Braunschweig [ˈbraʊnʃvaɪk] is a city of 245,500 people (as of December 31, 2004), located in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser. The historic English name for Braunschweig (or Brunswiek in Northern Low Saxon) is Brunswick.