Hesse Hesse Group sex Category="Hesse"Category="States of Germany" Hesse is also the name of the German writer Hermann Hesse, as well as the German mathematician Otto Hesse. See also Hesse (disambiguation)

Civil Flag
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State Service Flag
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State Coat-of-Arms
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Statistics
Capital:Wiesbaden
Area:21,100 km²
Inhabitants:6.077.826 (2001)
pop. density:288 people/km²
Website:http://www.hessen.de/
ISO 3166-2:DE-HE
Politics
Minister-President:Roland Koch (CDU)
Ruling party:CDU
Map
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With an area of 21,110 km² and just over six million inhabitants, Hesse (German: Hessen) is one of Germany's sixteen federal states (Bundesländer). The capital is Wiesbaden.

Geography

Situated in western-central Germany, Hessen borders on (from the north-west and clockwise) the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Its principal cities include Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Kassel, Gießen, Marburg, Wetzlar, Offenbach and Fulda.

The main rivers in the northern part of Hessen are Fulda and Lahn. It is a hilly countryside, the main mountain chains being the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus and the Spessart.

Most inhabitants live in the southernmost part of Hesse between the rivers Main and Rhine. The latter one borders Hessen on the southwest without running through the state. The mountain chain between Main and Rhine is called the Odenwald.

See also List of places in Hessen.

Hessen is divided into 21 districts and five independent cities:

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  1. Bergstraße (Heppenheim, Bensheim)
  2. Darmstadt-Dieburg (Darmstadt, Dieburg)
  3. Fulda (Fulda)
  4. Gießen (Gießen)
  5. Groß-Gerau (Groß-Gerau, Rüsselsheim)
  6. Hersfeld-Rotenburg (Bad Hersfeld)
  7. Hochtaunuskreis (Bad Homburg)
  8. Kassel (Kassel)
  9. Lahn-Dill (Wetzlar)
  10. Limburg-Weilburg (Limburg, Weilburg)
  11. Main-Kinzig (Hanau)
  12. Main-Taunus (Hofheim, Bad Soden)
  13. Marburg-Biedenkopf (Marburg)
  14. Odenwaldkreis (Erbach)
  15. Offenbach (Offenbach)
  16. Rheingau-Taunus (Idstein)
  17. Schwalm-Eder (Fritzlar, Borken)
  18. Vogelsbergkreis (Alsfeld, Lauterbach)
  19. Waldeck-Frankenberg (Korbach)
  20. Werra-Meißner (Eschwege, Witzenhausen)
  21. Wetteraukreis (Friedberg, Bad Nauheim)

The 21 districts are grouped in three administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke): Kassel, Gießen and Darmstadt.

History

In the early Middle Ages, Hesse was a part of Thuringia, but in the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247-64) Hesse gained its independence and became an earldom within the Holy Roman Empire. The state existed until the death of Philipp I of Hesse in 1567. Despite his earlier intentions, it was split up among his four sons from his first marriage (Philipp was a bigamist) into much smaller states: Hessen-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hessen-Rheinfels and the also previously existing Hessen-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hessen-Kassel ("Northern Hessen") and Hessen-Darmstadt ("Southern Hessen") were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hesse-Homburg split off from Hessen-Darmstadt.

Hessen-Kassel was called the Electorate of Hessen from 1803 on, although since the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, there was no more emperor to elect anymore. In 1866 it was annexed by Prussia, together with the Free City of Frankfurt, Hessen-Homburg and the duchy of Nassau, which established the province of Hessen-Nassau.

Hessen-Darmstadt was called the Grand Duchy of Hessen from 1806 on. It managed to defend its autonomy because in the War of 1866 it had sided with the winning Prussia.

After World War II in 1945, the state of Hessen was established within the United States occupation zone. It combined the former state of Hessen(-Darmstadt) and the Prussian province of Hessentory along the lower Lahn River, which became a part of Rhineland-Palatinate).

See also Rulers of Hessen.

Spelling

The state is called Hessen in German and Hesse in English; the English name for the state was taken from French. An inhabitant of the state is a Hesse in German and a Hessian in English (see Hessian troops). Occasionally the German term Hessen is also used in English. Hessia is another variant, although rarely used.

List of Minister-presidents of Hessen

  1. 1945: Ludwig Bergsträsser
  2. 1945 - 1946: Karl Geiler
  3. 1946 - 1950: Christian Stock (SPD)
  4. 1950 - 1969: Georg-August Zinn (SPD)
  5. 1969 - 1976: Albert Osswald (SPD)
  6. 1976 - 1987: Holger Börner (SPD)
  7. 1987 - 1991: Walter Wallmann (CDU)
  8. 1991 - 1999: Hans Eichel (SPD)
  9. since 1999: Roland Koch (CDU)

Death penalty

The death penalty still exists under the law of Hesse. Because the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany provides for the abolition of the death penalty and because of the supremacy of the Basic Law, the death penalty is never carried out.

External links

  • official government portal
  • portal about east part of hessen
  • 360 degree virtual trip through the Rhön - part of eastern hessen

[image]Federal States of Germany[image]
Baden-Württemberg | Bavaria | Berlin | Brandenburg | Bremen | Hamburg | Hesse | Lower Saxony | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | North Rhine-Westphalia | Rhineland-Palatinate | Saarland | Saxony | Saxony-Anhalt | Schleswig-Holstein | Thuringia