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The Free State of Saxony ( -deˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksən; ) is a state of Germany, located in the eastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area (18,413 km2) and the sixth most populous (4.3 million) of Germany's sixteen states. Located in the historical middle of the German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom and from 1918 to 1952, and then again from 1990, a republic. The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. |