North Rhine-Westphalia (original) (raw)
" class="external">http://www.nrw.de/
| Flag | |
| Statistics | |
| Capital: | D�sseldorf |
| Area: | 34,080 km� |
| Inhabitants: | 18,060,211 (2002) |
| pop. density: | 530 inh./km� |
| Homepage: | |
| ISO 3166-2: | DE-NW |
| Politics | |
| Minister-President: | Peer Steinbr�ck (SPD) |
| Ruling party: | SPD/Green coalition |
| Map |
With eighteen million inhabitants inhabiting 34,080 km² in western-northwestern Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia (German Nordrhein-Westfalen) is largest in population though only fourth in area among Germany's sixteen federal states. The capital is D�sseldorf.
Geography
North Rhine-Westphalia borders on (from the west and clockwise) Belgium, the Netherlands and the German states of Lower Saxony, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
The state is centred on the sprawling Rhine-Ruhr urbanised region, in turn centred on the great Ruhr industrial complex, consisting of the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. All these cities form a huge agglomeration, that is grouped along the Ruhr river. The Ruhr is a tributary of the Rhine, which enters the state in the south and leaves northwest towards the Netherlands. Major cities on the Rhine are Cologne, D�sseldorf and Bonn.
For many people North Rhine-Westphalia is synonymous with industrial areas and agglomerating cities. They ignore that the greatest part of the state's area is covered with forests and fields. The southern parts of the Teutoburg Forest are located in the northeast. In the southwest North Rhine-Westphalia shares in a small part of the Eifel, located on the borders with Belgium and Rhineland-Palatinate. The southeast is occupied by the sparsely populated regions of Sauerland and Siegerland.
Main rivers, that run at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia, include: Rhine, Ruhr, Ems, Lippe and Weser.
The state consists of 5 administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), divided into 31 districts (Kreise) and 23 district-free cities (kreisfreie St�dte). Together North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities (1997), including the district-free cities, which are municipalities by themselves.
The districts of North Rhine-Westphalia:
Furthermore there are 23 independent towns, which don't belong to any district:
The districts are grouped into five Regierungsbezirke, belonging to one of two Kommunalverb�nde (formerly called Landschaftsverb�nde).
- Nordrhein
- Westfalen-Lippe
History
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was established by the British military administration in 1946. Originally it consisted of Westphalia and the northern parts of the Rhine Province, both formerly belonging to Prussia. In 1947 the former state of Lippe was merged with North Rhine-Westphalia, hence leading to the present borders of the state.
Flag
The flag of North Rhine-Westphalia is green-white-red with the combined coats of arms of the Prussian Rhine province (white line before green background), Westphalia (the white horse) and Lippe (the red rose).
According to legend the horse in the Westphalian coat of arms is the horse that the Saxonian leader Widukind rode after his baptism. Other theories attribute the horse to Henry the Lion.
List of Minister-Presidents of North Rhine-Westphalia
- 1946 - 1947: Rudolf Amelunxen
- 1947 - 1956: Karl Arnold (CDU)
- 1956 - 1958: Fritz Steinhoff (SPD)
- 1958 - 1966: Franz Meyers (CDU)
- 1966 - 1978: Heinz K�hn (SPD)
- 1978 - 1998: Johannes Rau (SPD)
- 1998 - 2002: Wolfgang Clement (SPD)
- since 2002: Peer Steinbr�ck (SPD)
External links
States of Germany:
Baden-W�rttemberg | Bavaria | Berlin | Brandenburg | Bremen | Hamburg | Hesse | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Lower Saxony | North Rhine-Westphalia | Rhineland-Palatinate | Saarland | Saxony | Saxony-Anhalt | Schleswig-Holstein | Thuringia