The Free State of Saxony is a state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area (18,413 km²) and the sixth largest in population (4.3 million), of Germany's sixteen states.

Located in the historical heart of German-speaking Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a mediaeval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom and, since 1918, a republic.

During the early Middle Ages the term Saxony referred to the region occupied by today's states of Lower Saxony and northern North Rhine-Westphalia. The term Saxon does not always correlate with Saxony: a Saxon is not necessarily an inhabitant of Saxony (e.g. Saxon people, Anglo-Saxons or Transylvanian Saxons).