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German States IV: North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and SaxonyNorth Rhine-Westphalia lies on the Western border of Germany, where it occupies 13,160 square miles (34,084 sq. km) of land. The most populous of the German states, North Rhine-Westphalia is home to just over 18 million people. Germans from the region often shorten the state’s clumsy title to NRW. The major cities of NRW include Düsseldorf, its capital, Cologne, which is the largest city in the state, Bonn, Essen, Münster, Krefeld and Siegen. This state contains the Ruhr region, the most industrialized part of Germany and the heart of its industrial economy. However, while many think of NRW as an urbanized center, there is also a substantial amount of land dedicated to agriculture (nearly fifty-two percent of the state’s total area), as well as a large amount of forests. The Rhine, Rhur, Ems, Lippe, Wesser, and Pader rivers all run through the state. Like many other German states, NRW was formed shortly after World War II, in October of 1946 out of parts of the former Rhine Province, and was merged with the state of Lippe in 1948 in order to create the state as it is today. Rhineland-Palatinate, just south of NRW and occupying 7,663 square miles (19,847 sq. km.) of land, is one of the more rural German states. Rhineland Palatinate has a population of slightly more than four million inhabitants. The state capital is Mainz, a small city of 200,000 that was originally a Roman outpost that represented the northern boundary of the Empire. The most famous product of Rhineland-Palatinate is wine, and it produces sixty-five to seventy percent of Germany’s wine grapes, as well as eighty to ninety percent of the wine that Germany exports. The growing regions here produce both red and white wines, as well as different varieties of sparkling wine. The industrial centers of Rhineland-Palatinate are home to the chemical industry in Germany, as well as many leading pharmaceutical companies. Saarland is the smallest of the German states known as Flächenländer, or “area states,” in terms of both size and population: the country occupies only 992 square miles (2.569 sq. km.) and has a population of just over one million inhabitants. Saarland is also unique in that it was ceded to the French following World War II in an attempt to make war reparations, and was not made a part of the German Federal Republic until January of 1957, in what is now called the kleine Wiedervereinigung, or “Little Reunification.” The Saarland is named for a short river that passes through it, the shortest in Germany. Saxony was one of the five German states that joined the Federal Republic in 1990 during the German Reunification. The current state of Saxony has an area of 7,110 square miles (18,416 sq. km.), making it the tenth largest German state by area. It is also the sixth largest state in terms of population, with 4.2 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Dresden, and the largest city is Leipzig. Although the influence of the former German Democratic Republic remains strong in the state of Saxony today, the economy has shown remarkable growth in recent years. Dresden, which has attracted many microchip manufacturers, has earned the state the nickname of “Silicon Saxony,” despite the fact that this industry makes only a small contribution to the state’s overall economy. Saxony joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. |