Rhineland-Palatinate
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Rhineland-Palatinate (German: Rheinland-Pfalz) is one of 16 states (in German:Bundesländer) of Germany. It has an area of 19,846 km² and 3.88 million people living in it. The capital is Mainz.
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basic dates | |
capital: | Mainz |
area: | 19.847,39 km² |
inhabitants: | 4.059.000 (31. Dezember 2003) |
population density: | 204,5 Einwohner/km² |
debts: | 6.262 € per inhabitant (2002) |
total debts: | 25,4 Mrd. € (2002) |
ISO 3166-2: | DE-RP |
official website: | www.rlp.de |
politics | |
Ruling party: | SPD |
prime minister: | Kurt Beck (SPD) |
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[edit] Geography
Rhineland-Palatinate borders on (from the north and clockwise) North Rhine-Westphalia (other German state), Hesse (other German state), Baden-Württemberg (other German state), France, Saarland (other German state), Luxembourg, and Belgium.
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 mountains with some of the historically most significant places of Germany.
In the northwest there are the southern parts of the Eifel mountains. Further south there is the Hunsrück mountain, which is continued by the Taunus mountains on the opposite side of the Rhine. The hilly lands in the south of the state are called the Palatine Forest (Pfälzerwald).
These mountains are separated from each other by the tributaries of the Rhine: the Moselle (Mosel), the Lahn and the Nahe.
[edit] Government
Rhineland-Palatinate is a parliamentary democracy. Every five years, all Germans over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Parliament, in German:Landtag. This regional parliament or legislature then elects the premier and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for winegrowing.
See here for a List of Rhineland-Palatinate Cabinet Members(in the German Wikipedia).
[edit] Castles
This is only a choice of the castles in Rhineland-Palatine
name | place |
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Burg Arras | Alf |
Alte Burg | Boppard |
Reichsburg Cochem | Cochem |
Dahn | Dahn |
Festung Ehrenbreitstein | Koblenz Stadtteil Ehrenbreitstein |
Ehrenburg | Brodenbach |
Burg Eltz | Münstermaifeld |
Burg Falkenstein | Falkenstein |
Frauenburg | Frauenberg |
Hambacher Schloss | Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Stadtteil Hambach |
Burg Hohenfels | Imsbach |
Burg und Schloss Idar-Oberstein | Idar-Oberstein |
Burg Lahneck | Lahnstein |
Burg Altleiningen | Altleiningen |
Marksburg | Braubach |
Burg Nassau | Nassau |
Nürburg | Nürburg |
Burg Olbrück | Niederdürenbach |
Burg Pfalzgrafenstein | mitten im Rhein bei Kaub |
Burg Reichenstein | Trechtingshausen |
Burg Rheinfels | Sankt Goar |
Rheinstein | Trechtingshausen |
Schloss und Burg Sayn | Bendorf |
Schloss Bürresheim | Sankt Johann (bei Mayen), Ortsteil Bürresheim |
Schloss Neuwied | Neuwied |
Schloss Stolzenfels | Koblenz, Stadtteil Stolzenfels |
Schmidtburg | Schneppenbach |
Schönburg | Oberwesel |
Burg Sooneck | Niederheimbach |
Burg Stahleck | Bacharach |
Trifels | Annweiler am Trifels |
Schloss Montabaur | Montabaur |
Thurant | Alken |
[edit] Universities
There are 7 universities and 13 "Fachhochschulen".
- Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
- Universität Koblenz-Landau - locations: Koblenz, Landau
- Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- Universität Trier
- Fachhochschule Bingen
- Fachhochschule Kaiserslautern - locations: Kaiserslautern I and II, Pirmasens and Zweibrücken
- Fachhochschule Koblenz - Studienorte: Koblenz, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Remagen
- Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen
- Evangelische Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen
- Fachhochschule Mainz
- Fachhochschule Trier - locations: Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Birkenfeld
- Fachhochschule Worms
- Katholische Fachhochschule Mainz
- Fachhochschule für Finanzen Edenkoben
- Fachhochschule der Deutschen Bundesbank, Hachenburg
- Fachhochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung Mayen
- Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung Otto-Beisheim-Hochschule (private university)
- Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Vallendar (churchly university)
[edit] Politics
The prime ministers since 1947:
- 13. Juni 1947 - 9. Juli 1947: Dr. Wilhelm Boden, CDU
- 1947 - 1969: Dr. h.c. Peter Altmeier, CDU
- 1969 - 1976: Dr. phil. Dr. h. c. mult. Helmut Kohl, CDU
- 1976 - 1988: Dr. phil. Bernhard Vogel, CDU
- 1988 - 1991: Dr. Carl-Ludwig Wagner, CDU
- 1991 - 1994: Rudolf Scharping, SPD
- 1994 - today: Kurt Beck, SPD
[edit] Partnerships
- Bourgogne in France
- Rwanda in East Africa
- València in Spain
- Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft Belgiens in Belgium
- Polish Woiwodschaft Oppeln
- Middle Bohemia in Czech Republic
- Chinese province Fujian
- U.S. state South Carolina
- Japanese Iwate Prefecture
[edit] Administration
Rhineland-Palatinate is divided into 24 districts, grouped into the three administrative regions: Koblenz, Trier and Rheinhessen-Pfalz.
[edit] Districts
(with country code plate)
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[edit] Other citys
(with country code plate)
- Frankenthal (Pfalz) (FT)
- Kaiserslautern (KL)
- Koblenz (KO)
- Landau in der Pfalz (LD)
- Ludwigshafen am Rhein (LU)
- Mainz (MZ)
- Neustadt an der Weinstraße (NW)
- Pirmasens (PS)
- Speyer (SP)
- Trier (TR)
- Worms (WO)
- Zweibrücken (ZW)
[edit] Big citys
- Mainz
- Koblenz
- Kaiserslautern
- Neuwied
- Landau
- Pirmasens
- Mayen
- Bad Kreuznach