'North Rhine-Westphalia' (, usually shortened to ''NRW'') is the westernmost and - in terms of population and economic output - the largest
Federal State of
Germany. Nordrhein-Westfalen has over 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 and the
Netherlands. It has borders with the German states of
Lower Saxony to the North and Northeast,
Rhineland-Palatinate to the Southwest and
Hesse to the Southeast.
The capital city is
Düsseldorf. The largest city is
Cologne. Other major cities are
Essen,
Dortmund,
Duisburg,
Oberhausen,
Aachen,
Bielefeld,
Bonn,
Bochum,
Münster,
Paderborn,
Gelsenkirchen and
Wuppertal.
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, among others, of the cities of
Essen,
Dortmund,
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:
[2]
★
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 covered with forests and fields. The southern parts of the
Teutoburg Forest are located in the northeast. In the southwest, Nordrhein-Westafalen 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.
See also
List of places in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The state consists of 5
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:
The urban districts:
The five administrative regions, belonging to one of two ''
Landschaftsverbände'':
★ Rheinland (LVR)
★
★
Cologne
★
★
Düsseldorf
★ Westfalen-Lippe (LWL)
★
★
Arnsberg
★
★
Münster
★
★
Detmold
History
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was established by the British military administration on
25 October,
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.
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.
Culture
North Rhine-Westphalia was formed after the
second world war from culturally separate areas,
Rhineland,
Westphalia and
Lippe.
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, symbolising the river Rhine), 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 Saxon leader
Widukind rode after his baptism. Other theories attribute the horse to
Henry the Lion.
A regional anthem is the
Lied für NRW (Song for NRW).
List of Prime Ministers of North Rhine-Westphalia
These are the
Prime Ministers (German: ''
Ministerpräsident'') of the
Federal State (German: ''
Bundesland'') of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW):
#
1946 -
1947:
Rudolf Amelunxen (
Centre Party)
#
1947 -
1956:
Karl Arnold (
CDU)
#
1956 -
1958:
Fritz Steinhoff (
SPD)
#
1958 -
1966:
Franz Meyers (
CDU)
#
1966 -
1978:
Heinz Kühn (
SPD)
#
1978 -
1998:
Johannes Rau (
SPD)
#
1998 -
2002:
Wolfgang Clement (
SPD)
#
2002 -
2005:
Peer Steinbrück (
SPD)
# holding office:
Jürgen Rüttgers (
CDU)
May 22, 2005 state election results
:''See also:
North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005''
Official results are 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 |
|---|
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 3,059,074 | 37.1% | -5.7% | 74 | -28 | 39.6% |
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 3,695,806 | 44.8% | +7.9% | 89 | +1 | 47.6% |
| 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% |
|---|
2005 results; SPD in red, CDU in black, FDP in yellow, Greens in green.
Notes and references
1. State population
2. Length of borders taken from Statistisches Jahrbuch NRW 2005, 47. Jahrgang, ''Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung und Statistik Nordrhein-Westfalen'', p. 22
External links
★
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
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