the most important area of trade being in cattle. Apart from Stade, Buxtehude was the only crossing point on the Elbe river. In 1645 Buxtehude surrendered to the Swedish army and lost its independence. Trade and population decrease dramatically. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen was converted to the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedes and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. In 1769 the monastery was demolished due to secularization. In 1823 the Duchy was abolished and its territory became part of the Stade Region. In 1837 the link road through the town reanimates business and trade. 1845 is dominated by industrial boom with a paper factory being installed on the former cloister ground. In 1945 the population grew to 14,000. Much living space in Hamburg was in ruins and people fled to the suburbs and surrounding towns and villages such as Buxtehude. In 1958 Buxtehude became part of the plan for the reconstruction of Hamburg after the war and thus was heavily funded by the government. Lower Saxony incorporates 9 neighbouring villages into the town in 1972 changing the structure of Buxtehude and creating a cluster of more than 30,000 inhabitants. In 1983 the old part of town was pedestrianized. In 1985 town twinning with Blagnac (France) is undertaken. In 1990 Ribnitz-Damgarten in the former German Democratic Republic became the second twin town. Economy Since 1881 Buxtehude has had its own railroad station on the R50 line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven. In late 2007 this line was added to the rapid transit system of the Hamburg S-Bahn by the HVV. Since 1928 there has also been a second railroad line crossing Buxtehude, the EVB () between Hamburg's outermost district and Bremerhaven on the coast of the North Sea. The Este river connects the town to the important Elbe river north. Earlier in history this connection was used to ship goods into the small harbour, which still exists but has become less accessible due to town developments and aggradation. A major highway, In April 2019 the unemployment rate in Buxtehude was 3.8%. Companies Several major companies have production sites or headquarters in Buxtehude: Airbus S.A.S, the commercial aircraft manufacturer Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch company in the personal care and food sector. KID-Systeme GmbH, a Buxtehude-based supplier for aeroplane cabin electronics INTERPANE, a German manufacturer of insulation glass Harros Krämerladen, a large German