Ruhr Area
The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet or, colloquially, Ruhrpott) is a metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr (to the south), Rhine (west) and Lippe (north). Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land.The area includes the cities of (from the west to the east) Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, MÃÂülheim, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, and Dortmund. The cities of the area have grown into a large complex forming an industrial landscape of unique size, inhabited by circa 9 million people, the third largest urban area in Europe after Greater London and Paris. The area is often mistakenly perceived as a single city because many maps do not show the boundaries between the individual cities. The area is also considered part of the even larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolis of more than 12 million people.
The area first grew during the Industrial Revolution, mainly basing its economy on coal mining. As demand for coal decreased, the area went through phases of structural crisis and industrial diversification, first developing the traditionally strong manufacturing, then moving into service industries and high technology.
The local dialect of German is called Ruhrdeutsch. No unified grammar or spelling of Ruhrdeutsch is available, yet a substantial amount of literature has been published in this language, including the famous Asterix comic books.