The Rhineland-Palatinate reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Rhineland-Palatinate

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Flag
image:De-rp-flag.png
Statistics
Capital:Mainz
Area:19,846 km²
Inhabitants:3,880,000 (2000)
pop. density:196 people/km²
Homepage:http://www.rlp.de/
ISO 3166-2:DE-RP
Politics
Minister-President:Kurt Beck (SPD)
Ruling party:SPD/FDP coalition
Map
image:bundeslaender_germany_rp.png

The 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.

Table of contents
1 Geography
2 Government
3 Administration
4 History
5 List of Minister-Presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate
6 External links

Geography

Rhineland-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. The 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. The 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

Rhineland-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.


image:rhineland_p_map.png
Map






  1.  Ahrweiler

  2.  Altenkirchen

  3.  Alzey-Worms

  4.  Bad Dürkheim

  5.  Bad Kreuznach

  6.  Bernkastel-Wittlich

  7.  Birkenfeld

  8.  Bitburg-Prüm

  9.  Cochem-Zell



    

  1.  Daun

  2.  Donnersbergkreis

  3.  Germersheim

  4.  Kaiserslautern

  5.  Kusel

  6.  Ludwigshafen

  7.  Mainz-Bingen

  8.  Mayen-Koblenz




    

  1.  Neuwied

  2.  Rhein-Hunsrück

  3.  Rhein-Lahn

  4.  Südliche Weinstraße

  5.  Südwestpfalz

  6.  Trier-Saarburg

  7.  Westerwaldkreis




Furthermore there are twelve independent towns, which don't belong to any district:


  1.  Frankenthal

  2.  Kaiserslautern

  3.  Koblenz Coblence

  4.  Landau

  5.  Ludwigshafen

  6.  Mainz Mayence

  7.  Neustadt (Weinstraße)

  8.  Pirmasens

  9.  Speyer Spire

  10.  Trier Treves

  11.  Worms

  12.  Zweibrücken Deux-Ponts
    

History

The state of Rhineland-Palatinate was established in 1946 by merging the Rhenish Palatinate with the southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province and the parts of former Hesse on the western banks of the Rhine.


List of Minister-Presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate


  1.  1947: Wilhelm Boden (CDU)

  2.  1947 - 1969: Peter Altmeier

  3.  1969 - 1976: Helmut Kohl (CDU)

  4.  1976 - 1988: Bernhard Vogel (CDU)

  5.  1988 - 1991: Carl-Ludwig Wagner (CDU)

  6.  1991 - 1994: Rudolf Scharping (SPD)

  7.  since 1994: Kurt Beck (SPD)
    

External links







 States of Germany 



 Baden-Württemberg | Bavaria | Berlin | Brandenburg | Bremen | Hamburg | Hesse | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | Lower Saxony | North Rhine-Westphalia | Rhineland-Palatinate | Saarland | Saxony | Saxony-Anhalt | Schleswig-Holstein | Thuringia