What is Palatinate (region)?
[[Image:Palatinate in Rhineland-Palatinate.png|thumb|right|250px|Location of Palatinate in Rhineland-Palatinate]] The '''Palatinate''' (''germ.:''Pfalz), historically also '''Rhenish Palatinate''' (''lat.:'' palatinatum Renensis; ''germ.:'' Rheinpfalz), is a region in south-western [[Germany]]. It occupies more than a quarter of the German [[States of Germany|federal state]] (''Bundesland'') of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] (''Rheinland-Pfalz''). ==Geography== The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The highest point is the [[Donnersberg]] ({{convert|687|m|ft|1|lk=on|abbr=on}}) near [[Kirchheimbolanden]]. The [[Palatinate forest]] (''Pfälzerwald'') covers more than a third of the region and is the largest uninterrupted forest in Germany. The eastern part is lower, and is a well known wine region, the [[Palatinate (wine region)|Palatinate wine region]] through which passes the ''[[German wine road]]'' (Deutsche Weinstrasse). Most of the cities of the Palatinate (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the Rhineplain in the east. Traditionally, the Palatinate is divided into the regions of Anterior Palatinate (''Vorderpfalz''), West Palatinate (''Westpfalz''), North Palatinate (''Nordpfalz''), and South Palatinate (''Südpfalz''). Administratively, the following [[Districts of Germany|districts]] and independent cities are part of the Palatinate: Independent cities: *[[Frankenthal]] *[[Kaiserslautern]] *[[Landau]] *[[Ludwigshafen]] *[[Neustadt an der Weinstrasse|Neustadt an der Weinstraße]] *[[Pirmasens]] *[[Speyer]] *[[Zweibrücken]] Districts: *[[Bad Dürkheim (district)|Bad Dürkheim]] *[[Donnersbergkreis]] *[[Germersheim (district)|Germersheim]] *[[Kaiserslautern (district)]] *[[Kusel (district)|Kusel]] *[[Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis]] *[[Südliche Weinstraße]] *[[Südwestpfalz]] ==Other websites== *[http://www.bayernpfalz.de/index.htm Bayern-Pfalz-Stifung] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902005548/http://www.bayernpfalz.de/index.htm |date=2006