Where is the Rhineland?
Climate change in Germany
The Rhineland is historically a heavily industrial and population-dense area which includes the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, and Saarland. This region is rich in iron and coal deposits and supports one of Europe's largest coal industries. In the past, sulfuric acid emissions from Rhineland coal plants contributed to acid rain, damaging forests in other regions like Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony.
Rhineland
To the west the area stretches to the borders with Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands; on the eastern side it encompasses the towns and cities along the river and the Bergisches Land area up to the Westphalian (Siegerland) and Hessian regions. Stretching down to the North Palatine Uplands in the south, this area, except for the Saarland, more or less corresponds with the modern use of the term.
Rhineland Cup
The Rhineland Cup (German: "Rheinlandpokal") is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the German Cup. It is limited to clubs from the northern part of Rhineland-Palatinate, however, teams from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga are not permitted to compete. It is one of two cup competitions in the state, the other being the South West Cup, which covers roughly the southern half of the state.
Rhine Franconian dialects
Rhine Franconian (German: ), or Rhenish Franconian, is a dialect family of West Central German. It comprises the German dialects spoken across the western regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, northwest Baden-Wurttemberg, and Hesse in Germany. It is also spoken in northeast France, in the eastern part of the of Moselle in the Lorraine region, and in the north-west part of Bas-Rhin in Alsace. To the north, it is bounded by the Sankt Goar line (or " line") which separates it from Moselle Franconian; to the south, it is bounded by the Main line which is also referred to as the "Speyer line" which separates it from the Upper German dialects.Saarland (section "Language"), Moselle Franconian (adjacent language area), Palatine German
Young Rhineland
Young Rhineland (Das Junge Rheinland) was an association of avant-garde artists formed in Düsseldorf on 24 February 1919. The poet Herbert Eulenberg was one of the main instigators of the group, along with painter Arthur Kaufmann and the writer and illustrator Adolf Uzarski. The group was formed following the lack of any Rhenish artists in the Great Berlin Exhibition. The art historian, Walter Cohen came up with the name in 1918 when he was organising the first exhibition of the group in the Kölnischer Kunstverein.
Rhinelandic
"Rhinelandic" is used for a collection of local languages and their varieties in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, including some varieties of the Limburgish language group (of which Bergish is a subgroup), South Guelderish or Cleverlands (of which East Bergish is a subgroup), Moselle Franconian, and Ripuarian (which includes South Bergish as a subgroup, that is also referred to as East Ripuarian).
SaarLorLux
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 landscape containing some of the most historically significant places in Germany.
Neuwied
Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. The town has 13 suburban administrative districts: Heimbach-Weis, Gladbach, Engers, Oberbieber, Niederbieber, Torney, Segendorf, Altwied, Block, Irlich, Feldkirchen, Heddesdorf and Rodenbach. The largest is Heimbach-Weis, with approximately 8000 inhabitants.
Circle of the Rhine
In 1837, the Circle of the Rhine was renamed the Palatinate ('). It was also referred to as the Rhenish Palatinate ('). The territory remained Bavarian until 30 Aug 1946, with the exception of the area detached in 1920, which roughly corresponded to the present day county of . It then became part of the newly formed federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
International relations (1919–1939)
When Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland—the part of Germany where no troops were allowed—neither Paris nor London would risk war, and nothing was done.
German revolutions of 1848–49
The Rhineland shared a common history with the Rhenish Hesse, Luxembourg and the Palatinate of having been under the control of Napoleonic France from 1795. Napoleon's armies smashed armies of the Holy Roman Empire. His rule established social, administrative and legislative measures taken that broke up the feudal rule that the clergy and the nobility had exercised over the area previously. The soil of the Rhineland is not the best for agriculture, but forestry has traditionally been a strong industry there. The relative lack of agriculture, late 18th-century elimination of the feudal structure, and the strong logging industry contributed to the industrialization of the Rhineland. With nearby sources of coal in the Mark, and access via the Rhine to the North Sea, the west bank of the Rhine in the Rhineland became the premier industrial area in Germany in the 19th century. By 1848, the towns of Aachen, Cologne and Düsseldorf were heavily industrialized, with a number of different industries represented. At the beginning of the 19th century, more than 90% of the population of the Rhineland was engaged in agriculture (including lumbering), but by 1933, only 12% were still working in agriculture.
Rhineland
The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country (Westerwald, Hunsrück, Siebengebirge, Taunus and Eifel), cut by river valleys, principally the Middle Rhine up to Bingen (or very rarely between the confluence with the Neckar and Cologne) and its Ahr, Moselle and Nahe tributaries. The border of the North German plain is marked by the lower Ruhr. In the south, the river cuts the Rhenish Massif.
Rhenish-Hessian Hills
The Rhenish-Hessian Hills (), also called the "Land of the Thousand Hills" ("Land der 1000 Hügel"), refers to that part of Rhenish Hesse within the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies within the counties of Alzey-Worms and Mainz-Bingen, and covers the same area as the natural region known as the Rhenish Hesse Tableland and Hill Country ("Rheinhessisches Tafel- und Hügelland"). It covers an area of around 1,400 km².
Vorarlberg Rhine Valley
The Vorarlberg Rhine Valley (), also called the Vorarlberg Oberland and Unterland, is a section of the Alpine Rhine Valley and is divided into the Upper and Lower Rhine Valley ("oberes" and "unteres Rheintal") based on the direction of flow of the river. The Unterland runs from the shore of Lake Constance to the Kummenberg, the Upper Rhine valley lies south of the Kummenberg. The Unterland covers the whole of the administrative district of Dornbirn and all the territories of the district of Bregenz that lie within the Rhine Valley. In this region, which includes the urban areas of Bregenz and Dornbirn, live about 180,000 people, around half the population of Vorarlberg. The "green lung" of this region is the Vorarlberg Ried, which is on the border with Switzerland and is surrounded by the settlements of Vorarlberg on three sides.
Rhine Province
In the official histories of the British and Canadian armies, the term Rhineland refers only to fighting west of the river in February and March 1945, with subsequent operations on the river and to the east known as "Rhine Crossing". Both terms are official Battle Honours in the Commonwealth forces.
County of Wied
Wied was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located on the river Wied where it meets the Rhine. Wied emerged as a County earlier than many other German states. From 1243–1462, Wied was united with an Isenburgian County as Isenburg-Wied. Wied was partitioned twice: between itself and Wied-Dierdorf in 1631, and between Wied-Neuwied and Wied-Runkel in 1698. Via William of Albania, the House of Wied ruled the Principality of Albania in 1914.
Upper Palatinate
From the mid 13th century much of the region was controlled by the Wittelsbach dynasty and until 1329 was ruled by the Wittelsbach Elector Palatine as part of the larger County Palatine of the Rhine (). By the 1329 Treaty of Pavia, the Wittelsbach territories were divided between two branches of the dynasty. The territory around the Rhine river in the west became known as the Rhenish Palatinate () or Lower Palatinate, and is today usually known simply as the Palatinate (); it is from this territory that the modern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate derives its name. By contrast, the territory to the east centred Amberg became known as the Upper Palatinate (), upper and lower in this case referring to the elevation of the territories (compare Low and High German, Upper and Lower Lusatia, Upper and Lower Lorraine, Low Countries, Lower Saxony).
Circle of the Rhine
The Rhine Circle largely covered the same area as the present Palatinate region, which lies west of the Rhine in the south of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, but included additionally the districts of and . These were incorporated into the Saar region after the end of the First World War and merged in 1974 into the . After the Second World War there were smaller losses of territory to the , especially in the area of . As part of the 1969 land reform the region designated as the Palatinate with Rhineland-Palatinate had its northern border changed somewhat. The Diocese of Speyer and the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate still exist today largely based on the historic boundaries of the Circle of the Rhine.
Evangelical Church in the Rhineland
The Protestant Church in the Rhineland emerged on 12 November 1948, when the "Ecclesiastical Province of the Rhineland" within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union gained independence as its own church body.
The Protestants in Hohenzollern emerged 1950 to Württemberg, keeping the Old Prussian mass.
Cologne Lowland
The Cologne Lowland, also called the Cologne Bay or, less commonly, the Cologne Bight (), is a densely populated area of Germany lying between the cities of Bonn, Aachen, and Düsseldorf/Neuss. It is situated in the southwest of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and forms the natural southern conclusion of the Lower Rhenish lowlands and the transition to the Rhenish Massif ("Rheinische Schiefergebirge" or "Rhenish Slate Mountains"). The Cologne Bight is surrounded by the High Fens and the Eifel to the west of the Rhine and by the uplands of Bergisches Land to the east of the Rhine. In the south and southeast the rising Rhine Massif, visible from far off by the silhouette of the Siebengebirge, surround the head of the bight at Königswinter. To the northwest the Cologne Bight opens out into the valleys of the Rhine and the Meuse, in the northeast it is bounded by the Münsterländer Kreidebecken (Münster Chalk Basin) of the Westphalian Bight.
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
As regards Germany, it had always been assumed by the states of the "cordon sanitaire" that if Germany should attack any of them, France would respond by beginning an offensive into western Germany. Long before 1933, German military and diplomatic elites had regarded the Rhineland's demilitarized status as only temporary, and planned to remilitarize the Rhineland at the first favorable diplomatic opportunity. In December 1918, at a meeting of Germany's leading generals (the German Army functioned as a "state within the state"), it had decided that the chief aim would be to rebuild German military power to launch a new world war to win the "world power status" that the "Reich" had sought, but failed to win in the last war. All through the 1920s and the early 1930s, the "Reichswehr" had been developing plans for a war to destroy France and its ally Poland, which necessarily presumed remilitarization of the Rhineland. Steps were taken by the German government to prepare for the remilitarization, such as keeping former barracks in a good state of repair, hiding military materials in secret depots, and building customs and fire watch towers that could be easily converted into observation and machine gun posts along the frontier.
Rhine Province
In 1815, Prussia gained control of the duchies of Cleves, Berg, Gelderland and Jülich, the ecclesiastical principalities of Trier and Cologne, the free cities of Aachen and Cologne, and nearly one hundred small lordships and abbeys which would all be amalgamated into the new Prussian Rhine Province. In 1822 Prussia established the Rhine Province by joining the provinces of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its capital was Koblenz; it had 8.0 million inhabitants by 1939. In 1920, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and administered by the League of Nations until a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to Germany. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking Community of Belgium). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided up between the newly founded states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The town of Wetzlar became part of Hesse.
Missouri Rhineland
The Missouri Rhineland is a geographical area of Missouri that extends from west of St. Louis to slightly east of Jefferson City, located mostly in the Missouri River Valley on both sides of the river. It is named for its similarities to the Rhineland region in central Europe, a wine growing area around the Rhine river and the German-Americans who determined that this part of Missouri would be good for grape growing. The soils of the Missouri River Valley and surrounding areas are mainly rocky residual soils, which are excellent for viticulture (growing of grapes/vineyards) though poor for most agricultural purposes. These soils were left after the carbonate (mainly limestone) bedrock weathered away to impurities of clayey soil and chert fragments. Farther to the north, glacial deposits and wind-deposited loess, a silty soil also associated with the glaciers, are intermingled with the residual soils.
Rheiderland
The Rheiderland is a region of Germany and the Netherlands between the River Ems and the Bay of Dollart. The German part of the Rheiderland lies in East Frisia, west of the Ems. The Dutch part (written: "Reiderland") lies in the Dutch province of Groningen and is mostly part of Oldambt. The Rheiderland is one of the four historic regions on the mainland in the district of Leer; the others being the Overledingerland, the Moormerland and the Lengenerland.
Konrad Adenauer
In mid-October 1923, the Chancellor Gustav Stresemann announced that Berlin would cease all financial payments to the Rhineland and that the new "Rentenmark", which had replaced the now worthless "Mark" would not circulate in the Rhineland. To save the Rhineland economy, Adenauer opened talks with the French High Commissioner Paul Tirard in late October 1923 for a Rhenish republic in a sort of economic union with France which would achieve Franco-German reconciliation, which Adenauer called a "grand design". At the same time, Adenauer clung to the hope that the "Rentenmark" might still circulate in the Rhineland. Adenauer's plans came to nought when Stresemann, who was resolutely opposed to Adenauer's "grand design", which he viewed as borderline treason, was able to negotiate an end to the crisis on his own.
Early clashes in the Rhine campaign of 1796
The Rhine river begins in the Canton of Graubünden (also called the Grisons), near Lake Toma and flows along the alpine region bordered by Liechtenstein, northward into Lake Constance where it traverses the lake in three "ditches": Oberseerhein, Seerhein, and Unterseerhein, . From there, it leaves the lake at Reichenau and flows westerly along the border between the German states and the Swiss Cantons. The stretch between Rheinfall, by Schaffhausen and Basel, called the High Rhine, cuts through steep hillsides and flows over a gravel bed; in such places as the former rapids at Laufenburg, it moved in torrents.
At Basel, the terrain flattens. There the Rhine makes a wide, northerly turn, in what is called the Rhine knee, and enters the what the locals call the Rhine ditch ("Rheingraben"), part of a rift valley bordered by the Black Forest on the east and Vosges mountains on the west. Called the Upper Rhine (distinguished from the High Rhine), the river flows south to north. In 1796, the plain on both sides of the river, some wide, was dotted with villages and farms. At both far edges of the flood plain, especially on the eastern side, the old mountains created dark shadows on the horizon. Tributaries cut through the hilly terrain of the Black Forest, creating deep defiles in the mountains. The tributaries then wound in rivulets through the flood plain to the river.
Remagen
Remagen is a town in Germany in the Land Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the river Rhine. There is a ferry across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer. Remagen has many beautiful and well-maintained buildings, churches, castles and monuments. It also has a sizeable pedestrian zone with plenty of shops.
Hesse
After World War II, the Hessian territory west of the Rhine was again occupied by France, whereas the rest of the region was part of the US occupation zone. The French separated their part of Hesse from the rest of the region and incorporated it into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). The United States, on the other side, proclaimed the state of Greater Hesse ("Groß-Hessen") on 19 September 1945, out of Hesse-Darmstadt and most of the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau.
T.J. Oakley Rhinelander
In 1884, T.J. and his brother Philip purchased the ancient castle of Schönburg in Oberwesel on the Rhine river in Germany, where his famous emigrant ancestor was born. Rhinelander restored the castle, which poet Ferdinand Freiligrath called "the most beautiful retreat on the Rhine," between 1885 and 1920.
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 for a unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial reasons.
Rijnland
Today, when the Rhine river enters the Netherlands from Germany, most of it becomes the river Waal and is no longer called the Rhine. However, some of it flows north (through a canal) after which it splits into the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine) and the IJssel. The Nederrijn eventually becomes the Lek, but a branch of it flows through a canal to Utrecht where it is further canalised and directed west. The names for this minor waterway as it flows through the provinces of Utrecht and South Holland change, but all the names still include the name "Rijn" and it is not unusual for it to be referred to as the "Rijn". Its varying names are Kromme Rijn ("Crooked Rhine"), Leidse Rijn ("Leiden Rhine") and Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine"). The Oude Rijn ends as it flows into a sluice at Katwijk aan Zee, where its waters can be discharged into the North Sea. It is the area around the Oude Rijn that is referred to as "Rijnland".
School District of Rhinelander
The School District of Rhinelander (SDR) is located in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Approximately 2,900 students are enrolled. In 2005 a referendum to keep three local schools open failed, combining fourth and fifth grade students into one intermediate school and all of the kindergarten-third grade students into two schools. In 2008 another referendum failed resulting in budget cuts to the High School's pool and field house. Again in 2010 the district ran a referendum, this time passing, allowing the secondary schools to remain in separate buildings. In late 2010 the school district was given a grant, resulting in 13.7 million dollars of heavy renovation throughout the district.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate shares international borders with France (Grand Est), Luxembourg (Clervaux, Diekirch, Echternach, Grevenmacher, Remich, and Vianden), and Belgium (Wallonia). Within Germany it neighbours Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Northrhine-Westphalia, and the Saarland. It is the ninth largest state by area. Rhineland-Palatinate is part of the SaarLorLux euregion.
Rhineland
In spite of its dismembered condition and the sufferings it underwent at the hands of its French neighbors in various periods of warfare, the Rhenish territory prospered greatly and stood in the foremost rank of German culture and progress. Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine played a large role in German history.
Rhinau
The village of Rhinau is situated on the Rhine about 30 kilometers sound of Strasbourg. It is a notable city in that it has 997 hectares of territory on the right bank of the Rhine, in Germany. These 997 hectares are thus managed under German sovereignty, but, "de facto" run by the commune of Rhinau. This is due to a meander of the Rhine in 1541, and was made note of in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 as the Thirty Years Wars was brought to a close.
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
The Versailles Treaty also stipulated that Allied military forces would withdraw from the Rhineland by 1935. However, the German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann announced in 1929 that Germany would not ratify the 1928 Young Plan for continuing to pay reparations unless the Allies agreed to leave the Rhineland in 1930. The British delegation at the Hague Conference on German reparations in 1929 proposed that reparations paid by Germany be reduced and that British and French forces should evacuate the Rhineland. The last British soldiers left in late 1929 and the last French soldiers left in June 1930. As long as the French continued to occupy the Rhineland, the Rhineland functioned as a form of "collateral" under which the French could respond to any German attempt at overt rearmament by annexing the Rhineland. Once the last French soldiers left the Rhineland in June 1930, it could no longer play its "collateral" role, thus opening the door for German rearmament. The French decision to build the Maginot Line in 1929 was a tacit French admission that it was only a matter of time before German rearmament on a massive scale would begin sometime in the 1930s and that the Rhineland was going to be remilitarized sooner or later. Intelligence from the "Deuxième Bureau" indicated that Germany had been violating Versailles continuously all though the 1920s with the considerable help of the Soviet Union, and with the French troops out of the Rhineland, it could only be expected that Germany would become more open about violating Versailles. The Maginot Line in its turn lessened the importance of the Rhineland's demilitarized status from a French security viewpoint.
Geography of Liechtenstein
The principality of Liechtenstein encompasses most of the eastern half of the Rhine Valley, wedged between Austria and Switzerland. Majority of the country's population is found in the western half along the Rhine River. Along with Uzbekistan, Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world.
Rhine
Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in the Migration period, by the 5th century establishing the kingdoms of Francia on the Lower Rhine, Burgundy on the Upper Rhine and Alemannia on the High Rhine. This "Germanic Heroic Age" is reflected in medieval legend, such as the "Nibelungenlied" which tells of the hero Siegfried killing a dragon on the Drachenfels (Siebengebirge) ("dragons rock"), near Bonn at the Rhine and of the Burgundians and their court at Worms, at the Rhine and Kriemhild's golden treasure, which was thrown into the Rhine by Hagen.
Naheland
The southern foothills of the Hunsrück and the northern North Palatine Uplands on either side of the Nahe are both described as the "Naheland". 
The Naheland extends for about 80 km from west to east from the source of the river in the Saarland to its mouth on the Rhine in the town of Bingen. Whilst the narrow strip of land in the west is covered by woods and agricultural land, vineyards of the Nahe wine region dominate the wider eastern section.
Rhine
The flow of cold, grey mountain water continues for some distance into the lake. The cold water flows near the surface and at first doesn't mix with the warmer, green waters of Upper Lake. But then, at the so-called "Rheinbrech", the Rhine water abruptly falls into the depths because of the greater density of cold water. The flow reappears on the surface at the northern (German) shore of the lake, off the island of Lindau. The water then follows the northern shore until Hagnau am Bodensee. A small fraction of the flow is diverted off the island of Mainau into Lake Überlingen. Most of the water flows via the "Constance hopper" into the "Rheinrinne" ("Rhine Gutter") and Seerhein. Depending on the water level, this flow of the Rhine water is clearly visible along the entire length of the lake.
Rheinhessen (wine region)
Rheinhessen (in English often Rhine-Hesse or Rhenish Hesse) is the largest of 13 German wine regions ("Weinanbaugebiete") for quality wines ("QbA" and "Prädikatswein") with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Despite its historic name it is currently no longer part of the federal-state of Hesse, this being the case since the end of World War II. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to legally reunite the former wine growing districts of Mainz on the hessian side during the post-war area. Rheinhessen produces mostly white wine from a variety of grapes, particularly Müller-Thurgau (4.320 ha), Riesling (3.769 ha) and Silvaner (2.467 ha), and is best known as the home of Liebfraumilch, although some previously underrated Rieslings are also made, increasingly in a powerful dry style.
States of Germany
The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is uniquely divided into two area associations ("Landschaftsverbände"), one for the Rhineland, and one for Westphalia-Lippe. This arrangement was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally different regions into a single state after World War II. The "Landschaftsverbände" now have very little power.
Franconian languages
Not all Dutch dialects are contained in the Rhineland; moreover, historical Franconian, which comprises other aspects of the language of the Franks, was spoken also in the lowlands. Dutch is spoken between the Rhineland and the North Sea. A second definition extends the range of Franconian to include the lowlands to the west, to the east all the way to Bamberg in East Franconia, and to the south as far as, and including, Alsace, far from the Rhineland. In all, in this definition, the Franconian language area consists of the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg), parts of France (e.g. the Dunkirk district and half of Lorraine), and West-Central Germany (around Aachen, Cologne and Trier), as well as all of the former Franconia. In addition to these continental dialects, Franconian includes two overseas dialects: Afrikaans spoken in South Africa and the Pennsylvania German language spoken in North America.
Leiningerland
The region does not have a uniform topography, but shares in three geological features: the Central Uplands, the Rhine Rift Valley and the Rhine Plain. the Leiningerland extends from the northeastern foothills of the Palatine Forest in the west across the northern part of the German Wine Road near Grünstadt to Dirmstein in the east, where the vineyards spread out into the Upper Rhine Plain. The village of Dirmstein itself, which is today included in the Leinigerland, was never owned by the House of Leiningen, however.
Hirschfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate
Beginning in 1794, Hirschfeld lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine-Hesse () is a region and a former government district (Regierungsbezirk) in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, made up of those territories west of the Upper Rhine river that from 1816 were part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and of the People's State of Hesse until 1945. The hilly countryside is largely devoted to vineyards, comprising the Rheinhessen wine region.
German football league system
The Rhineland Football Association league system is one of two state association league systems in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, covering its northern part, and starts at level six of the German league system with the Rheinlandliga on top. The current (2016–17 season) champions are FV Engers 07. The champions are directly promoted to Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar.
Ahr Valley
The Ahr valley () is named after the Ahr, a left tributary of the Rhine in Germany. It begins at the Ahr spring ("Ahrquelle") in Blankenheim in the county of Euskirchen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and runs generally eastwards. At its southernmost point it enters the county of Ahrweiler, and hence the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Running through the collective municipality of Adenau the valley bends northeast at its confluence with the Adenauer Bach and reaches the collective municipality of Altenahr, from where it resumes its characteristic west to east course, albeit interrupted by meanders. Here begins the section that is known as the Ahr valley ("Ahrtal") in a touristic sense. Here it is characterized by vineyards on the south-facing slopes and a picturesque rocky landscape, carved out by the river creating a 300 metre deep gorge in the Ahr Hills. In the next stage the Ahr reaches the area of the county town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, before finally discharging into the Rhine south of Remagen in the borough of Sinzig.
History of North Rhine-Westphalia
In 1920, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and administered by the League of Nations until a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to the German Reich. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking Community of Belgium). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided into the newly founded states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Rhine Province
For purposes of administration the province was divided into the five districts ("Regierungsbezirke") of Koblenz, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Aachen and Trier. Koblenz was the official capital, though Cologne was the largest and most important city. Being a frontier province, the Rhineland was strongly garrisoned, and the Rhine was guarded by the three strong fortresses of Cologne with Deutz, Koblenz with Ehrenbreitstein, and Wesel. The province sent 35 members to the German Reichstag and 62 to the Prussian House of Representatives.
Rhenish nationalism
In the postwar reorganization of German states, the Rhineland was divided among the new states of North Rhine–Westphalia, Rhineland–Palatinate and the Saarland, while the exclaved district of Wetzlar became part of Hesse. The districts of Eupen and Malmedy had been incorporated into Belgium in 1925.
Rhineland, Missouri
Rhineland is located at (38.718143, -91.517776).
Rheingau
The Rheingau (literally "Rhine District") consists of the district on the Northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district. It is famous for Rheingau wines, especially the "Rheingauer Riesling," and its many taverns.
Rheinwesterwald Volcanic Ridge
The Rheinwesterwald Volcanic Ridge (), or more rarely, the Asberg Plateau ("Asberg-Hochfläche") is a hill ridge and natural region, roughly 13 kilometres long and 3 to 4 kilometres wide, in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and south of North Rhine-Westphalia west of the Rhine, which is adjoined in the south by the Siebengebirge. The name was introduced in the late 1950s together with the natural regional major unit of Niederwesterwald.
Rhineland
At the Peace of Basel in 1795, the whole of the left bank of the Rhine was taken by France. The population was about 1.6 million in numerous small states. In 1806, the Rhenish princes all joined the Confederation of the Rhine, a puppet of Napoleon. France took direct control of the Rhineland until 1814 and radically and permanently liberalized the government, society and economy. The Coalition of France's enemies made repeated efforts to retake the region, but France repelled all the attempts.
Saarland
Saarland is located in western Germany covering an area of and a population of 995,600 (2015), the smallest German state in both area and population apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. Saarbrücken is the state capital and largest city, while other major cities include Neunkirchen and Saarlouis. Saarland is surrounded by France to the west and south and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the north and east.
Lower Rhine Plain
The Lower Rhine Plain (German: "Niederrheinisches Tiefland") is one of the natural regions of Germany and lies on either side of the Rhine north of the city of Düsseldorf.
Evangelical Church in the Rhineland
Protestant Church in the Rhineland (; EKiR) is a United Protestant church body in parts of the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse (Wetzlar). This is actually the area covered by the former Prussian Rhine Province until 1920.
Rhenish Republic
The Rhenish Republic is best understood as the aspiration of a poorly focused liberation struggle. The name was one applied by the short-lived separatist movement that erupted in the German Rhineland during the politically turbulent years following Germany's defeat in the First World War. The objectives of the many different separatist groups ranged widely, from the foundation of an autonomous republic to some sort of change in the status of the Rhineland within the Weimar Republic. Others advocated full integration of the Rhineland into France. Similar political currents were stirring in the south: June 1919 had seen the proclamation by Eberhard Haaß of the "Pfälzische Republik", centred on Speyer in the occupied territory of the Bavarian Palatinate.
Rhineland-Palatinate
The provisional French government at that time wanted originally to leave the option open of annexing further areas west of the Rhine after the Saarland was turned into a protectorate. When the Americans and British, however, had led the way with the establishment of German federal states, the French came under increasing pressure and eventually followed their example by setting up the states of Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the French military government forbade the Saarland joining Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz was named as the state capital in the regulation; the "Mixed Commission" ("Gemischte Kommission"), named as the highest organ of state charged with the administration of the new state and with the preparation of an advisory state assembly, started its work in Mainz. However, war damage and destruction meant that Mainz did not have enough administrative buildings; so the headquarters of the state government and parliament was provisionally established in Koblenz. On 22 November 1946 the constituent meeting of the Advisory State Assembly ("Beratende Landesversammlung") took place there, and a draft constitution was drawn up. Previously there had been local elections. Wilhelm Boden was (after a short term of office as the "Oberregierungspräsident" of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau) nominated on 2 December as the minister president of the new state by the French military government.
Rhinelandic
Rhinelandic is a term occasionally used for linguistic varieties of a region on both sides of the Middle and Lower Rhine river in Central West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It has at least two distinct meanings which often can only be determined from the fine grain context in which the term is used. (This could be complicated at times since in German publications, local languages of villages or cities are commonly referred to as "the dialects" or "dialect", whereas the regiolects, which are dialects of Low German or High German in a linguistic sense, are hardly called so, but referred to using terms like "Rhinelandic", "Hessian," or "Bavarian", etc., that also name large compounds of related local languages
) One of the meanings of "Rhinelandic" is that of a group of local languages in an area called the Rhineland. Another meaning is that of the regiolect being used by the people approximately of the same area.
Rhineland
In 1945, the Rhineland was the scene of major fighting as the Allied invaders overwhelmed the German defenders.
Leiningerland
The Leiningerland is an historic landscape in the Palatinate region in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is named after an aristocratic family that used to be the most important in the region, the House of Leiningen.
Saarland
People in the Saarland speak Rhine Franconian (in the southeast, very similar to that dialect spoken in the western part of the Palatinate) and Moselle Franconian (in the northwest, very similar to that dialect spoken along the Moselle River and the cities of Trier or even in Luxembourg). Outside of the Saarland, specifically the Rhine-Franconian variant spoken in the state capital Saarbrücken is generally considered to be "the" Saarland dialect. The two dialect regions are mainly separated by the "das / dat" isogloss; in the northwestern portion of the state, including cities such as Saarlouis, standard German "das" is pronounced with a final [t] instead of an [s].
Franks
The Rhineland Franks who lived near the stretch of the Rhine from roughly Mainz to Duisburg, the region of the city of Cologne, are often considered separately from the Salians, and sometimes in modern texts referred to as Ripuarian Franks. The Ravenna Cosmography suggests that "Francia Renensis" included the old "civitas" of the Ubii, in Germania II (Germania Inferior), but also the northern part of Germania I (Germania Superior), including Mainz. Like the Salians they appear in Roman records both as raiders and as contributors to military units. Unlike the Salii, there is no record of when, if ever, the empire officially accepted their residence within the empire. They eventually succeeded to hold the city of Cologne, and at some point seem to have acquired the name Ripuarians, which may have meant "river people". In any case a Merovingian legal code was called the "Lex Ribuaria", but it probably applied in all the older Frankish lands, including the original Salian areas.
Die Wacht am Rhein
Today, the lands along the western bank of the Rhine between Switzerland and the Netherlands are mainly part of Germany. The Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia are German federal states; Alsace and northern Lorraine are parts of France with a German cultural element to them. The French–German enmity was ended in 1963 with the Élysée Treaty and the implementation of the Franco–German friendship, so that the danger of an invasion that loomed for centuries over both nations no longer exists. Today, the song has only historical significance in Germany and is rarely sung or played. However, singer Heino has performed it on a record.
The song has figured in stage works and films.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate (, ) is a state of Germany.
Rhinelander rabbit
The Rhinelander first appeared in shows in 1902 in Germany, after initially being bred in North Rhine-Westphalia. They were developed from a cross between a Harlequin buck and a gray papillon type doe. A buck from the litter had the markings that the Rhinelander would come to be known for - black and orange in color, located on the chin, ears and "butterfly markings" in black on one side and orange on the other. Another cross was made between the Harlequin buck and a Checkered Giant doe, with the resulting litter producing a doe with the desired markings. The buck from the first litter and the doe from the second litter were mated, and does from the resulting litters were crossed with Harlequin bucks to create the Rhinelander breed. In 1905, a German breed standard was created, and they were given the German name "Rheinishe Schecke". In 1924, the first rabbits were exported to the Netherlands and England. Although initially very popular, the initial interest soon dwindled, along with breeder numbers. Selective breeding for color markings, as required by the breed standard, was beyond the skill of many breeders; this, combined with the athletic, rather than meat-producing, conformation, resulted by 1930 in only a few breeders continuing to preserve the breed. Interest reemerged in post-World War II Germany, however, and population numbers again grew, with the Rhinelander becoming the most popular spotted breed in the country by 1978.
Witzhelden
Witzhelden is part of the "Rheinisch-Bergische Kreis" a larger district that forms the western part of the "Bergisches Land", where the hills of the Sauerland descend into the Rhine valley. From the Medieval era to the Napoleonic Wars (1100-1805), the Bergisches Land was the territory of the County (Grafschaft) and Duchy (Herzogtum) of Berg. Starting in 1816, the Rhineland provinces became districts of Prussia.
Rijnland
When used in the specific Dutch context, "Rijnland" generally refers to the area around the Oude Rijn, the lower reaches of a minor branch of the Rhine river in the Netherlands. This river is referred to as "Rijn" (Rhine) in the Netherlands for historical reasons. This small, heavily-canalised and remote branch of the Rhine was, in fact, the river that the Romans used to call the Rhine and the northern limit of the Roman Empire in this area. The term "Rijnland" is itself ancient.
Rhenish Hesse
The region comprises the cities of Mainz – the Rhineland-Palatinate capital – and Worms, surrounded by the administrative districts of Mainz-Bingen and Alzey-Worms. Other towns include Bingen, Alzey, Nieder-Olm, Ingelheim, Nierstein, Oppenheim, and Osthofen. Many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz or Wiesbaden and Frankfurt in the neighbouring state of Hesse.
Ripuarian Franks
Few historical details are known before the Rhineland kingdom eventually became an important part of the Merovingian Frankish empire in the sub-kingdom known as Austrasia, which also included the original Germanic speaking Salian region. Austrasia included not only the Rhineland-Palatinate, but apparently the whole of the Germania Inferior (re-named in the late Roman empire as Germania II) and Gallia Belgica II. The border between Austrasia and Neustria was the Silva Carbonaria in modern Wallonia, but the exact definition of this forest region is now unclear.
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
Under Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles—imposed on Germany by the Allies after the Great War—Germany was "forbidden to maintain or construct any fortification either on the Left bank of the Rhine or on the Right bank to the west of a line drawn fifty kilometers to the East of the Rhine". If a violation "in any manner whatsoever" of this Article took place, this "shall be regarded as committing a hostile act...and as calculated to disturb the peace of the world".
The Locarno Treaties, signed in October 1925 by Germany, France, Italy and Britain, stated that the Rhineland should continue its demilitarized status permanently. Locarno was regarded as important as it was a voluntary German acceptance of the Rhineland's demilitarized status as opposed to the "diktat" (dictate) of Versailles. Under the terms of Locarno, Britain and Italy guaranteed the Franco-German border and the continued demilitarized status of the Rhineland against a "flagrant violation" without however defining what constituted a "flagrant violation". Under the terms of Locarno, if Germany should attempt to attack France, then Britain and Italy were obliged to go to France's aid and likewise, if France should attack Germany, then Britain and Italy would be obliged to Germany's aid. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg called the demilitarized status of the Rhineland the "single most important guarantee of peace in Europe" as it made it impossible for Germany to attack its neighbors in the West and as the demilitarized zone rendered Germany defenseless in the West, impossible to attack its neighbors in the East as it left Germany open to a devastating French offensive if the "Reich" tried to invade any of the states guaranteed by the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, the so-called "Cordon sanitaire".
Rhine
By the 6th century, the Rhine was within the borders of Francia.
In the 9th, it formed part of the border between Middle and Western Francia,
but in the 10th century, it was fully within the Holy Roman Empire, flowing through Swabia, Franconia and Lower Lorraine. The mouths of the Rhine, in the county of Holland, fell to the Burgundian Netherlands in the 15th century; Holland remained contentious territory throughout the European wars of religion and the eventual collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, when the length of the Rhine fell to the First French Empire and its client states. The Alsace on the left banks of the Upper Rhine was sold to Burgundy by Archduke Sigismund of Austria in 1469 and eventually fell to France in the Thirty Years' War. The numerous historic castles in Rhineland-Palatinate attest to the importance of the river as a commercial route.
Since the Peace of Westphalia, the Upper Rhine formed a contentious border between France and Germany. Establishing "natural borders" on the Rhine was a long-term goal of French foreign policy, since the Middle Ages, though the language border was – and is – far more to the west. French leaders, such as Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte, tried with varying degrees of success to annex lands west of the Rhine. The Confederation of the Rhine was established by Napoleon, as a French client state, in 1806 and lasted until 1814, during which time it served as a significant source of resources and military manpower for the First French Empire. In 1840, the Rhine crisis, prompted by French prime minister Adolphe Thiers desire to reinstate the Rhine as a natural border, led to a diplomatic crisis and a wave of nationalism in Germany.
Jülich-Zülpich Börde
The Jülich-Zülpich Börde () is a landscape in the Rhineland in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the northern edge of the Eifel. It forms the western part of the Lower Rhine Bay, west of the Rhine, excluding the actual Cologne Lowland, from which it is separated by the ridge of the Ville. It is divided into the Jülich Börde ("Jülicher Börde") around the town of Jülich in the north and the Zülpich Börde ("Zülpicher Börde") around the town of Zülpich in the south, the two areas being separated from one another by the Bürge forest. Both parts are natural region major units of the Lower Rhine Bay.
Rhine
In the centre of Basel, the first major city in the course of the stream, is located the "Rhine knee"; this is a major bend, where the overall direction of the Rhine changes from west to north. Here the High Rhine ends. Legally, the Central Bridge is the boundary between High and Upper Rhine. The river now flows north as Upper Rhine through the Upper Rhine Plain, which is about 300 km long and up to 40 km wide. The most important tributaries in this area are the Ill below of Strasbourg, the Neckar in Mannheim and the Main across from Mainz. In Mainz, the Rhine leaves the Upper Rhine Valley and flows through the Mainz Basin.
The southern half of the Upper Rhine forms the border between France (Alsace) and Germany (Baden-Württemberg). The northern part forms the border between the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate in the west on the one hand, and Baden-Württemberg and Hesse on the other hand, in the east and north. A curiosity of this border line is that the parts of the city of Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine were given to Hesse by the occupying forces in 1945.
Rhine Railway (Baden)
The Rhine Railway () is a railway line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, running from Mannheim via Karlsruhe to Rastatt, partly built as a strategic railway and formerly continuing to Haguenau in Alsace, now in France.
Rhineland
In 1920, under massive French pressure, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and administered by the League of Nations until a plebiscite in 1935, when the region was returned to Germany. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking Community of Belgium).
Mainz
Mainz (; ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The city is located on the Rhine river at its confluence with the Main river, opposite Wiesbaden on the border with Hesse. Mainz is an independent city with a population of 206,628 (2015) and forms part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region.
House of Wied-Neuwied
Wied was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located on the river Wied where it meets the Rhine. Wied emerged as a County earlier than many other German states. From 1243–1462, Wied was united with an Isenburgian County as Isenburg-Wied. Wied was partitioned twice: between itself and Wied-Dierdorf in 1631, and between Wied-Neuwied and Wied-Runkel in 1698.
Rhineland
A Prussian influence began on a small scale in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves. A century later, Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian. The Congress of Vienna expelled the French and assigned the whole of the lower Rhenish districts to Prussia, who left them in undisturbed possession of the liberal institutions to which they had become accustomed under the French. The Rhine Province remained part of Prussia after Germany was unified in 1871.
Westphalian Lowland
The Westphalian Lowland, also known as the Westphalian Basin is a flat landscape that mainly lies within the German region of Westphalia, although small areas also fall within North Rhine (in the extreme southwest) and in Lower Saxony (on the northern periphery). Together with the neighbouring Lower Rhine Plain to the west, it represents the second most southerly region of the North German Plain, after the Cologne Bight. It is variously known in German as the "Westfälische Bucht" (Westphalian Bay), the "Münsterländer" or "Westfälische Tieflands-" or "Flachlandsbucht" (Münsterland or Westphalian Lowland or Plain).
Rhine Campaign of 1795
The Rhine formed the boundary between the German states of the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbors, principally France, but also Switzerland and the Netherlands. Any attack by either party required control of the crossings. At Basel, where the river makes a wide, northerly turn at the Rhine knee, it enters what the locals colloquially call "the Rhine Ditch" ("Rheingraben"). This forms part of a rift valley some wide bordered by the mountainous Black Forest on the east (German side) and the Vosges mountains on the west (French side). At the far edges of the eastern flood plain, tributaries cut deep defiles into the western slope of the mountains. Further to the north, the river became deeper and faster, until it widened into a delta where it emptied into the North Sea.
Rhine
About 11000 years ago, the Rhine estuary was in the Strait of Dover. There remained some dry land in the southern North Sea, known as Doggerland, connecting mainland Europe to Britain. About 9000 years ago, that last divide was overtopped / dissected. Man was already resident in the area when these events happened.
Rhine
The Rhine (, , , , , ) is a European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the German Rhineland and the Netherlands and eventually empties into the North Sea.
Rhineland
The Rhineland (, , Latinised name: "Rhenania") is the name used for a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Appeasement
Under the Versailles Settlement, the Rhineland was demilitarized. Germany accepted this arrangement under the Locarno Treaties of 1925. Hitler claimed that it threatened Germany and on 7 March 1936 he sent German forces into the Rhineland. He gambled on Britain not getting involved but was unsure how France would react. The action was opposed by many of his advisers. His officers had orders to withdraw if they met French resistance. France consulted Britain and lodged protests with the League, but took no action. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin said that Britain lacked the forces to back its guarantees to France and that in any case, public opinion would not allow it. In Britain, it was thought that the Germans were merely walking into "their own backyard". Hugh Dalton, a Labour Party MP who usually advocated stiff resistance to Germany, said that neither the British people nor Labour would support military or economic sanctions. In the Council of the League, only the Soviet Union proposed sanctions against Germany. Hitler was invited to negotiate. He proposed a non-aggression pact with the Western powers. When asked for details he did not reply. Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland had persuaded him that the international community would not resist him and put Germany in a powerful strategic position.
Rhineland-Palatinate
On 10 July 1945 the occupation authority on the soil of the present-day Rhineland-Palatinate transferred from the Americans to the French. To begin with, the French divided the region provisionally into two "upper presidiums" ("Oberpräsidien"), Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau (for the hitherto Prussian government districts and regions of Koblenz, Trier, and Montabaur) and Hesse-Palatinate (for the hitherto Bavarian Palatinate and old Hessian-Darmstadt province of Rhenish Hesse). The formation of the state was ordained on 30 August 1946, the last state in the Western Zone of Occupation to be established, by Regulation No. 57 of the French military government under General Marie-Pierre Kœnig. It was initially called Rhenish-Palatinate ("Rheinpfälzisches Land" or "Land Rheinpfalz"); the name Rhineland-Palatinate ("Rheinland-Pfalz") was first confirmed in the constitution of 18 May 1947.
Rhineland
Toponyms as well as local family names often trace back to the Frankish heritage. The lands on the western shore of the Rhine are strongly characterized by Roman influence, including viticulture. In the core territories, large parts of the population are members of the Catholic Church.
Rhineland-Palatinate
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded shortly after the Second World War on 30 August 1946. It was formed mainly from the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province (the "Regierungsbezirke" of Koblenz and Trier), from Rhenish Hesse, from the western part of Nassau and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate minus the county of Saarpfalz. The Joint German-Luxembourg Sovereign Region ("Gemeinschaftliches deutsch-luxemburgisches Hoheitsgebiet") is the only unincorporated area of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This condominium is formed by the rivers Moselle, Sauer, and Our, where they run along the border between Luxembourg and Rhineland-Palatinate or the Saarland.
Hesse
The term "Rhenish Hesse" () refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine. It has not been part of the State of Hessen since 1946 due to divisions in the aftermath of World War II. This province is now part of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a hilly countryside largely devoted to vineyards; therefore, it is also called the "land of the thousand hills". Its larger towns include Mainz, Worms, Bingen, Alzey, Nieder-Olm, and Ingelheim. Many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz, Wiesbaden, or Frankfurt.
Naheland
The Naheland is the landscape on either side of the river Nahe in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Rhine
Three countries border the Obersee, namely Switzerland in the south, Austria in the southeast and the German states of Bavaria in the northeast and Baden-Württemberg in the north and northwest.
Westerwald
The Westerwald (; literally 'Western Forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ("Rheinisches Schiefergebirge" or Rhenish Slate Mountains). Its highest elevation, at 657 m above sea level, is the Fuchskaute in the High Westerwald.
Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Rhinelander is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,798 at the 2010 census.
Rhineland
At the earliest historical period, the territories between the Ardennes and the Rhine were occupied by the Treveri, the Eburones and other Celtic tribes, who, however, were all more or less modified and influenced by their Germanic neighbors. On the East bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn, were the settlements of the Mattiaci, a branch of the Germanic Chatti, while farther to the north were the Usipetes and Tencteri.
Palatinate (region)
The Palatinate borders on Saarland in the west, historically also comprising the state's Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with the Rhineland region. The eastern border with Hesse and the Baden region runs along the Upper Rhine river, while the left bank, with Mainz and Worms as well as the Selz basin around Alzey, belong to the Rhenish Hesse region. In the south, the German-French border separates the Palatinate from Alsace.
Politics of Rhineland-Palatinate
The politics of Rhineland-Palatinate takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Rhineland-Palatinate. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
Rhine
The Lower Rhine flows through North Rhine-Westphalia. Its banks are usually heavily populated and industrialized, in particular the agglomerations Cologne, Düsseldorf and Ruhr area. Here the Rhine flows through the largest conurbation in Germany, the Rhine-Ruhr region. One of the most important cities in this region is Duisburg with the largest river port in Europe (Duisport). The region downstream of Duisburg is more agricultural. In Wesel, 30 km downstream of Duisburg, is located the western end of the second east-west shipping route, the Wesel-Datteln Canal, which runs parallel to the Lippe. Between Emmerich and Cleves the Emmerich Rhine Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Germany, crosses the river. Near Krefeld, the river crosses the Uerdingen line, the line which separates the areas where Low German and High German are spoken.
Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park
The Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park () is a nature park in Germany that covers an area of around 470 km² to the east of the River Rhine and in the north of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate between Neuwied and Unkel. It extends from the Rhine over its eastern bank terraces up to the first hill ridge of the Lower Westerwald. The Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park is over 50 years old, making it the oldest one in Germany. It was founded in 1962 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012. Its legal owner is the society of "Naturpark Rhein-Westerwald."
Rhineland
By the time of Emperor Otto I (d. 973) both banks of the Rhine had become part of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 959 the Rhenish territory was divided between the duchies of Upper Lorraine, on the Mosel, and Lower Lorraine on the Meuse.