Named for the important commercial seaport on the Lower Weser, seat of the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd and of a navigation school. In 787, Bremen became an episcopate. At the end of the Middle Ages, it was one of the most important Hanse cities. Olbers {see planet  (1002)} discovered the minor planets  (2) Pallas and  (4) Vesta from Bremen, and Harding {see planet  (2003)} discovered  (3) Juno from nearby Lilienthal. In 1920 the Olbers Gesellschaft was founded in Bremen to encourage enthusiastic amateur astronomers. (M 25446) _ _.