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Cuxhaven is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of Elbe river. Cuxhaven ist the administrative seat of the district Cuxhaven and has a population of about 55,000.

In 1394 castle Ritzebüttel came in possession of Hamburg. The village of Cuxhaven was first mentioned around 1577 (Dikshave, Kuckshafen, Kuxhaven, Kuckshagen, Kokeshagen, Ritzebutler Have). In 1810/1811, during the Napoleonic times, Cuxhaven became part of the département Bouches-de-l'Elbe (capital Hambourg, i.e. Hamburg), which existed until 1814. The villages Ritzebüttel and Cuxhaven were merged in 1872. Cuxhaven remained part of Hamburg until the Greater Hamburg Act (Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz, Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen, Law regarding Larger Hamburg and other territorial readjustments) of 1937. The Prussian communities of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg, Altona/Elbe and others became part of Hamburg, while Cuxhaven became part of the Prussian province Hannover. Parts of the port of Cuxhaven, however, remained a property of the city of Hamburg. The harbour was enlarged in 1892 to become a port of the Imperial German Navy. The community of Döse was incorporated into Cuxhaven in 1805, and two years later the new community of Cuxhaven was incorporated as a city. Between 1935 and 1972 several of the neighbouring communities were incorporated into Cuxhaven. In 1969, the islands of Neuwerk and Scharhörn together with the surrounding tidelands were returned to Hamburg. Cuxhaven remained an independent city until 1977 when it was incorporated into the district Cuxhaven. Nevertheless, Cuxhaven has a special status within the district ('große selbständige Stadt', 'large autonomous city').

Since the foundation of the North Sea spa in 1816 Cuxhaven als is a tourist loaction. The picture on glass no.1970 [left] is labelled "Nordseebad Cuxhaven" (North Sea spa Cuxhaven). More than 3 million tourist-nights are counted each year. Cuxhaven, more precisely its town districts of Duhnen, Döse and Grimmershörn, obtained the status of a state-recognized North Sea therapeutic spa.

The light-house [left] was built in 1802–1805. It replaced the former wooden constructions which since the 15th century had marked the Elbe estuary. In 1899 the German physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun used the light-house to perform experiments on wireless telegraphy. For his achievements in this area Braun in 1909 was awarded the Nobel Prize (together with Guglielmo Marconi). The light-house remained in service until 2001 and was sold to a private owner in 2002.

Duhnen was first mentioned as Dune in a document of 1325. Duhnen became part of Cuxhaven in 1935.