North Rhine-Westphalia

I

Introduction

North Rhine-Westphalia (German, Nordrhein-Westfalen), state in west-central Germany, bounded on the north and north-east by the state of Lower Saxony, on the east by the state of Hesse, on the south by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and on the west by Belgium and the Netherlands. The state has an area of 34,080 sq km (13,158 sq mi).

II

Physical Geography

The north-western part of the state is a lowland, which rises in the north-east into the hilly Teutoburg Forest. The eastern, southern, and western parts are rolling uplands, which in the west reach an elevation of 800 m (2,625 ft). The uplands are cut by a series of valleys—namely, the Rhine, Ruhr, and Möhne. To the south is the Eifel plateau, and in the south-east are the mountains of Siegerland-Wittgenstein and of the Sauerland. The Rhine, Ems, and Weser, the main rivers in the state, flow in a south to north direction; other important rivers include the Maas, the Wupper, and the Lippe.

Germany’s latest national park, the Eifel, opened in January 2004, is in the south of the state; it covers about 10,700 hectares (26,440 acres) and about two thirds of its area is forested. In addition, 13 natural parks are located throughout the state.

III

Population

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state in Germany; in 2004 it had an estimated 18,080,000 inhabitants. In 2004 the population density was 530 people per sq km (1,373 people per sq mi). The state is very heavily urbanized. The capital is Düsseldorf (population, 2005 estimate, 572,700); other important cities include Aachen (population, 2005 estimate, 257,800); Arnsberg (2005 estimate, 76,600); Bergisch Gladbach (2005 estimate , 105,900); Bielefeld (2005 estimate, 328,000); Bochum (2005 estimate, 388,200); Bonn (2005 estimate, 311,900); Cologne (2005 estimate, 969,700); Dortmund (2005 estimate, 588,700); Duisburg (2005 estimate, 504,400); Essen (2005 estimate, 588,100); Leverkusen (2005 estimate, 161,600); Mönchengladbach (2005 estimate, 262,000); Münster (2005 estimate, 270,000); Neuss (2005 estimate, 151,900); Paderborn (2005 estimate, 143,000); Remscheid (2005, 115,864); Solingen (2005 estimate, 164,200); and Wuppertal (2005 estimate, 361,100).

North Rhine-Westphalia is the state with the highest proportion of foreigners in the whole of Germany; in 2001 almost 2 million people (more than 27 per cent) were non-Germans. Most came from Turkey (almost 34 per cent), from other countries of the European Union (EU; more than 25 per cent), including Italy and Greece, and from the countries of former Yugoslavia (more than 13 per cent).

IV

Education and Culture

North Rhine-Westphalia has 33 state and 25 recognized private establishments of higher education. There are 15 universities in the state, including: the Technical University in Aachen (1870); the University of Bielefeld (1969); the Ruhr University in Bochum (1961); the University of Bonn (founded in 1777, reopened in 1818); universities in Dortmund (1968) and Duisburg-Essen (1972); Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf; the German Sport University (founded in 1920 in Berlin, reopened in Cologne in 1947); Cologne University (1388); the University of Münster (established in 1780, it became an academy in 1818 and regained university status in 1902); universities in Paderborn, Siegen, and Wuppertal (all founded in 1972); and a private University Witten-Herdecke in Witten (1982). Universities in Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, and Münster have independent medical clinics. There is also an open university with headquarters in Hagen. High schools of music and arts include the Music High School in Detmold; Robert Schumann Music School and the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf; Music Academy and Academy of Media in Cologne; and the Arts Academy in Münster. In addition, there are colleges in all major cities. Numerous research institutes, including several Max Planck Institutes and Fraunhofer Institutes, are located in the state.

North Rhine-Westphalia boasts more than 2,000 libraries. State libraries are located in Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Münster; in addition, there is a City and State Library in Dortmund and the Provincial Library of Lippe in Detmold. State archives are based in Bonn, Brühl, Detmold, Düsseldorf, and Münster.

North Rhine-Westphalia has about 76,000 architectural monuments. Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in the state: Aachen Cathedral (designated in 1978), the castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl (named in 1984), Cologne Cathedral (nominated in 1996), and Zollverein coal mine industrial complex near Essen (named in 2001). Historic towns and cities of Aachen, Münster, Paderborn, and Kleve represent a variety of architectural and town-planning styles. Through the centre of the state leads the so-called Culture of Industry Route, which reflects the vital part industry has played in the history of the state. Other monuments of industrial character include, for example, the Gasometer in Oberhausen and the Landscape Park Duisburg-North. There are also good examples of water-powered mills in the Münster Region.

More than 550 museums and 130 theatres and opera houses are based in the state. Münster houses the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Art History; Recklinghausen has a good Town Museum with an art gallery and a museum of icon paintings; the Rhine State Museum is in Bonn, which also boasts the Beethoven-House and the Art Museum. Cologne has a Museum of Applied Arts and the Roman-Germanic Museum; there is a Museum of Art and Art History in Dortmund; and Düsseldorf has the Heine Institute and the Art Gallery of North Rhine-Westphalia. About 60 professional orchestras are based in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Among the personalities born in or associated with the state are: philosopher and theologian Karl Barth; artist Joseph Beuys; politicians Konrad Adenauer, Heinrich Brüning, and Johannes Rau; painter Peter von Cornelius; political economist Friedrich Engels; philosophers Jürgen Habermas, Nicolai Hartmann, and Max Scheler; poet Heinrich Heine; physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz; sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck; writers Heinrich Böll and Erich Maria Remarque; founder of news agencies Paul Julius Reuter; composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Max Bruch, Jacques Offenbach, Robert Schumann, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann; scholar August Wilhelm von Schlegel; and physiologist Theodor Schwann.