When was Rhineland-Palatinate established?

Rhineland-Palatinate was established in 1946 after World War II from territory of the historically separate regions of the Free State of Prussia, People's State of Hesse, and Bavaria, by the French military administration in Allied-occupied Germany. Rhineland-Palatinate became part of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, and shared the country's only border with the Saar Protectorate until it was returned to German control in 1957. Rhineland-Palatinate has since developed its own identity built on its natural and cultural heritage, including the extensive Palatinate winegrowing region, its picturesque landscapes, and many castles and palaces.

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate (, ) is a state of Germany.

Rhineland-Palatinate is located in western Germany covering an area of and a population of 4.05 million inhabitants, the seventh-most populous German state. Mainz is the state capital and largest city, while other major cities include Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Koblenz, Trier, Kaiserslautern, and Worms. Rhineland-Palatinate is surrounded by the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg, and Hesse. It also borders three foreign countries: France, Luxembourg and Belgium.

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.

The present state of Rhineland-Palatinate formed part of the French Zone of Occupation (1945-1949) after the Second World War. It comprised the former Bavarian Palatinate, the "Regierungsbezirke" ("government districts") of Koblenz and Trier of the old Prussian Rhine Province, those parts of the Province of Rhenish Hesse ("Rheinhessen") west of the River Rhine and belonging to the People's State of Hesse ("Volksstaat Hessen"), parts of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau (Montabaur) and the former Oldenburg region around Birkenfeld (Principality of Birkenfeld).

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.

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.

Adolf Süsterhenn submitted a draft constitution to the Advisory State Assembly, which was passed after several rounds of negotiation on 25 April 1947 in a final vote with the absolute majority of the CDU voting for and the SPD and KPD voting against it. One of the reasons for this was that the draft constitution made provision for separate schools based on Christian denomination. On 18 May 1947, the Constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate was adopted by 53 percent of the electorate in a referendum. While the Catholic north and west of the new state adopted the constitution by a majority, it was rejected by the majority in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate. On the same date, the first elections took place for the state parliament, the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The inaugural assembly of parliament took place on 4 June 1947 in the large city hall at Koblenz. Wilhelm Boden was elected the first minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate. Just one month later, Peter Altmeier succeeded him.

The constitutional bodies, the Government ("Landesregierung"), the Parliament ("Landtag") and the Constitutional Court ("Verfassungsgerichtshof"), established their provisional seat in Koblenz. In the following period, Koblenz and Mainz emphasized their suitability as the state capital in a public debate. From the very beginning, Minister-President Altmeier pressed for Mainz as the capital because he knew that the south of the country, especially the Palatinate, would not accept Koblenz, which was far to the north and formerly Prussian. On 16 May 1950, the "Landtag" decided to relocate itself and the "Landregierung" from Koblenz to Mainz. After the government and parliament moved to Mainz, many state authorities and courts remained in Koblenz, including the Constitutional Court and the State Archives. In addition, the German Federal Archives and Federal Office of Hydrology were established in Koblenz in 1952.

A sense of community developed only very gradually in the "land of the retort", which had been established largely without regard to the historical affiliations of its inhabitants. It was given little chance of survival, especially as it had very few large industrial centres. However, the establishment of numerous military bases, both Allied and Bundeswehr, helped to some extent to boost the economy. In 1956, under Article 29 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, petitions were made in the regions of Koblenz, Trier, Montabaur, Rhenish Hesse, and Palatinate for their incorporation into the respective states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg. All petitions for a referendum except those in the administrative district of Palatinate won the necessary majority; however, almost 20 years passed before the referenda finally took place. On 19 January 1975, none of the regions concerned returned a majority for being transferred to another state. This put an end to decades of discussion. Only the AKK conflict, a dispute over the districts of Mainz-Amöneburg, Mainz-Kastel, and Mainz-Kostheim, has continued to exercise politicians up to the present day.

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.

With 42% of its area covered by forests it is the most forested state along with Hesse. The state's major rivers are the Rhine, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Middle Rhine, and the Moselle. There are several crater lakes of volcanic origin in the Eifel, the biggest of which is the Laacher See.

The Rhenish Massif forms roughly the northern half of the state, including the regions Eifel, Moselle Valley, Hunsrück, Westerwald, and parts of the Taunus. The Palatinate forms the biggest part of the southern half along with Rhenish Hesse. The Nahe Valley separates both parts.

The following table shows the ten largest cities of Rhineland-Palatinate:
, 41.7% of the population of the state adhered to the Roman Catholic Church and 28.0% to the Evangelical Church in Germany. 30.3% of the population is irreligious or adheres to other religions. Muslims made up 2.5% of the total.

The league of ShUM-cities in the later Rhineland-Palatinate comprised the Jewish communities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. The Takkanot Shum (), or Enactments of ShU"M were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders.

Rhineland-Palatinate leads all German states with an export rate of approximately 50%. Important sectors are the winegrowing industry, chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, and auto parts industry. "Distinctive regional industries" includes gemstone industry, ceramic and glass industry, and leather industry. Small and medium enterprises are considered the "backbone" of the economy in Rhineland-Palatinate. The principal employer is the chemical and plastics processing industry, which is represented by BASF in Ludwigshafen. Boehringer, Joh. A. Benckiser, SGE Deutsche Holding, and Schott Glassworks conclude the top 5 companies in the state.

Rhineland-Palatinate is Germany's leading producer of wine in terms of grape cultivation and wine export. Its capital, Mainz, may be called the capital of the German wine industry, being the home of the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund in the "" (House of German Wine), and the Wine Bourse, which brings together the top winemakers of Germany and the wine merchants of the world.

Of thirteen wine regions producing quality wine in Germany, six (,,,,, and ) are located in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 65% to 70% of the production of wine grapes in Germany having their origin within the state. 13,000 wine producers generate 80% to 90% of the German wine export, which was 2.6 million hectoliters in 2003.

Traditional grape varieties and a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region.

Classical white varieties are cultivated at. These comprise the famous Rieslings, (), (), and ().

The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades and amounts to., a new cultivar, is the leading red grape cultivated on, which is more than a third. () and () show also appreciable cultivated shares.

In addition,,, Chardonnay as white varieties and Regent and St. Laurent as red varieties have been increasing their share, as the growing conditions improve in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The state supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers () of the land. The Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding is fully financed by the state. Many well known new breeds such as, Bacchus, Optima, and Regent have been created in these institutes.

The worldwide leader in sparkling wine production, producing 245 million bottles in 2006, is the renowned Group. This company is headquartered in Trier, with operations in several locations in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Other renowned sparkling wine producers such as,, and also had their roots in the region, but now belong to companies outside the state as a result of business consolidation.

The unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in October 2018 and was lower than the German average.

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate (, ) is a state of Germany.

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.

With 42% of its area covered by forests it is the most forested state along with Hesse. The state's major rivers are the Rhine, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Middle Rhine, and the Moselle. There are several crater lakes of volcanic origin in the Eifel, the biggest of which is the Laacher See.

The Rhenish Massif forms roughly the northern half of the state, including the regions Eifel, Moselle Valley, Hunsrück, Westerwald, and parts of the Taunus. The Palatinate forms the biggest part of the southern half along with Rhenish Hesse. The Nahe Valley separates both parts.

The following table shows the ten largest cities of Rhineland-Palatinate:
, 41.7% of the population of the state adhered to the Roman Catholic Church and 28.0% to the Evangelical Church in Germany. 30.3% of the population is irreligious or adheres to other religions. Muslims made up 2.5% of the total.

The league of ShUM-cities in the later Rhineland-Palatinate comprised the Jewish communities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. The Takkanot Shum (), or Enactments of ShU"M were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders.

Rhineland-Palatinate is Germany's leading producer of wine in terms of grape cultivation and wine export. Its capital, Mainz, may be called the capital of the German wine industry, being the home of the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund in the "" (House of German Wine), and the Wine Bourse, which brings together the top winemakers of Germany and the wine merchants of the world.

Of thirteen wine regions producing quality wine in Germany, six (,,,,, and ) are located in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 65% to 70% of the production of wine grapes in Germany having their origin within the state. 13,000 wine producers generate 80% to 90% of the German wine export, which was 2.6 million hectoliters in 2003.

Traditional grape varieties and a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region.

Classical white varieties are cultivated at. These comprise the famous Rieslings, (), (), and ().

The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades and amounts to., a new cultivar, is the leading red grape cultivated on, which is more than a third. () and () show also appreciable cultivated shares.

In addition,,, Chardonnay as white varieties and Regent and St. Laurent as red varieties have been increasing their share, as the growing conditions improve in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The state supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers () of the land. The Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding is fully financed by the state. Many well known new breeds such as, Bacchus, Optima, and Regent have been created in these institutes.

The worldwide leader in sparkling wine production, producing 245 million bottles in 2006, is the renowned Group. This company is headquartered in Trier, with operations in several locations in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Other renowned sparkling wine producers such as,, and also had their roots in the region, but now belong to companies outside the state as a result of business consolidation.

The unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in October 2018 and was lower than the German average.

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate (, ) is a state of Germany.

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.

With 42% of its area covered by forests it is the most forested state along with Hesse. The state's major rivers are the Rhine, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Middle Rhine, and the Moselle. There are several crater lakes of volcanic origin in the Eifel, the biggest of which is the Laacher See.

The Rhenish Massif forms roughly the northern half of the state, including the regions Eifel, Moselle Valley, Hunsrück, Westerwald, and parts of the Taunus. The Palatinate forms the biggest part of the southern half along with Rhenish Hesse. The Nahe Valley separates both parts.

The following table shows the ten largest cities of Rhineland-Palatinate:
, 41.7% of the population of the state adhered to the Roman Catholic Church and 28.0% to the Evangelical Church in Germany. 30.3% of the population is irreligious or adheres to other religions. Muslims made up 2.5% of the total.

The league of ShUM-cities in the later Rhineland-Palatinate comprised the Jewish communities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms which became the center of Jewish life during Medieval times. The Takkanot Shum (), or Enactments of ShU"M were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders.

Rhineland-Palatinate is Germany's leading producer of wine in terms of grape cultivation and wine export. Its capital, Mainz, may be called the capital of the German wine industry, being the home of the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund in the "" (House of German Wine), and the Wine Bourse, which brings together the top winemakers of Germany and the wine merchants of the world.

Of thirteen wine regions producing quality wine in Germany, six (,,,,, and ) are located in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 65% to 70% of the production of wine grapes in Germany having their origin within the state. 13,000 wine producers generate 80% to 90% of the German wine export, which was 2.6 million hectoliters in 2003.

Traditional grape varieties and a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region.

Classical white varieties are cultivated at. These comprise the famous Rieslings, (), (), and ().

The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades and amounts to., a new cultivar, is the leading red grape cultivated on, which is more than a third. () and () show also appreciable cultivated shares.

In addition,,, Chardonnay as white varieties and Regent and St. Laurent as red varieties have been increasing their share, as the growing conditions improve in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The state supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers () of the land. The Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding is fully financed by the state. Many well known new breeds such as, Bacchus, Optima, and Regent have been created in these institutes.

The worldwide leader in sparkling wine production, producing 245 million bottles in 2006, is the renowned Group. This company is headquartered in Trier, with operations in several locations in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Other renowned sparkling wine producers such as,, and also had their roots in the region, but now belong to companies outside the state as a result of business consolidation.

The unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in October 2018 and was lower than the German average.

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 Bundesländer (federal states) of Germany. It has an area of 19,846 km² and about 4.048 million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. The federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate was established on 30 August 1946.

SaarLorLux

SaarLorLux or Saar-Lor-Lux (also "SarLorLux" in French), a portmanteau of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg, is a euroregion of five different regional authorities located in four different European states. The term has also been applied to cooperations of several of these authorities or of their subdivisions, administrations, organisations, clubs and people. Member regions represent different political structures: the sovereign state of Luxembourg; Belgium's Walloon region, comprising the French and German speaking parts of Belgium; Lorraine, a region of France; the French départements Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle; and the German federal states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate.

There is no well-defined structure of SaarLorLux nor even an exclusive definition of its size. Instead, there exist multiple forms of cooperation and contractual relations among all or several members. Sometimes instead of SaarLorLux, the term Greater Region is used, short for the more formal "Greater Region of Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Wallonia and (Western-) Rhineland-Palatinate".

The region of SaarLorLux was settled by the Celtic tribes of the Treveri and Mediomatrici. The Treveri lived in the south of Belgium, Luxembourg, western Rhineland-Palatinate, and northern Saarland. Lorraine and the southern Saarland were inhabited by the Mediomatrici. Both tribes were conquered during the Gallic Wars by the Roman legions of Julius Caesar. The area became part of the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica, Germania Superior, and Germania Inferior.

Barbarian invasions forced the enfeebled Roman Empire to abandon possession of the area in the fifth century. The region became a part of the Frankish Empire. After the death of Louis the Pious in 840, the Carolingians adhered to the Germanic custom of partible inheritance, and the Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the empire into three. Louis's eldest surviving son Lothair I became Emperor of the Romans and ruler of Middle Francia. His three sons in turn divided this kingdom between them into Lotharingia, Burgundy and the Kingdom of Italy (which covered the northern part of the Italian peninsula). The core area of SaarLorLux lies within the borders of Lotharingia. The struggle to gain control over Lotharingia was the cause of centuries of struggle and war between the two other Franconian kingdoms (West and East Francia), which over time evolved into the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire (the predecessor of subsequent German states), with the Holy Roman Empire ultimately gaining control until the 18th century.
From 1384, the then Duchy of Luxembourg and part of Wallonia formed part of what was known as the Burgundian Netherlands, which was inherited by the house of Habsburg in 1482, becoming the Habsburg Netherlands. Although still subject to the Holy Roman Emperor, the Habsburg Netherlands were inherited by Habsburg Spain in 1556 and ruled in a personal union until 1714; thereafter it was ruled by the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, the rulers of which were also the Holy Roman Emperors. The remainder of Wallonia formed part of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, while much of what would become Rhineland-Palatinate was part of the Palatinate, which came under Bavarian control in 1777. Upper Lotharingia evolved into the Duchy of Lorraine while several smaller states came and went over the centuries.

In 1766 the Duchy of Lorraine and most of the surrounding smaller states were annexed by France, leaving the County of Salm and a few exclaves of other HRE states as the only territory within the modern region of Lorraine under Imperial rule. In 1793 Salm was annexed, followed in 1794 by the Southern Netherlands (including Luxembourg and Wallonia). Over the course of the Napoleonic wars, the remainder of the region west of the Rhine (plus Katzenelnbogen, which lies to the east of the Rhine) was annexed to the newly formed French Empire; the rest of modern Rhineland-Palatinate east of the Rhine became part of the Duchy of Nassau (formed from the merger of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg lands), which was a member of Napoleon's puppet Confederation of the Rhine. The wars also saw an end to the Holy Roman Empire.
Following Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna granted most of the Southern Netherlands, including Wallonia, to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Luxembourg was placed in a personal union under the Dutch crown but also made subject to the Holy Roman Empire's successor: the German Confederation. Most of what would become the Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate was split between the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Prussia (also within the German Confederation); the eastern portion of Luxembourg was also ceded to Prussia. The only other states to remain in the region were part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Rhenish Hesse), Hesse-Homburg (which was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1866), the Principality of Lichtenberg (which was sold to Prussia in 1834), the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Duchy of Nassau (which was annexed by Prussia in 1866). The Lorraine region remained in French hands.

In 1830, as a result of the Belgian Revolution, the Kingdom of Belgium declared independence from the Netherlands and also "de facto" annexed the French-speaking portion of Luxembourg (around of its area at that time). This was later recognised in the Treaty of London (1839).
As a result of these events, the inhabitants of the region were on different sides in the Franco Prussian War of 1870–71, which ultimately led to the founding of the German Empire. The new Empire also annexed of part of Lorraine, as well as neighbouring Alsace, as the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Following World War I, this territory was ceded back to France in the Treaty of Versailles, while the "Saargebiet", an area roughly co-extensive with the modern Saarland, was placed under joint British and French control until 1935. Prior to World War II the region was divided by the fortifications of the Maginot line and the Westwall. After World War II, the Saar Protectorate was established under French control until 1957, when it was reunited with (West) Germany, forming the modern state. A small area of Germany adjoining Rhineland-Palatinate was also ceded to Belgium, which was incorporated into Wallonia as the German-speaking community of Belgium.
Today, the greater region is situated along both sides of the border between speakers of the German and French languages. 11,182,975 people live in an area of about 65,400 km. Situated in the center of the European Union, it contains highly populated urban sections along the rivers. These areas include industries, especially mining and steelworking. Rural areas are dominated by agriculture.

Luxembourg is a sovereign nation with full autonomy. Each of the four départements of the French region of Lorraine is twice the size of the whole nation of Luxembourg.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has a population of 476,187 people in an area of 2586 square kilometres (998 sq mi).
Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarchy, ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only sovereign Grand Duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world.

The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union. Luxembourg lies on the cultural divide between Romantic Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; French, German, and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Until 1867, the city of Luxembourg, the Gibraltar of the north, was a federal fortress of the German confederation. In the 20th century, Luxembourg was twice occupied by German armies.
In the middle of the 20th century, the economy of Luxembourg was dominated by the iron and steel industries.
Then, a structural change took place, which transformed the country to an international financial center with more than 200 banks and over 800 financial institutions and insurance companies, generating more than 20% of the GNP of Luxembourg. Today about 66% of workers are employed in the service sector, and less than 2% work in the steel industry.

The German states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate are part of the federal system of Germany. They hold far-ranging authorities, although some decisions concerning international treaties are assigned to the federal government.

Saarland is one of the 16 states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1.051 million inhabitants. In both area and population it is the smallest of the German "Flächenländer" ("area states"), i.e., those that are not City States (Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg).

It is named after the Saar River, which is a tributary of the Moselle River (a Rhine tributary) which runs through the state from the south to the northwest. One third of the land area of the Saarland is covered by forest, one of highest percentages in Germany. The state is generally hilly; the highest mountain is the Dollberg with a height of.

Most inhabitants live in a city agglomeration on the French border that includes the capital of Saarbrücken.

In 1919, Saarland was created from the communes where the steelworks and coal mines were located and the associated workers lived
From 1920 to 1935 and from 1947 to 1956, Saarland was economically affiliated with France.
In 1957, 65,000 persons were employed in 18 coal mines, by 2006 only 6,300 in one mine remained. A comparable process happened with the steelworks.

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.

The Eifel and Hunsrück mountain chains are found on the west bank of the Rhine in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, while the Westerwald and Taunus mountains are found on the east bank. The hilly land in the southernmost region of the state is called the Palatinate forest ("Pfälzerwald").

These mountain chains are separated from each other by tributaries of the Rhine: the Moselle ("Mosel"), the Lahn and the Nahe.

Economically prosperous zones exist along the eastern borders, while in the western part of the state, there are structurally backward, rural regions.

Lorraine is one of the 26 "régions" of France. Its two main cities are Metz (administrative capital) and Nancy. The region's name is derived from the medieval Lotharingia.

Lorraine consists of four départements, Moselle, Meurthe et Moselle, Meuse and Vosges. Each of them is as big as Luxembourg and the Saarland together. Two of these départements, Vosges in the south and Meuse in the west, only have small interests in the SaarLorLux region, because they are far away from the shared border. Together, they have a population of about 2.338 million people on 23,547 km.
Lorraine is part of the centralised administrative system of France. Therefore, many of the decisions necessary for cooperation in the SaarLorLux region have to be cleared through the central government in Paris.

The current "région" of Lorraine is larger than the historical duchy of Lorraine which gradually came under French sovereignty between 1737 and 1766. The modern "région" includes provinces and areas that were historically separate from the duchy of Lorraine proper. These are:

Lorraine borders the French regions of Franche-Comté, Alsace, and Champagne-Ardenne. The location of Lorraine led to it being seen as a strategic asset. As the crossroads of four nations, it had a very important role in European affairs. Lorraine has many rivers running through it, which include the Rhine, Moselle, Meurthe, and Meuse.

From 1871 to 1918 and during World War II, Lorraine was part of Germany. During the last 40 years, most jobs in the formerly dominant industries of steelworking, coal mining and textiles were lost.

Wallonia with its five provinces and two communities has far reaching competencies in relation to economics, infrastructure, regional planning and foreign trade.

Wallonia occupies the southern part of Belgium. It has an area of 16 844 km (55.18% of Belgium) with 3.436 million inhabitants and comprises the following provinces:

French is the official language in most municipalities. German (with facilities for speakers of French) is the official language in nine eastern municipalities which belonged to Germany until 1918 and now form the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Several French-speaking municipalities have facilities in Dutch or German (or both). In a survey conducted by the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve and published in June 2006, only 19% of Walloons stated that they were able to speak Dutch. In contrast, 59% of respondents from the Flemish Community claimed to speak French. During the seventies the number of jobs in coal mines and steelworks was reduced from 135,000 to 35,000 today. Therefore, the region partially depends upon federal subsidies, including from Flanders, Belgium's most inhabited region. Steelwork is today still important in the region.

Founding members of the SaarLorLux region are the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the German federal state Saarland and the French region of Lorraine. This classic Saar Lor Lux region spreads over an area of 36,700 km² with about 4.7 million inhabitants.

The term "Saar-Lor-Lux" was coined in 1969 by Dr. Hubertus Rolshoven, founding president or the IRI ("Institut Régional Intracommunautaire", now " Institute of the Greater Region") and president of Saarberg, the former organisation of coal mines in the Saarland. The term recalls the close historical and economic ties among the coal mines and steelworks of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg, creating a unified economic region. Facing the same severe economic problems of a crisis in the steel and coal industries, the partners began informal talks, discussing how to solve the shared problems and how to improve the region. In the 1970s, these talks began to be more formalised, when official governmental commissions, first between France and Germany only, then including Luxembourg, began their work.

The formal founding act of SaarLorLux was an agreement between the governments of the French Republic (Republique Francaise), the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Grand-Duché de Luxembourg) concerning collaboration in the border regions, made on 16 October 1980. This agreement is the legal base of a boundary-crossing cooperation of administrations and institutions to promote the economic, cultural, touristic and social development of the region.

Step by step, the cooperation originally exclusive to Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg was developed to include the Greater Region of Saarland, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Wallonia and the French-speaking Belgians, the German-speaking Belgians and the German state of Rhineland Palatinate. There was no formal process of enlargement that included new regions in all aspects of cooperation in SaarLorLux. The new members did not enter every instrument of collaboration; they only joined single treaties or aspects of cooperation.

Therefore, there is not one all embracing structure any more. Now, there are different bilateral and multilateral treaties among different members, creating different grades of cooperation without clear separation from each other.

There is no standardised definition of SaarLorLux. The term SaarLorLux refers to several different geographical structures:

The original term only includes the founding members which were the three regions of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg, the so-called triangle of coal and steel industries.

The term also refers to the cooperation of Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg with the regions of Walloon and Rhineland Palatinate or parts of these two additional regions.

One of these combinations, also called SaarLorLux, is Saarland-Lorraine-Luxembourg-Trier-Westpfalz. Trier and Westpfalz are the western parts of Rhineland-Palatinate. For example, there is a SaarLorLux-ticket, which can be used on all trains of this greater region.

Another combination is Saarland, Lothringen, Luxembourg, Walloon Region, and Rhineland Palatinate or Saarland, Lothringen, Luxembourg, the French community of Belgium, and the German-speaking community of Belgium.

The official name of government organisations usually uses the names of all participants. The summit of the SaarLorLux region has the official name "Summit of the greater region Saarland, Lothringen, Luxembourg, Walloon Region, French community of Belgium, German speaking community of Belgium".

Almost all the meanings of SaarLorLux include the three original members and exclude all other regions except the five members or parts of them.

There are many alternative names: SaarLorLux +, Saar-Lor-Lux-Westpfalz-Trier, Saar-Lor-Lux Wallonie Rheinland Pfalz, and Greater Region.

The government of Luxembourg wishes to use the term "greater region" to represent Saarland, Lothringen, Luxembourg, Walloon Region, the French community of Belgium, and the German-speaking community of Belgium, but within and outside the European Union, several other greater regions are beginning to develop. For example, in the greater region of Switzerland, Alsace Baden-Wuerttemberg the use of the term "greater region" refers to this region. There is no realistic chance of an international agreement requiring the use of the term "greater region" to be restricted to SaarLorLux.

SaarLorLux sees a large amount of governmental, non-governmental and mixed cooperation. The SaarLorLux cooperation is not just between five partners. In fact, the cooperation consists of a multitude of single cooperations, treaties and organisations. The single cooperations often do not consist of the same members, because some of the regions do not participate in every cooperation or are represented by different political municipalities. These forms of cooperation have led to the creation of a variety of different organisations.

Based on a 1994 decision, there are regular summit conferences.

The participants are:

This summit conference is the central political organ of the interregional cooperation of the enlarged SaarLorLux region.

Its task is the predefinition and declaration of general political decisions. The conference takes care of problems and questions concerning the cooperation and gives suggestions on solutions and developments.
There is a group of delegates of the member states who form a standing committee, able to come to decisions in times between the conferences, to prepare conferences, to translate the general ideas of the conferences into practical work and to control the task groups appointed by the conference.

The Regional Commission is the forum for a variety of topics. The members are:

Each of the five members sends a delegation, led by a head of delegation and supported by a delegation secretary. Within the French delegation there is a high representation of the central state, because many of the subjects of the commission are topics within the responsibility of the central state.

The Regional Commission meets once a year in a formal session with prepared documents and resolutions. The sessions are presided by a chairman from one of the member states. Every year a different state provides the chairman. Each delegation consists of five or ten members. In addition to the formal session the heads of delegation have informal meetings, prepared by the delegation secretaries.

The Regional Commission does not have employees or funds of its own. Necessary expenses are directly paid by the members. The delegation providing the chairman also provides the necessary workforce.

There are working parties, which form the operational part of the Regional Commission, reporting on a regular basis to the Regional Commission. Their topics are economic affairs; road links, transport and communications; environment; social affairs; culture; higher education; regional planning; tourism; security and prevention; education; and regional planning.

The regional commission formed a working group of the statistics agencies and a working group of the land surveying office.

The presidents of
formed the interregional parliamentary council.

This council promotes the economic, social and cultural role of the Saar-Lor-Lux Greater Region and tries to develop a perspective for crossborder cooperation.

Participants are the five presidents and six appointed members of each the parliaments and assemblies within SaarLorLux. They meet once a year. Five standing committees report to the council:In October 1984 seven establishments in Saar-Lor-Lux signed a University cooperation agreement (the Charter) at Pont-à-Mousson. This was the first step towards crossborder cooperation in research and education.

Members of the Charter are:These universities encourage relations between the parties to the Charter, promote teacher, scientist and student exchanges, develop inter-regional study programmes leading to common degrees, and establish common research structures. They foster cooperation on law, French and German literature, geography, environmental science, computer science, materials science, history, culture and sports.

Luxemburg and the SaarLorLux region were the European cultural capital 2007.
The year saw a combined cultural program, sharing the motto "Crossing borders together". The programme was intended to reflect the creativity, the energy and the common future of this European region.

In November 1999 the House of the Greater Region (Haus der Großregion – Maison de la Grande Région) was opened in Luxembourg. It is a place of communication and contact for the citizens of the region, especially all the participants and organisations of the greater region. The house is a for public demonstration of the existence of the greater region and therefore provides representation and identification within the interregional cooperation of the greater region. The house is a place to work on projects of the summit of the greater region and the regional commission.

There is a multilingual hotline connected to the house to give information to interested citizens and to answer questions. The hotline can be used free of charge from anywhere in the greater region.

There are many more forms of cooperation between organisations and persons of the member regions, ranging from a cooperation of the Christian parties or the SaarLorLux Chambers of Industry and Commerce, and the SaarLorLux orchestra, to the SaarLorLux rallye and the SaarLorLux Biker community.
Most of these forms of private cooperation are working on a binational or trinational level, including only parts of the region or including groups or organisations outside the region.

All members of SaarLorLux are also members of the European Community. The Greater Region is the central area of this community. Luxembourg, one of the three towns which house central institutions of the European Community (the court of justice of the European Communities) is situated in the center of the Greater Region while the other two (Brussels and Strasbourg) are situated just some miles across the borders, close to SaarLorLux.

In terms of the European Union SaarLorLux is defined as a European Border Region (short form: "Euroregion" or "Euregio"), which means a single European transboundary region that is an "amalgamation of regional and local authorities from both sides of the national border, sometimes with a parliamentary assembly" with "cross-border organisations with a permanent secretariat and experts and administrative staff", basing on national foundations or international treaties, and a Greater Region (also macroregion), a territory that consists of multiple regions or subareas within different states of the European Union.

Because of its character as a recognised European Border Region, SaarLorLux is member of the council of regions, an assembly of representation meant to give local and regional authorities the opportunity to express their needs, problems and wishes to the European union.

Interreg is a programme of the European Union designed to stimulate cooperation between member states on different levels, especially to diminish the influence of national borders to attain equal economic, social and cultural development of the whole European Union. SaarLorLux is beneficiary of several Interreg projects.

The region currently receives funding for projects of Interreg III A, while applications are filed for Interreg IV A projects, which run until 2013.

The members have different forms of organisation and structure and varying levels of decision making power. The partners face different problems, although they all share problems resulting from the changing economic structure of the region. In all parts of SaarLorLux, coal mines and steelworks are closed or will be closed. While facing the same problem, member states did not create a shared solution, but reacted independently. While Luxembourg was very successful in recreating its economy by changing the structure to secondary industries, especially the banking sector, and Lorraine has tried to take a similar line, the German states and Wallonia tried to preserve their old industries, but failed.

This lack of cooperation is not based on a lack of will. In some instances, there is no political power to make the decision to co-operate. The only partner with complete power is Luxembourg, represented by its prime minister. All other members that share the summit table have only limited power. For decisions, they have to consult their central or federal governments in Brussels, Paris and Berlin. Many of the decisions of the Summit are nothing but a declaration of the goodwill of the participants.

Administrative structures vary among the different countries represented in SaarLorLux. French villages may only have a hundred inhabitants and a constant need to clear decisions with a higher level of government. German community associations of several districts with thousands of inhabitants have constitutional rights of self-government.

The members of SaarLorLux face the same problems. The economy of all members was founded on coal mining and steelworks. Now, they are all trying to perform the same structural change. Because the economic structures resemble each other so closely, there is little possibility for differentiation of fields of activity to complement one another.
With the exception of Luxembourg, the citizens of SaarLorLux do not speak the other languages of the region. The main foreign language spoken is English. About 120,000 people cross the borders to work in another country. 90,000 of these work in Luxembourg. This is the result of an enormous difference in living standards. These differences in wealth complicate the search for solutions to shared problems.
Many citizens of the regions are not aware of SaarLorLux. For a citizen of the town of Tournai, in the west of Wallonia, the nearest neighbouring region of SaarLorLux is about two hundred kilometres away. For him, the nearest European neighbour is the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, five kilometres away.The same situation exists for the region of Mainz in the east of Rhineland Palatinate, which is part of the Rhein Main area and the southern départements of Lorraine. The region seems to be too big to form a common identity for all.

The current political plans for the future of SaarLorLux are displayed in Zukunftsbild 2020 (Future Picture 2020), a concept of development showing the visions and ambitions of the greater region of SaarLorLux. It was developed by the commission, led by Jacques Santer, the former president of the European Commission and former prime minister of Luxembourg.

A central intention is the bilingualism of the region. While for about one hundred years, especially in France, the extinction of everything but the national language was the intention of the state, now the value of bilingualism is understood. French and German are intended to be common languages on equal footing within the whole region, including common media for the interregional audience. This co-ordinates with the plan to create cross border schools, giving students the opportunity to gain access to jobs within the European Community and international enterprises. There are intentions for interlinked higher education, research, and innovation, with statements of marks, examinations and diplomas bearing the seal of SaarLorLux. The Charter of Academic Cooperation is an attempt to combine the higher education establishments of the Region. A university of the region shall be founded.

The politicians also hope to form a single employment market within the common economic area resulting in a multinational workforce and a transfer of knowledge. Part of the plan calls for the provision of uniform social welfare standards over the whole territory with new kinds of social networks encompassing all members of society. A cross-border Academy for the Social Professions is visualised, providing the social institutions with first class staff. A Centre for Social Information, still to be created, shall inform the public about the provisions and social institutions in the Greater Region.

Great hopes are taken from the good geostrategic position of the region at the center of European infrastructure, combined with the area's great potential for absorbing increasing trans-European traffic, making the region a traffic hub for all modes of transport. The new high-speed East-West railway link, which was opened in 2007, is seen as a first step.

In 2020 the region shall be an area with a homogeneous population possessing solid infrastructure and many interregional networks and urban agglomerations. Therefore, national spatial planning policies have to be abandoned to enable networks of cross border services. An Interregional Council (CI) is planned as a central political organ of the Greater Region of SaarLorLux. Another task of the CI is the coordination of central missions at the interregional level. Permanent staff of the Council shall be a secretariat, assisted by five agencies, to develop and realise all central projects. The eight summit delegates agreed that the areas of multilingualism and culture, science and research, tourist marketing, the economy and employment, and transport should be studied.

The delegates agreed on the construction of a timetable to realise the Zukunftsbild 2020 platform.

Zukunftsbild 2020 is already included in interregional programmes of development. It is part of Interreg III-A-Programme eBIRD. It is an object of reference within the research project "Blueprints for regional foresight" of the Research Directorate General of the European Commission.

Although politics create promising programs, actual progress is limited. The main advance so far has been the creation of bilingual schools.

The most important developments for the people of SaarLorLux have been the launch of the Euro and the signing of the Schengen Agreement.

The launch of the Euro gave the citizens of the border region the possibility to trade across the border without the need for advanced arithmetic operations to calculate the price, when one German marks was about three French francs and about twenty Luxembourgian francs or Belgian francs. The Euro negates the need for SaarLorLux to have currency of its own.

The Schengen agreement brought the removal of border posts and border checks. Today, for citizens of the European Union the neighbouring village across the border can be reached the same way as a village in one's own country. Although this agreement was signed on a river boat on the river Moselle near Schengen, at the border triangle of Lorraine, Luxembourg and Saarland, it was not created especially for the use of the region, but the whole of the founding members: the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Republic, and now 28 European States.

The other possibility for advancement is on an informal level. People are beginning to understand their position along the border as an opportunity. The French go shopping in Saarland because the prices are lower. The Germans cherish French shops for the freshness of the food and the wider range of products. Near the border crossings of Luxembourg, the streets are lined with gas stations.
People are relocating to villages on the other side of the border, where houses are cheaper or taxes lower, although there still is not much willingness to become part of the other society. Mayors of villages along the border of southern Saarland and Lorraine report serious problems with Germans who are living there but wish their children to be exempted from French compulsory education, because they do not speak French and want their children to be educated by a German school on the other side of the border. German villages face the same problem with students from Luxembourg.

The future of SaarLorLux will be the sum of many such single projects and cooperations, made by single persons, groups and villages, in addition to the political paths.

After the Second World War the Palatinate Lion re-emerged as the regional symbol of the Palatinate, for example, on postage stamps in the French Zone of Occupation. Following the creation of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1946, to which the Palatinate belonged, the Palatine Lion occupied a central place in the state coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate. The other elements of the Rhineland-Palatine coat of arms are the Wheel of Mainz ("Mainzer Rad") and the Cross of Trier ("Trierer Kreuz"). Even the semi-official coat of arms of the Province of Palatinate, which existed from 1946 to 1968 and dated to the 19th century, bore the Palatine Lion, which after the inclusion of the former territories of Electoral Mainz and Electoral Trier, symbolised the region of the present-day Palatinate.

Palatine Lion

The Palatine Lion (), less commonly the Palatinate Lion, is an heraldic charge (see also: heraldic lions). It was originally part of the family coat of arms of the House of Wittelsbach and is found today on many coats of arms of municipalities, counties and regions in South Germany and the Austrian "Innviertel".

The main design is described as "sable a lion rampant or, crowned, armed and langued gules". Originally uncrowned, the lion was first depicted with a red crown in the early 14th century in the Zürich armorial. This probably relates to the pre-eminent position held by the Prince-Elector of the Palatinate as an imperial vicar, since the Golden Bull of 1356.

In addition to these two main forms, there are a number of variants. Many villages used the symbols of their ruling families as seals. In order to minimise the risk of confusion, the detail of the coat of arms was changed when authority was granted to use them. Occasionally other colours were used in order to stay faithful to the rule of tincture.

The Palatine Lion first appears in the County Palatine of the Rhine under the Wittelsbach Count Palatine, Otto the Illustrious in his equestrian seal ("Reitersiegel") of 1229. However, the use of the symbol is probably older; it may well go back to predecessors of the Wittelsbachs, the Welf counts palatine, who ruled from 1195 to 1214: Counts Palatine Henry the Elder and Henry the Younger. Prior to that the Hohenstaufen Count Palatine Conrad, father-in-law of Henry the Elder, had around 1,190 coins minted with a lion image. The colours of the Hohenstaufens were also gold and black.

Following the enfeoffment of the Bavarian Duke Louis in 1214 with the County Palatine of the Rhine, Duke Otto II of Bavaria inherited the County of Bogen in the mid-13th century along with its blue and white lozenged coat of arms. For centuries the golden lion on a black field and the blue and white lozenges were used as the family coat of arms of the Old Bavarian and Palatine Wittelsbachs. Not until the 16th century did the distinction between the lion for the Palatinate and the lozenges for Bavaria slowly gain ground.

In Siebmacher's Armorial of 1605 there are four coloured illustrations that use the Palatine Lion. They represent the coats of arms of the Electorate of the Palatinate and the duchies of Bavaria, Palatinate-Neuburg and Palatinate-Lützelstein.

Following the dissolution of the Palatine electorate in the wake of the "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss" of 1803, from 1816 the Palatine Lion in the Bavarian coat of arms was only used by the west Rhine part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Rhine Circle, which was renamed in 1835 at the behest of Louis I to Rhenish Palatinate ("Rheinpfalz").

In addition, the lion may be found in the state coats of arms of three other German federal states: the Bavarian coat of arms (uncrowned), the Saarland coat of arms and the Baden-Württemberg coat of arms; all three states used to incorporate an Electoral Palatine territory. Since 1950, the lion in the Bavarian state coat of arms, has been emblazoned in the dexter chief today for the Upper Palatinate, which once belonged to the House of Wittelsbach. From 1923 to 1934 the Palatine Lion was in the second subfield on the Bavarian shield; since 1950 it has been placed in the first subfield, as in the state coat of arms.

"See:" List of coats of arms with the Palatine Lion

The flag of the King of Bavaria, used from 1806 to 1919, is quartered with the Palatine Lion in the second and third quarters; the first and fourth quarters display the blue and white fusils.

In his book, "Die Siegel der Deutschen Kaiser und Könige", Otto Posse describes seals of the Electoral Palatine Imperial Vicariate:
The basilica of St. Wendelin in the Saarland county town of St. Wendel has a ceiling mural dating to 1463/64, which depicts coats of arms. Amongst the 15 shields displayed, those of the Archbishop of Cologne and the Count Palatine of the Rhine depict the Palatine Lion.

In 1946, the Rhineland was divided into the newly founded states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Rhineland-Palatinate. North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the prime German industrial areas, containing significant mineral deposits, (coal, lead, lignite, magnesium, oil, and uranium) and water transport. In Rhineland-Palatinate agriculture is more important, including the vineyards in the Ahr, Mittelrhein, and Mosel regions.

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.

Historically, the Rhinelands refers (physically speaking) to a loosely defined region embracing the land on the banks of the Rhine in Central Europe, which were settled by Ripuarian and Salian Franks and became part of Frankish Austrasia. In the High Middle Ages, numerous Imperial States along the river emerged from the former stem duchy of Lotharingia, without developing any common political or cultural identity.

A "Rhineland" conceptualization did not evolve until the 19th century after the War of the First Coalition, when a short-lived Cisrhenian Republic was established on territory conquered by French troops. The term covered the whole occupied zone west of the Rhine (German: ') including the bridgeheads on the eastern banks. After the collapse of the French dominated West Bank in the early 19th century, the regions of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg were annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1822 the Prussian administration reorganized the territory as the Rhine Province (also known as Rhenish Prussia), a term continuing in the names of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Following the First World War, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and then the 1925 Locarno Treaties. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, three years before the outbreak of the Second World War.

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.

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.

The area encompasses the western part of the Ruhr industrial region and the Cologne Lowland. Some of the larger cities in the Rhineland are Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Koblenz, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Mainz,
Mönchengladbach, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen, Remscheid, Solingen, Trier and Wuppertal.

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.

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.

Julius Caesar conquered the Celtic tribes on the West bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine, but the Romans never succeeded in gaining a firm footing on the East bank. As the power of the Roman empire declined the Franks pushed forward along both banks of the Rhine, and by the end of the 5th century had conquered all the lands that had formerly been under Roman influence. The Frankish conquerors of the Rhenish districts were singularly little affected by the culture of the Roman provincials they subdued, and all traces of Roman civilization were submerged. By the 8th century, the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germania and northern Gaul.

On the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun the part the province to the east of the river fell to East Francia, while that to the west remained with the kingdom of Lotharingia.

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.

As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split up into numerous small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes and special chronicles. The old Lotharingian divisions became obsolete, and while the Lower Lorraine lands were referred to as the Low Countries, the name of Lorraine became restricted to the region on the upper Moselle that still bears it. After the Imperial Reform of 1500/12, the territory was part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Upper Rhenish, and Electoral Rhenish Circles. Notable Rhenish Imperial States included:

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.

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.

The French swept away centuries worth of outmoded restrictions and introduced unprecedented levels of efficiency. The chaos and barriers in a land divided and subdivided among many different petty principalities gave way to a rational, simplified, centralized system controlled by Paris and run by Napoleon's relatives. The most important impact came from the abolition of all feudal privileges and historic taxes, the introduction of legal reforms of the Napoleonic Code, and the reorganization of the judicial and local administrative systems. The economic integration of the Rhineland with France increased prosperity, especially in industrial production, while business accelerated with the new efficiency and lowered trade barriers. The Jews were liberated from the ghetto. There was limited resistance; most Germans welcomed the new regime, especially the urban elites, but one sour point was the hostility of the French officials toward the Roman Catholic Church, the choice of most of the residents. The reforms were permanent. Decades later workers and peasants in the Rhineland often appealed to Jacobinism to oppose unpopular government programs, while the intelligentsia demanded the maintenance of the Napoleonic Code (which was stayed in effect for a century).

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.

The occupation of the Rhineland took place following the Armistice with Germany of 11 November 1918. The occupying armies consisted of American, Belgian, British and French forces. Under the Treaty of Versailles, German troops were banned from all territory west of the Rhine and within 50 kilometers east of the Rhine.

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).

Shortly after, France completely occupied the Rhineland, strictly controlling all important industrial areas. The Germans responded with passive resistance and hyperinflation; the French gained very little of the reparations they wanted. French troops did not leave the Rhineland until 1925.

On 7 March 1936, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, German troops marched into the Rhineland and other regions along the Rhine. German territory west of the Rhine had been off-limits to the German military.

In 1945, the Rhineland was the scene of major fighting as the Allied invaders overwhelmed the German defenders.

In 1946, the Rhineland was divided into the newly founded states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Rhineland-Palatinate. North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the prime German industrial areas, containing significant mineral deposits, (coal, lead, lignite, magnesium, oil, and uranium) and water transport. In Rhineland-Palatinate agriculture is more important, including the vineyards in the Ahr, Mittelrhein, and Mosel regions.


What is a nakiri?

Nakiri bōchō (, translation: knife for cutting greens) and usuba bōchō (, thin knife) are Japanese-style vegetable knives. They differ from the "deba bōchō" in their shape, as they have a straight blade edge suitable for cutting all the way to the cutting board without the need for a horizontal pull or push. These knives are also much thinner. While the "deba bōchō" is a heavy blade for easy cutting through thin bones, the blade is not suitable for chopping vegetables, as the thicker blade can break the vegetable slice. The "nakiri bōchō" and the "usuba bōchō" have a much thinner blade. This does not help with cutting small bones in fish or meat, but is useful for cutting vegetables.

Nakiri bōchō

"Nakiri bōchō" are knives for home use, and sometimes have a black finished, or Kurouchi, blade. The cutting edge is angled from both sides, called "ryōba" in Japanese. This makes it easier to cut straight slices.

"Usuba bōchō" are vegetable knives used by professionals. They differ from the "Nakiri bōchō" in the shape of the cutting edge. While the "nakiri bōchō" is sharpened from both sides, the "usuba bōchō" is sharpened only from one side, a style known as "kataba" in Japanese. The highest quality "kataba" blades have a slight depression on the flat side. This "kataba" style edge gives better cuts and allows for the cutting of thinner slices than the "ryōba" used for "nakiri bōchō", but requires more skill to use. The sharpened side is usually the right side for a right hand use of the knife, but knives sharpened on the left side are available for left hand use. The "usuba bōchō" is heavier than a "nakiri bōchō", although still much lighter than a "deba bōchō".

Nakiri bōchō