The district was established, along with the other 13, on 25 July 1952,
de facto replacing the
East German States () which had been established in the post-war period; these in turn had replaced the Nazi (and the
pre-war States and
Prussian Provinces which had been
de facto but not
de jure superseded by the ). Most of Cottbus had been part of
Brandenburg, with smaller parts taken from
Saxony and
Saxony-Anhalt On 3 October 1990 the were disestablished due to the
reunification of Germany. Most of the of Cottbus returned to the reconstituted states which they had belonged to before 1952: most went to
Brandenburg, while the districts of
Hoyerswerda and
Weißwasser returned to Saxony and
Jessen returned to
Saxony-Anhalt;
Bad Liebenwerda and
Herzberg, which had been part of Saxony-Anhalt before 1952 became part of Brandenburg. ==Geography==