settled as a Missouri River port in the 1830s. In 1872 a military post was established to protect railway workers, and in 1873 it was named for Otto von Bismarck in the hope of attracting German investment. With the discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills, it became a prospecting centre. In 1883 it was made the capital of Dakota Territory; when the territory was divided into two states in 1889, Bismarck became the capital of the northern state. Today it is the region's business, cultural, and financial centre.

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Bismarck

German battleship of World War II. The formidable 52,600-ton (47,700-metric-ton) vessel was launched in 1939. British reconnaissance aircraft sighted it off Bergen, Norway, in May 1941, and almost the entire British home fleet was sent to intercept it. Two cruisers engaged it near Iceland, and the Bismarck destroyed the Hood before escaping to the open sea. Sighted 30 hours later, it was torpedoed and then bombarded by battleships throughout the night. The King George V and the Rodney crippled it in an hour-long attack, and it was finally sunk by torpedoes from the cruiser Dorsetshire.

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Bismarck¹

Prince Otto (Eduard Leopold) von , called the Iron Chancellor. 1815--98, German statesman; prime minister of Prussia (1862--90). Under his leadership Prussia defeated Austria and France, and Germany was united. In 1871 he became the first chancellor of the German Reich

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Bismarck²

a city in North Dakota, on the Missouri River: the state capital. Pop.: 56 344 (2003 est.)