Rhineland-Palatinate
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\n\n| Flag |
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\n\n| Statistics |
\n| Capital: | Mainz |
\n| Area: | 19,846 km² |
\n| Inhabitants: | 3,880,000 (2000) |
\n| pop. density: | 196 people/km² |
\n| Homepage: | http://www.rlp.de/ |
\n| [[ISO 3166-2: | DE-RP |
\n| Politics |
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\n| Minister-President: | Kurt Beck (SPD) |
\n| Ruling party: | SPD/FDP coalition |
\n| Map |
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Rhineland-Palatinate (German
Rheinland-Pfalz) is one of 16
Bundesländer of
Germany. It has an area of 19,846 km² and 3.88 million inhabitants. The capital is
Mainz.
Geography
\nRhineland-Palatinate borders on (from the north and clockwise) North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, France, Saarland, 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. \nThe Rhine Valley is bounded by mountain chains and forms a fascinating landscape 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 chain, which is continued by the Taunus mountains on the opposite side of the Rhine. \nThe hilly lands in the south of the state are called the Palatine Forest (Pfälzerwald).
These mountain chains are separated from each other by the tributaries of the Rhine: the Moselle (Mosel), the Lahn and the Nahe.
See also List of places in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Government
Rhineland-Palatinate is a parliamentary democracy. Every five years, all Germans over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate 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.
Administration
\nRhineland-Palatinate is divided into 24 districts, grouped into the three administrative regions: Koblenz, Trier and Rheinhessen-Pfalz.
Since 2000, the employees and assets of the Bezirksregierungen form the Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion Trier (Supervisory and Service Directorate Trier) and the Struktur- und Genehmigungsdirektionen (Structural and Approval Directorates) Nord in Koblenz and Süd in Neustadt_(Weinstraße). These administrations execute their authority over the whole state, i. e. the ADD Trier oversees all schools.
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Map
Furthermore there are twelve independent towns, which don't belong to any district:
- Frankenthal\n# Kaiserslautern\n# Koblenz Coblenz\n# Landau\n# Ludwigshafen\n# Mainz\n# Neustadt (Weinstraße)\n# Pirmasens\n# Speyer Spires\n# Trier\n# Worms\n# Zweibrücken
History
\nThe federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate was established on 30 August 1946. It was formed out of territory from the
Rhenish Palatinate, the southern parts of the
Prussian Rhine Province, parts of the
Prussian province of Hessia-Nassau, the former
Hessian province of
Rheinhessen on the western banks of the
Rhine, and the area around Birkenfeld which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg; the new state was legally confirmed by referendum on
18 May 1947.
List of Minister-Presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate
Emigration
Rhineland-Palatinate has supplied immigrants to many parts of the world. The Hunsrückischen dialect in Brazil bears testimony to this fact, as does the name of the village of New Paltz, New York.
External links
\n* Official governmental portal
Category:States of Germany
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