Aachen (district)

Aachen
—  District  —
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region	Cologne
Capital	Aachen
Area
– Total	707.15 km2 (273 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
– Total	565,714
– Density	800/km2 (2,072/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration	AC
Website	http://www.staedteregion-aachen.de

The district of Aachen (German: Städteregion Aachen) is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Düren, Euskirchen, and also the Netherlands province of Limburg and the Belgian province of Liège.

History

Castle of Kambach at Eschweiler

Becoming effective on 21 October 2009, the Städteregion Aachen (literally: "cities region" Aachen) was formed from the former district Aachen (Kreis Aachen) and the city of Aachen. This is the first Städteregion that was formed in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its status is similar to that of the district Hanover (Region Hannover) in Lower Saxony, in that the powers of the city of Aachen are slightly less than those of an district-free city (Kreisfreie Stadt).

The former district Aachen was created in 1975 in the reorganization of the district North Rhine-Westphalia, by merging the previous districts (Landkreise) of Aachen and Monschau, and some parts of the districts of Düren, Jülich and Schleiden as well as the Selfkant district, while a part of the former district was incorporated to the district-free city of Aachen.

The Landkreis Aachen was formed in 1816 from the two French cantons Burtscheid and Eschweiler, with its capital set to the city of Burtscheid. In 1897 Burtscheid was incorporated into the city of Aachen, but the administrative seat stayed there, even though the capital was no longer part of the district.

Geography

Geographically the district covers a part of the Eifel mountains in the south, but also the lowlands of the Niederrheinische Bucht.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Kreis Aachen

The top of the coat of arms shows the black lion, the sign of Jülich, as the district contains mostly former parts of the duchy of Jülich. In the bottom the swan on a deer antler is the sign of the city of Burtscheid, which was the capital of the Landkreis Aachen until 1897, when it was incorporated into the city of Aachen.

Towns and municipalities

Towns		Municipalities
Aachen Alsdorf Baesweiler Eschweiler	Herzogenrath Monschau Stolberg Würselen	Roetgen Simmerath

References

1. ^ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. 31 December 2010. http://www.it.nrw.de/statistik/a/daten/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/index.html. 

External links

Media related to Städteregion Aachen at Wikimedia Commons

• Official Website (German, English, Dutch, French, Polish)

Coordinates: 50°45′N 6°15′E / 50.75°N 6.25°E / 50.75; 6.25