North Rhine-Westphalia

Basic data:

Universities:

Aachen: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld
Bochum: Ruhr University Bochum
Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Dortmund: Technical University of Dortmund
Duisburg: University of Duisburg-Essen (Campus Duisburg)
Düsseldorf: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Essen: University of Duisburg-Essen (Campus Essen)
Hagen: FernUniversität Hagen
Cologne: German Sport University Cologne
University of Cologne
Münster: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Paderborn: University of Paderborn
Siegen: University of Siegen
Witten/Herdecke: Private University of Witten/Herdecke
Wuppertal: University of Wuppertal

Geography:

North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the west of the Federal Republic of Germany, the north extends far into the North German Plain. The northernmost point is the NRW-Nordpunkt near Rahden in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, the north point is only 100 km south of the North Sea coast.

The deepest natural sink is in the north-west of the country in Zyfflich (Kranenburg) at 9.2 m above sea level, the deepest above-ground point was created by mining. The Hambach (Niederzier) mine reaches a depth of 293 m below sea level at its deepest point, which is also the deepest depression in Germany.

About half of North Rhine-Westphalia lies in the relatively flat regions of the Westphalian lowlands and the Rhineland, with the terrain rising to the south and east. Here, North Rhine-Westphalia has a share in the German low mountain range regions. The mountains of the country (Weserbergland, Sauerland, Bergisches Land, Siegerland and the Eifel) have elevations of up to 800 m above sea level. NN, the highest elevations are on the border with Hesse in the Hochsauerland. The highest mountain here is the Langenberg at 843.2 m above sea level. NN, continue the Kahler Asten with 841.9 m above sea level. NN and the Clemensberg 839.2 m above sea level. NN.

Most of North Rhine-Westphalia lies between the Rhine in the west and the Weser in the east, which are the largest rivers in the country. With Cologne, Düsseldorf and Duisburg, 3 of the 5 largest cities in the country are located on the Rhine. The most important tributaries are the Sieg, Wupper, Erft, Ruhr, Emscher and Lippe viewed downstream. The Weser flows through the state from south to north in the extreme east of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2 sections over a distance of approx. 116 km. The Ems flows through North Rhine-Westphalia for about 156 km in a north-westerly direction. The country is completely drained towards the North Sea via the rivers listed.

Climate:

North Rhine-Westphalia lies entirely in the temperate climate zone of Central Europe, and mostly in the maritime climate zone, which is characterized by relatively mild winters. The east of North Rhine-Westphalia lies in the transition area to the continental climate. However, the inconsistent natural areas also cause German differences in the regional climate.

The average annual temperature is between 4 °C and 9 °C, depending on the altitude. The Münsterland and the Rhineland are the warmest regions of North Rhine-Westphalia.The sheltered southern parts of the Cologne Bay around Bonn and Cologne are among the warmest regions in Germany.

Precipitation, like temperatures, also goes hand in hand with altitude. In the lowlands, the annual total precipitation is about 700 to 900 mm, in the area of ​​the Cologne Bay also less. In the low mountain range, the annual amount of precipitation increases to up to 1300 mm, in the area of ​​the Teutoburg Forest, as well as the Eggegebirge and in the Sauerland to over 1400mm.

history:

In 1180, in the conflict between Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and Henry the Lion, his Saxon duchy was divided. The dukedom of Westphalia was transferred to the Archbishop of Cologne. When the imperial estates were combined into imperial circles in the course of the imperial reform of Maximilian I, one of them was the Lower Rhine-Westphalian imperial circle. This included the area of ​​today\'s North Rhine-Westphalia, the west of today\'s Lower Saxony and the Belgian bishopric of Liège.

In 1585 the prince-archbishopric of Cologne, which was not in the Lower Rhine region but rather the electorate of the Rhineland, was united with the prince-bishopric of Münster in the form of a personal union. The Duchy of Westphalia (Arnsberg) has belonged to this since the Middle Ages. In 1618 the Prince Bishopric of Paderborn was added, meaning that all 3 states had the same sovereign. It was centrally governed and administered from its headquarters and government seat in Bonn. The \"North Rhine-Westphalian Union\" (between the Electorate of Cologne and the Principality of Münster) lasted from 1585 to 1803. In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, all spiritual and a large part of the smaller secular territories were mediatized and larger secular territories were added.

In 1806, the areas on the right bank of the Rhine of the former North Rhine Electorate of Cologne (with the abolition of some dwarf states created in 1803) were united with the former Westphalian Prince-Bishopric of Münster by Emperor Napoleon I to form the new Grand Duchy of Berg (and Kleve) with the capital Düsseldorf. This also included large parts of Westphalia, while the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was also created artificially, lay mainly outside the eponymous landscape and encompassed large areas of Hanover and Hesse.

The Prince and Marshal Joachim Murat became Grand Duke of Berg. However, this first North Rhine-Westphalia had to do without the left bank of the Rhine, which had fallen to France. Under the direction of competent ministers and civil servants, it developed into one of the most progressive and modern German states. In 1813, the Grand Duchy was occupied by foreign troops, 2 years later dissolved as a state under international law by the Congress of Vienna, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. As a result, Düsseldorf lost its leading role as the capital and residential city.

The state unity of North Rhineland and Westphalia was not dissolved in 1815, but remained under the umbrella of the Kingdom of Prussia. The thus enlarged unitary state of Prussia reorganized its western German territories into the province of Westphalia and the merged Rhine province. Although the new higher state tended to promote the separate identity of the extended Rhineland and Westphalia, the \"provinces\" were constitutionally only dependent governmental and administrative districts in the same central unitary state.

When this de facto went under in 1945 (formally dissolved in 1947), the longest period of the unification of North Rhine and Westphalia in one state came to an end, since it had lasted 130 years. The use of prisoners of war and slave labor in agriculture, factories and mines announced that the war had reached the provinces. The Allied air raids then hit the civilian population, and Münster experienced its first heavy air raid as early as 1940.All in all, more than 1,000 people died in air raids in Münster. In Bochum alone, more than 4,000 people died, and most of the buildings were damaged. In May 1943, British planes destroyed the dam wall of the Möhne reservoir, thousands of people died in the floods of Möhne and Ruhr. At the end of March 1945, the ground war also reached the country, the battle for the so-called Ruhr pocket was fierce and costly. The resistance was in vain and on April 1st, 1945 American troops reached Paderborn, on April 18th, 1945 the last Wehrmacht units in Westphalia capitulated. This ended the 2nd World War in this area.

After World War II, the victorious powers disagreed about the further fate of the Ruhr area. France favored an independent, politically weak state or an internationalized area. The Soviet side advocated a four-power status (comparable to Berlin). However, this was firmly opposed by the British, whose zone of occupation included the region, as Soviet influence was not extended westward. The US was officially neutral, but sided with Britain. The British government continued to advocate the incorporation of the Ruhr area into a future German state. Thus a repetition of the serious economic crisis after the First World War should be avoided. The British therefore developed the idea of ​​merging with rural and Catholic Westphalia. The inclusion of efficient agricultural landscapes should also facilitate the logistically difficult task of supplying the Ruhr area. The project was not without controversy, and there were hardly any similarities between the two parts of the state of North Rhine and Westphalia.

North Rhine-Westphalia received its legal basis with the decree no. 46 of the British military government of August 23, 1946. The new state of North Rhine-Westphalia was formed from the northern part of the Prussian Rhine province and the province of Westphalia. In the following year, the former state of Lippe had to give up its independence at the instigation of the British. After negotiations with the neighboring states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, its government decided to join North Rhine-Westphalia. On January 21, 1947, British Military Order No. 77 brought the union into force. This should be confirmed by a referendum in Lippe within 5 years, but this did not happen. On November 5th, 1948, with the passage of the \"Act on the Unification of the State of Lippe with North Rhine-Westphalia\" by the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, the accession was also completed in legal form.

With the Ruhr Statute passed on April 29th, 1949, an international authority was supposed to control the heavy industry in the region. Politically, North Rhine-Westphalia was allowed to join the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the control authority was hardly active and was officially dissolved in 1952. Thus, the mining industry could produce unchecked.

North Rhine-Westphalia was and is predominantly characterized by the metropolitan areas on the Rhine and Ruhr, where the population is also concentrated. However, these metropolitan areas only make up part of the country, plus a number of less concentrated industrial regions (such as the area around Bielefeld, Siegerland and parts of the Bergisches Land). Much of the country is made up of areas that are more rural, agrarian and less densely populated, such as B. the Eifel, the Sauerland or the Münsterland.

After the end of the war, the party system of the pre-war period was restored to a certain extent, initially in the metropolitan areas. Initially, the KPD was of considerable importance and the CDU was able to take over the legacy of the Center Party. Of great importance for the political culture of North Rhine-Westphalia was that old electoral ties in the industrial areas dissolved more quickly than in other parts of the state.The KPD quickly lost legitimacy and was also banned in 1956. The CDU was not able to retain workers\' voters in the long term, and the church\'s ties to a political camp also lost importance against the background of the Second Vatican Council. For the first time, before the state elections in 1966, the Catholic Church no longer recommended voting for the CDU.

The economic course of the CDU did not seem to offer any protection against the threat of unemployment, especially for the miners, so voters increasingly went over to the SPD. Especially since the 1960s, North Rhine-Westphalia has become a stronghold of the SPD. It was not until the late 1990s that economic upheaval and the changing program of the SPD caused a renewed change in mood. In the local elections of 1999, the CDU managed to win elections even in large cities in the Ruhr area.

After a brief social-liberal interlude from 1956 to 1958, what was initially the most important turning point in state politics came with the state elections of 1966. The SPD won the relative majority and finally formed a coalition with the FDP. Since then, the SPD has remained the largest governing party, but had to cede its relative majority back to the CDU in 1970 and 1975. Since 1980, North Rhine-Westphalia had been a safe home base for the SPD, and it wasn\'t until the state elections in 2005 that the SPD ended with a clear defeat.

In 2005, Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) was elected Prime Minister by the CDU and FDP state parliamentarians. Rüttgers leads a black and yellow coalition.

Economy:

In the 1950s and 1960s, North Rhine-Westphalia was the land of coal and steel, the Ruhr area, which was characterized by the mining industry, was once again one of the most important industrial regions in Europe after reconstruction and made a decisive contribution to the economic miracle in the state and in the entire Federal Republic of Germany.

Since the 1960s, the negative sides of the industrial monostructure have become apparent; constantly recurring steel and coal crises have caused the mining and industrial sector to melt together more and more. In the manufacturing sector, medium-sized companies outside the Ruhr area (mainly in mechanical engineering and the metal and iron processing industry) experienced a significant upswing. The structural change varied greatly from region to region.

The number of agricultural holdings in the country has been falling for decades (from almost 130,000 in 1970 to around 51,000 in May 2005), the situation with forestry holdings was similar. The area used for forestry increased by around 10% in contrast to the area used for agriculture, while the area used for agriculture fell by almost 10%.

Agricultural focal points are above all the Münsterland, Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the other areas outside the metropolitan regions. About 70% of the agricultural area is arable land, about 43% of the total agricultural area is used for the cultivation of cereals, the next largest area is used for fodder crops.

The area for viticulture is rather small and is mainly located in the Middle Rhine Valley in the south-west of the country. Almost half of the farms keep cattle and pigs. North Rhine-Westphalia is an important location for the German food industry. The largest company is probably the Dr. August Oetker KG. The furniture and wood processing industry is traditionally an important sector in Ostwestfalen-Lippe and Sauerland, employing around 40,000 people. The textile industry plays a rather subordinate role in terms of employment.

North Rhine-Westphalia is the economically strongest state in the Federal Republic of Germany, generating around 21.8% of German economic output in 2007. The unemployment rate was 8.4% in June 2008, the unemployment rate is the second highest of all West German states after Bremen.