North Rhine-Westphalia
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| Nordrhein-Westfalen | |||
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| — State of Germany — | |||
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| Coordinates: 51°28′41″N 7°33′18″E / 51.47806°N 7.555°E | |||
| Country | Germany | ||
| Capital | Düsseldorf | ||
| Government | |||
| - Minister-President | Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) | ||
| - Governing parties | CDU / FDP | ||
| - Votes in Bundesrat | 6 (of 69) | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 34,084.13 km2 (13,160 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2009-1-31)[1] | |||
| - Total | 17,920,000 | ||
| - Density | 525.8/km2 (1,361.7/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | DE-NW | ||
| GDP/ Nominal | € 541,07 billion (2008 [2])[citation needed] | ||
| NUTS Region | DEA | ||
| Website | nrw.de | ||
North Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen [ˈnɔɐ̯tʁaɪn vɛstˈfaːlən] 
(help·info), usually shortened to NRW, official short form NW) is the westernmost, most populous, and most economically powerful state of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia has about 18 million inhabitants, contributes about 22% of Germany's gross domestic product and comprises a land area of 34,083 km² (13,158 square miles). North Rhine-Westphalia is situated in the western part of Germany and shares borders with Belgium in the southwest and the Netherlands in the west and northwest. It has borders with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the south and Hesse to the southeast.
The capital city is Düsseldorf, and the largest city is Cologne (Köln). Other major cities are Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Aachen, Bielefeld, Bonn, Bochum, Bottrop, Bergisch Gladbach, Mönchengladbach, Mülheim, Münster, Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld, Hagen, Hamm, Herne, Iserlohn, Leverkusen, Neuss, Paderborn, Recklinghausen, Remscheid, Siegen, Solingen, Witten and Wuppertal.
Once, the Ruhrgebiet was affected by coal mining and coal and steel industry but, from the 1960s on, a structural change took place. Even after the fall of these industries, the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is affected by important basic industries and is one of the German economic centres. In absolute figures, North Rhine-Westphalia remains the most powerful state, economically.
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[edit] Geography
The state is centred on the sprawling Rhine-Ruhr urbanised region, which contains the cities of Düsseldorf, Bonn and Cologne as well as the Ruhr Area industrial complex. The Ruhr area consists of, among others, the cities of Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen.
The state's area covers a maximum distance of 291 km from north to south, and 266 km from east to west.
The total length of the state's borders is 1,645 km. The following countries and states have a border with North Rhine-Westphalia:[3]
- Belgium (99 km)
- The Netherlands (387 km)
- Lower Saxony (583 km)
- Hesse (269 km)
- Rhineland Palatinate (307 km)
For many people North Rhine-Westphalia is synonymous with industrial areas and agglomerating cities. But the largest part of the state is used for agriculture (almost 52%), and forests cover 25%.[4] The southern parts of the Teutoburg Forest are located in the northeast. In the southwest, Nordrhein-Westfalen shares in a small part of the Eifel, located on the borders with Belgium and Rheinland-Pfalz. The southeast is occupied by the sparsely populated regions of Sauerland and Siegerland. The northwestern areas of the state are part of the Northern European Lowlands.
The most important rivers that run at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia include: Rhine, Ruhr, Ems, Lippe and Weser. The Pader, which runs only through the city of Paderborn, is considered the shortest river in Germany.
[edit] Location and topography
North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the west of the Federal Republic of Germany. The north widely extends into the North German Plain. The northernmost point is the NRW-Nordpunkt near Rahden in the northeast of the state. The Nordpunkt is located only 100 km to the south of the North Sea coast. The deepest natural dip is arranged in the district Zyfflich in the city of Kranenburg with 9.2m above sea level in the northwest of the state. Though, the deepest point overground results from mining. The open-pit Hambach reaches at Niederzier a deep of 293m below sea level. At the same time, this is the deepest man-made dip in Germany. Approximately half of the state is located in the relative shallow regions of the Westphalian Lowland or rather the Rhineland. In the lowlands are a few isolated mountain ranges located, thereunder the Hohe Mark, the Beckumer Berge, the Baumberge and the Stemmer Berge. Towards the south as well as in the east of the state, the terrain rises. There, the state has a stake in the Mittelgebirgsregionen. To this are counted the Weser Hills with the Eggegebirge, the Wiehengebirge, the Wesergebirge and the Teutoburg Forest in the east, the Sauerland, the Bergisches Land, the Siegerland and the Siebengebirge in the south, as well as the Eifel left-bank in the southwest of the state. The Rothaargebirge in the border region to Hesse exhibits elevations about 800m above sea level. The highest among these mountains is the Langenberg with 843.2m above sea level, then follow the Kahler Asten (840.7m above sea level) and the Clemensberg (839.2m above sea level).
The planimetrical ascertained centre of North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the south of Dortmund-Aplerbeck in the Aplerbecker Mark (51° 28' 42" N, 7° 33' 18" O). The westernmost point is situated near Selfkant close to the Dutch border, the easternmost near Höxter on the Weser and the southernmost near Hellenthal in the Eifel region in the southwest of the state.
[edit] Subdivisions
See also List of places in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The state consists of five administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), divided into 31 districts (Kreise) and 23 urban districts (kreisfreie Städte). In total, North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities (1997), including the urban districts, which are municipalities by themselves.
The districts of North Rhine-Westphalia:
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The urban districts:
The five administrative regions—also called regional districts—belonging to one of two Landschaftsverbände:
According to the concept used, the state can be differently arranged. Most common is the subdivision according to several sociocultural, historical, biogeographical and agricultural references. Thus, North Rhine-Westphalia firstly has to be divided into its three parts Northrhine (northern Rhineland, mostly simply called Rhineland), Westfalen and Lippe, which were allied in 1946/47 to the state North Rhine-Westphalia. Especially between Lippe and Westfalen on the one side and the Rhineland on the other side, there are clear historical and cultural differences. The third part of the state, Lippe, which did not enter the already existing state of North Rhine-Westphalia until 1947/48, is - as a former German Federal State which had been independent for about 800 years - mostly seen as an independent region and its own part of the landscape. According to the criteria chosen, an approximate further subdivision could be made like this:
- Rhineland
- Westfalen
- Lippe
- Lipper Land, the region of the ancient free state
[edit] History
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was established by the British military administration on 23 August 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. It then passed, and ratified through a plebiscite the constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The North Rhine-Westphalia state election on May 22, 2005 granted the CDU an unexpected victory. Their top candidate Jürgen Rüttgers built a new coalition government consisting of CDU and FDP that replaced the former government headed by Peer Steinbrück. Rüttgers was elected new Prime Minister (German: Ministerpräsident) of the federal state on June 22, 2005.
[edit] 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, symbolizing the river Rhine), Westfalen (the white horse) and Lippe (the red rose).
According to legend the horse in the Westphalian coat of arms is the horse that the Saxon leader Widukind rode after his baptism. Other theories attribute the horse to Henry the Lion. Some connect it with the saxon rulers Hengest and Horsa.
A regional anthem is the Lied für NRW (Song for NRW).
[edit] Politics
These are the Prime Ministers (German: Ministerpräsident) of the Federal State (German: Bundesland) of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW):
| Minister-presidents of North Rhine-Westphalia | |||||
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| No. | Name | Born-Died | Party affiliation | Begin of Tenure | End of Tenure |
| 1 | Rudolf Amelunxen | 1888-1969 | Zentrum | 1946 | 1947 |
| 2 | Karl Arnold | 1901-1958 | CDU | 1947 | 1956 |
| 3 | Fritz Steinhoff | 1897-1969 | SPD | 1956 | 1958 |
| 4 | Franz Meyers | 1908-2002 | CDU | 1958 | 1966 |
| 5 | Heinz Kühn | 1912-1992 | SPD | 1966 | 1978 |
| 6 | Johannes Rau | 1931-2006 | SPD | 1978 | 1998 |
| 7 | Wolfgang Clement | *1940 | SPD | 1998 | 2002 |
| 8 | Peer Steinbrück | *1947 | SPD | 2002 | 2005 |
| 8 | Jürgen Rüttgers | *1951 | CDU | 2005 | incumbent |
The results of the North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005 were as follows. Note that overall seat totals have been reduced, lowering the seat counts for all parties.
Voter turnout was at 63%, an increase of 7% over the previous election in 2000. Prior to the election, some analysts had predicted that a CDU victory might result from disenchanted SPD voters staying home, but the turnout figures appear to reject this scenario.
| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage (change) | Total Seats (change) | Seat percentage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 3,695,806 | 44.8% | +7.9% | 89 | +1 | 47.6% |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 3,059,074 | 37.1% | -5.7% | 74 | -28 | 39.6% |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 508,354 | 6.2% | -3.7% | 12 | -12 | 6.4% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens | 509,219 | 6.2% | -0.9% | 12 | -5 | 6.4% |
| Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (WASG) | 181,886 | 2.2% | +2.2% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| National Democratic Party (NPD) | 73,959 | 0.9% | +0.9% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 72,982 | 0.9% | -0.2% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| The Republicans | 67,282 | 0.8% | -0.3% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| All Others | 74,810 | 0.9% | +0.5% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| Totals | 8,243,372 | 100.0% | 187 | -44 | 100.0% | |
[edit] Religion
42 %[5] of the people are Roman Catholic and 28 %[6] of the people are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ "State population". Portal of the German Statistical Offices. http://www.statistik-portal.de/Statistik-Portal/de_zs01_nrw.asp. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
- ^ Statistisches Bundesamt
- ^ Length of borders taken from Statistisches Jahrbuch NRW 2005, 47. Jahrgang, Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung und Statistik Nordrhein-Westfalen, p. 22
- ^ Tatsachen über Deutschland (2003) Nordrhein-Westfalen, p. 44
- ^ chiesa cattolica http://www.dbk.de/imperia/md/content/kirchlichestatistik/bev-kath-l__nd-2008.pdf
- ^ EKD http://www.ekd.de/download/kirchenmitglieder_2007.pdf
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: North Rhine-Westphalia |
- Official Government Portal
- The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Tourism
- Information and resources on the history of Westphalia on the Web portal "Westphalian History"
- Guidelines for the integration of the Land Lippe within the territory of the federal state North-Rhine-Westphalia of 17th January 1947
- North Rhine-Westphalia images from Cologne and Duesseldorf to Paderborn and Muenster
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