Hessen

Basic data:

State capital:	Wiesbaden
Year of foundation:	1946
Area:	21,114.94 km²
Population:	6,070,425 (June 30, 2007)

Universities:

Darmstadt: Technical University of Darmstadt
Frankfurt am Main: Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
Gießen: Justus Liebig University Gießen
Kassel: University of Kassel
Marburg: Philipps University of Marburg

Geography:

The Hessian landscape is characterized by basins, depressions and mountainous areas, which are located in the greater German low mountain range region. In the west, Hesse has a share of the Rhenish Slate Mountains with the Taunus, Hohem Westerwald, Rothaargebirge and Gladenbacher Bergland. In the north-east and east, the wooded Hessian mountainous country adjoins and is divided into individual mountain landscapes by two depressions and basins important for traffic.

In the south, Hesse shares the Upper Rhine Plain, which continues to the north in the Wetterau, the Odenwald and the Spessart. The Rheingau stretches along the Rhine between Wiesbaden and Rüdesheim.

The highest point in the federal state is 950 m above sea level. NN. the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön, only a small part of which is in Hesse. The lowest point in Hesse is at Lorch am Rhein at 81 m above sea level. NN. in the Rheingau-Taunus district.

The five most important rivers of Hesse are the Rhine, Main, Neckar, Weser and Werra.

Climate:

The climate in Hesse shows continental features in the basin zones, particularly pronounced on the Bergstrasse and in the Rheingau. This results in relatively little precipitation and higher temperatures, while the climate at higher altitudes, such as in the Rhenish Slate Mountains and in the Hoher Vogelsberg, tends to be wetter and cooler.

history:

Hessen was populated by the Celts in early history, who, however, were pushed out by the Germans before the turn of the century. At the end of the 1st century AD, southern Hesse became Roman, while Lower and Upper Hesse remained under the influence of the Germanic Chatti. During the Roman occupation of parts of Germania, there were several armed conflicts with the Chatti.

In contrast to the states of Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia, Hesse was never able to establish its own tribal duchy. Hesse was colonized by the Franks and annexed as a royal land. As early as the 6th century, the Franks divided the area into districts, which were administered by district counts on behalf of the Frankish king.

Strongly supported by the Frankish nobility, Bonifatius Christianized the area. He founded the Fritzlar monastery in 724 and had the Fulda monastery founded in 744. At the end of the 8th century, the three most important monasteries of Fritzlar, Hersfeld and Fulda became imperial abbeys.

In the 9th century the count house of Konradin was in the lead and provided the "German" king with Konrad I from 911 to 918. In the High Middle Ages, the Counts Werner and then the Gisonen gained strength until they were replaced by the Ludowinger in 1122.

After the Ludowinger died out in the male line, the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession broke out from 1247 to 1264. In it, Sophie, the daughter of the last Thuringian landgrave, fought against the House of Wettin to separate Thuringia from Hesse. As a result, independent Hesse came to her son Henry (later Henry I of Hesse, also known as "Henry the Child" or the "Child of Brabant") as a landgraviate.

The Landgraviate of Hesse was then raised to the status of imperial principality in 1292. From 1509 to 1567 under Philip I the Magnanimous, Hesse developed into a power that had a significant impact on German history. At this point in time, the territory of Hesse had already experienced significant expansions in the Rhine-Main area through inheritance.

The division of the state after his death in 1567 resulted in the lines of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg (1604 to Hesse-Kassel), Hesse-Rheinfels (1583 to Hesse-Darmstadt) and Hesse-Darmstadt.

After the death of Philip I the Magnanimous in 1567, Hesse was divided into four states according to the house's ancient rules of inheritance: Wilhelm IV received half of the country with Hesse-Kassel, Ludwig IV received Hesse-Marburg, and Philip II Hesse-Rheinfels , and Georg I. Hessen-Darmstadt.

In 1583 Hesse-Rheinfels was inherited by Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Marburg fell to Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt in the same way in 1604. Later, again through the division of inheritance, the only partially independent Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg with various branch lines within Hesse-Kassel called "Rotenburger Quart" came into being. Hesse-Homburg gradually separated from Hesse-Darmstadt and was annexed by Prussia in 1866.

As part of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel became the Electorate of Hesse (Electorate of Hesse). Kassel continued to exist as a residence and capital.

Thirteen years later, the former Prince-Bishopric of Fulda was added to Kurhessen as the Grand Duchy of Fulda. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and was given larger areas of the Prince-Bishopric of Mainz (Rheinhessen), which had become "leaderless" as a result of secularisation.

In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Kurhessen, which was on the side of Austria, and Nassau were annexed by Prussia. In the same war, the Prussians also conquered the Free City of Frankfurt am Main.

In 1868, Prussia created the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from the conquered areas of the Electorate of Hesse, the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, the Duchy of Nassau, the city of Frankfurt, some areas of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and two small Bavarian border areas.

Until the Weimar Republic, Hessen-Nassau continued to exist as a Prussian province and Hessen(-Darmstadt) as the people's state of Hessen. In 1929 the Free State of Waldeck was incorporated into the Province of Hesse-Nassau. Three years later, the district of Wetzlar (previously in the Rhine province) was added. In 1944, the province of Hesse-Nassau was divided into the provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau, based on the Reich Defense Districts. The province of Nassau included the Main-Kinzig area (Hanau district, Gelnhausen district and Schluechtern district).

After the end of the war, what is now Hesse came under British occupation. On September 19, 1945, the American military government united the former Prussian provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau as well as the people's state of Hesse into the state of "Großhessen". The districts of Sankt Goarshausen, Unterlahn, Oberwesterwald, Unterwesterwald and the parts of the former People's State of Hesse on the left bank of the Rhine (the former province of Rheinhessen, of which only a few suburbs of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine remained Hessian) were occupied by the French and fell to Rhineland-Palatinate in 1946 as the administrative districts of Montabaur and Rheinhessen.

The Hessian constitution was adopted by the constitutional advisory state assembly in Wiesbaden on October 29, 1946 and came into force on December 1, 1946 by referendum. Greater Hesse, which changed its state name to Hessen at this point, had Germany's first post-war constitution. The Nassau residence of Wiesbaden became the state capital.

At the same time, the first state elections were held, which the SPD won, forming a grand coalition with the CDU. The SPD politician Christian Stock became the first prime minister to be elected. After the state elections of 1950, the SPD ruled the state without a coalition partner, Georg August Zinn was the new prime minister until 1969. In 1962, the SPD was able to achieve an absolute majority in the state elections for the first time. In the following legislative period, Zinn presented the "Great Hesse Plan" (an investment program for infrastructure and social affairs worth DM 33 billion).

In 1969 Albert Osswald was elected Prime Minister after suffering a stroke from Georg August Zinn, and in the state elections of 1974 the CDU won the relative majority of the votes. Through a coalition with the FDP, however, Osswald remained in office as prime minister. In 1976 he resigned and was succeeded by Holger Börner (SPD).

In the 1970s and 1980s an active environmental movement was formed in Hesse. After the state elections in 1982 and 1983, Börner initially continued to govern as manager. In 1985, the first nationwide red-green coalition was formed in Hesse, which broke up in 1987 in the dispute over nuclear policy. For the first time in the history of Hesse, a CDU-led government (under Walter Wallmann) emerged from the subsequent elections. The 1991 state elections brought about a change of government to a red-green coalition, with Hans Eichel as prime minister. Roland Koch (CDU) has been Prime Minister of Hesse since 1999.

Economy:

The Rhine-Main area has the largest concentration of industry after the Ruhr area. Machine and vehicle construction, the chemical-pharmaceutical industry as well as the electronic and electrotechnical industry are located here. In the northern Hessian industrial area with a focus on Kassel, wagon and rail vehicle construction, mechanical engineering, the automotive supplier industry as well as the electronics and chemical industry are in the foreground.

The metalworking and precision engineering-optical industry is located in Central Hesse with a focus on Wetzlar, Offenbach (Main) is the location of the leather industry, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt the chemical industry.

The service sector is of particular importance, with Frankfurt (Main) as an internationally oriented financial and commercial centre. Frankfurt is still a trade fair location and the location of many company headquarters. Potassium salts and industrial minerals are mined as mineral resources.

Thanks to the many mineral springs, there are numerous spas in Hesse. About 36% of the total area is used for agriculture, arable farming (especially the cultivation of wheat and sugar beets) dominates in the basin landscapes. The proportion of permanent grassland is particularly high in the basalt landscapes, viticulture is represented on the Bergstraße and in the Rhine area. Asparagus and other vegetables and fruit are grown in the Hessian Ried, vegetables and roses in the Wetterau, and fruit growing predominates in the Vortaunus and on the Bergstraße. The forest share of the country is about 40%.

Hesse's traffic geographical center is in the Rhine-Main area with a particularly dense motorway and rail network and the international airport of Frankfurt (Main) (important air hub, second largest passenger airport in Europe).

In addition to the Rhine and Main, the Weser and some of the Fulda and Lahn are also navigable. The most important inland port is that of Frankfurt (Main).