'Rhineland-Palatinate' (
German: ''Rheinland-Pfalz'') is one of 16
Bundesländer (federal states) of
Germany. It has an area of 19,846 km² and about four million inhabitants. The capital is
Mainz.
History
The federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate was established on
30 August 1946. It was formed out of the northern part of the
French Occupation Zone, which included parts of
Bavaria (the
Rhenish Palatinate), the southern parts of the
Prussian
Rhine Province (including the District of
Birkenfeld which formerly belonged to
Oldenburg), parts of the Prussian Province of Nassau (see
Hesse-Nassau), and parts of
Hesse-Darmstadt (
Rheinhessen on the western banks of the Rhine); the new state was legally confirmed by referendum on
18 May 1947.
Geography
Rhineland-Palatinate borders on (from the north and clockwise)
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Hesse,
Baden-Württemberg,
France,
Saarland,
Luxembourg and
Belgium.
The main axis of the state is the
Rhine river, that forms the border with Baden-Württemberg and Hesse in the southeast before running across the northern part of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Rhine Valley is bounded by mountain chains and forms a fascinating landscape containing some of the most historically significant places in Germany.
The
Eifel and
Hunsrück mountain chains are found on the west bank of the Rhine in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, while the
Westerwald and
Taunus mountains are found on the east bank. The hilly lands in the southernmost region of the state are called the
Palatinate forest (''Pfälzerwald'').
These mountain chains are separated from each other by the following tributaries of the Rhine: the
Moselle (''Mosel''), the
Lahn and the
Nahe.
See also
List of places in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Politics
Rhineland-Palatinate is a parliamentary democracy. Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the
Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag. This regional
parliament or
legislature then elects the premier and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for
winegrowing (''ministry of economy, traffic, agriculture and winegrowing'')
List of Minister-presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate
★
June 13 1947 -
July 9 1947:
Wilhelm Boden,
CDU
★
1947 -
1969:
Peter Altmeier,
CDU
★
1969 -
1976:
Helmut Kohl,
CDU
★
1976 -
1988:
Bernhard Vogel,
CDU
★
1988 -
1991:
Carl-Ludwig Wagner,
CDU
★
1991 -
1994:
Rudolf Scharping,
SPD
★ since
1994:
Kurt Beck,
SPD
See also:
List of Rhineland-Palatinate Cabinet Members.
26 March 2006 state election
''See also:
Rhineland-Palatinate state election, 2006''
Kurt Beck (SPD) remained Minister-President, winning an outright majority. Beck offered the
FDP to continue the coalition ("red-yellow"). The FDP, however, declined and will be an opposition party. The
Alliance '90/The Greens lost their representation in the
State Parliament.
Administration
Rhineland-Palatinate is divided into 24 districts, formerly grouped into the three
administrative regions:
Koblenz,
Trier and
Rheinhessen-Pfalz.
Since
2000, the employees and assets of the Bezirksregierungen form the ''Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion Trier'' (Supervisory and Service Directorate Trier) and the ''Struktur- und Genehmigungsdirektionen'' (Structural and Approval Directorates) ''Nord'' in
Koblenz and ''Süd'' in
Neustadt (Weinstraße). These administrations execute their authority over the whole state, i. e. the ''ADD Trier'' oversees all schools.
Map of the
districts of Rhineland-Palatinate:
Every district is composed of numerous municipalities, which can consist of cities, villages, or groups of villages known as
Verbandsgemeinden.
Furthermore there are twelve urban districts which are identified on the map with letters:
#
Frankenthal (F)
#
Kaiserslautern (Ka)
#
Koblenz ''Coblenz'' (Ko)
#
Landau (La, the main city and an enclave)
#
Ludwigshafen (Rheinpfalz-Kreis) (L)
#
Mainz (M)
#
Neustadt (Weinstraße) (N)
#
Pirmasens (P)
#
Speyer ''Spires'' (S)
#
Trier (T)
#
Worms (W)
#
Zweibrücken (Z)
Economy
Agriculture and viticulture
Rhineland-Palatinate is Germany's leading producer of
wine. In terms of grape cultivation as well as wine export Rhineland-Palatinate is the leading land. Its capital Mainz, with the siege of the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund in the ''Haus des Deutschen Weines'' (House of the German Wine), as well as the venue of the VDP Wine Bourse, which brings together the top
winemakers of Germany and the wine merchants of the world, may be called the capital of the German wine.
Six out of all thirteen regulated production areas in Germany,
Rheinhessen,
Pfalz,
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer,
Nahe,
Middle Rhine and
Ahr are located in Rhineland-Palatinate. Due to this fact 65 to 70 % of the whole production output of wine grapes in Germany have their origin within the land at the french border. 13,000 wine producers generate 80 to 90% of the German wine export, which was 2.6 million hectoliters in 2003.
Traditional grape varieties as well as a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region.
Classical white varieties are cultivated at 63,683
hectares. These comprise the famous
Rieslings (14,446 hectares),
Müller-Thurgau (8,663 hectares),
Silvaner (3,701 hectares) and
Kerner (3,399 hectares).
The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades and amounts to 20,000 hectares.
Dornfelder, a new
breed, is the leading red grape cultivated on 7,626 hectares, which is more than a third.
Blauer Portugieser (4,446 hectares) and
Spätburgunder (3,867 hectares) show also appreciable cultivated shares.
[2]
Beside these
Pinot Blanc,
Pinot Gris,
Chardonnay as white varieties and
Regent and
St. Laurent as red varieties are increasing their share throughout the years, as the growing conditions improve in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The land supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers (''German:'' DLR) of the land. The
Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding and also the
Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute are fully or even partially financed by the land. Many well known new breeds have been created in these institutes.
The world wide leader in
sparkling wine production, producing 245 million bottles in 2006, is the renowned Schloss Wachenheim Group. This company has its roots and its siege at different places in Rhineland-Palatinate and is headquartered in Trier.
[3]
Other renowned sparkling wine producers like Kupferberg, Deinhard and Henkell had also their roots in the land, but belong now to companies outside RP, due to business consolidation.
Industry
Important sectors are the
chemical industry with the
BASF largest chemical company in the world, headquartered in Ludwigshafen, the
pharmaceutical industry with
Boehringer Ingelheim in
Ingelheim am Rhein and the mechanical engineering for important car manufacturers like
Opel (engines in Kaiserslautern) or the biggest European truck manufacturer
DaimlerChrysler-Truck-Group in
Wörth am Rhein, as well as Stabilus, a manufacturer of
shock absorbers and world market leader in pneumatic springs and Schottel for
nautical engineering. Cookie and cracker specialist Griesson - de Beukelaer is one of the leading biscuit manufacturers in Germany.
Bitburger is one of the major brewers in Germany and the
Gerolsteiner Brunnen is also a leader in its sector, the
mineral water bottlers.
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is the only international passenger airport in RP.
Emigration
Rhineland-Palatinate has supplied immigrants to many parts of the world. The
Hunsrückischen dialect in Brazil bears testimony to this fact, as do the names of the villages of
New Paltz and
Palatine Bridge, New York.
The
Pennsylvania Dutch spoken by the Amish people is (among other dialects) derived from the German dialect spoken in the Rhineland-Palatinate.
References
1. State population
2. Cultivated grape varieties in Rhineland-Palatinate 2005 publisher: Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate
3. annual report Schloss-Wachenheim Group 2005/2006 publisher: Schloss-Wachenheim Group
External links
★
Official governmental portal
★
Tourist Information and Travel Guide to Rhineland-Palatinate
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
