Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16
statesGermany is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen states, known in German as . Since is also the German word for "country", the term is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law.The citizens of the states form the nation...
(
Bundesländer) of the Federal Republic of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
—but one which has some of its major cities straddling the banks of the Neckar River (
TübingenTübingen, a traditional university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 30 km southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-History:...
,
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
,
HeilbronnHeilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 121.989 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
,
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
,
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
). It is third largest in both area and population among the country's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants (both almost equivalent to all of
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
). The state capital is
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
History
The area used to be covered by the historical states of
BadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine River in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, the Prussian
HohenzollernHohenzollern was a de facto province of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was created in 1850 by joining the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen after both formerly independent states had handed over their sovereignty to Prussia, ruled by the Protestant branch of the...
and
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, part of the region of
SwabiaSwabia, Suabia, or Svebia is both a historic and linguistic region in Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg , as well as the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia...
.
After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Allied forces established three federal states:
Württemberg-HohenzollernWürttemberg-Hohenzollern is a historical state of West Germany. It was created in 1945 as part of the French occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Baden-Württemberg.-History:...
,
South BadenSouth Baden , formed in December 1945 from the southern half of the former Republic of Baden, was a subdivision of the French occupation zone of post-WWII Germany. The state was later renamed to Baden and became a founding state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949...
(both occupied by France), and
Württemberg-BadenWürttemberg-Baden is a former state of Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the U.S. occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. Its capital was Stuttgart...
(US-occupied). In 1949 these three states became founding members of the Federal Republic of Germany. Article 118 of the new German constitution however had already prepared a procedure for those states to merge. After a plebiscite held on 9 December 1951 in four different regions, of which three approved the merger, the three states merged on 25 April 1952 into Baden-Württemberg.
In 1956 the
Federal Constitutional Court of GermanyThe Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
ruled that the plebiscite was unlawful because it had disadvantaged Baden's population. The plebiscite was then held again within the area of former Baden in 1970 resulting in a majority of more than 81% for the new state.
Geography
The
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
forms the western border as well as large portions of the southern border. The
Black ForestThe Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
(Schwarzwald), the main mountain range of the state, rises east of the Rhine valley. The high plateau
Swabian AlbThe Swabian Alb or Swabian Jura is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km in width. It is named after the region of Swabia....
between Neckar, Black Forest and Danube is an important European watershed. Baden-Württemberg shares both
Lake ConstanceLake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
(Bodensee) and the foothills of the
AlpsThe Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
with Switzerland.
The
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
(Donau) river has its source in Baden-Württemberg near the town of
DonaueschingenDonaueschingen is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar district . It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Danube .Donaueschingen stands in a basin within low mountainous terrain...
, in a place called Furtwangen in the Black Forest.
Administration
Baden-Württemberg is divided into 35 districts (Landkreise) and 9 independent cities (Stadtkreise), both grouped into the four Administrative Districts (
RegierungsbezirkA Regierungsbezirk is a type of administrative region in Germany, a subdivision of certain federal states . It is loosely equivalent to a province in other countries. It is responsible for the districts , either Landkreise or urban districts: cities which constitute a district in their own right...
e) of
FreiburgFreiburg is one of the four Regierungsbezirke of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the south-west of the country. It covers the Black Forest hills as well as the Rhine valley. It's sub-divided into the three regions Hochrhein-Bodensee, Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg and Südlicher Oberrhein.-...
,
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is one of the four administrative districts of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the north-west of the state. It is subdivided into the three regional associations : Mittlerer Oberrhein , Unterer Neckar and Nordschwarzwald .- External links :*...
,
StuttgartStuttgart is one of the four administrative districts of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the north-east of the state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwestern part of Germany.It is sub-divided into the three regions Heilbronn-Franken, Ostwürttemberg, Stuttgart.- External links :*...
, and
TübingenTübingen is one of the four Administrative Regions of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the south-east of the country. It covers most of the German shore of Lake Constance , and also the beginning of the Danube River valley. It is sub-divided into the three regions : Neckar-Alb, Donau-Iller...
.
Map
- Alb-Donau
Alb-Donau-Kreis is a district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Biberach, Reutlingen, Göppingen and Heidenheim, the two Bavarian districts Günzburg and Neu-Ulm, and the city of Ulm.- History :...
- Biberach
Biberach ['bi:bərax] is a district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Ravensburg, Sigmaringen, Reutlingen and Alb-Donau, and the Bavarian districts Neu-Ulm, Unterallgäu and the district-free city Memmingen...
- Bodensee
- Böblingen
Böblingen is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Calw, Enz, Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, and the districts Esslingen and Tübingen.- History :...
- Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald is a district in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Emmendingen, Schwarzwald-Baar, Waldshut, Lörrach and the French départements of the Haut-Rhin and the Bas-Rhin. The district-free city of Freiburg is surrounded by the district...
- Calw
Calw is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Enz, the district-free city Pforzheim, Böblingen, Freudenstadt and Rastatt.- History :...
- Konstanz (Constance)
- Emmendingen
Emmendingen is a district in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ortenaukreis, Schwarzwald-Baar, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and the district-free city Freiburg...
- Enz
Enzkreis is a district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Heilbronn,Ludwigsburg, Böblingen and Calw...
- Esslingen
Esslingen is a district in the centre of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rems-Murr, Göppingen, Reutlingen, Böblingen and the district-free city Stuttgart.- History :...
- Freudenstadt
Freudenstadt is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rastatt, Calw, Tübingen, Zollernalbkreis, Rottweil and the Ortenaukreis.- History :...
- Göppingen
Göppingen is a Kreis in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rems-Murr, Ostalbkreis, Heidenheim, Alb-Donau, Reutlingen and Esslingen.- History :...
|
- Heidenheim
Heidenheim is a district in the east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ostalbkreis, Dillingen, Günzburg, Alb-Donau and Göppingen.- History :...
- Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Neckar...
- Hohenlohe
The Hohenlohekreis is a district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neckar-Odenwald, Main-Tauber, Schwäbisch Hall and Heilbronn.Künzelsau is the administration centre of the district....
- Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...
- Lörrach
Lörrach is a Kreis in the south-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Waldshut...
- Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heilbronn, Rems-Murr, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and Enz.- History :...
- Main-Tauber
Main-Tauber-Kreis is a district in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Miltenberg, Main-Spessart, Würzburg, Neustadt -Bad Windsheim and Ansbach , and the districts of Schwäbisch Hall, Hohenlohe and Neckar-Odenwald.- History :The district was created in 1973 by...
- Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis
Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis is a district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Main-Tauber-Kreis, Hohenlohe, Heilbronn, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, and the district Odenwaldkreis in Hesse...
- Ortenaukreis
Ortenaukreis is a district in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottweil, Schwarzwald-Baar and Emmendingen...
- Ostalbkreis
The Ostalbkreis is a district in the east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on the border to Bavaria. Neighboring districts are Schwäbisch Hall, Ansbach, Donau-Ries, Heidenheim, Göppingen and Rems-Murr.- History :...
- Rastatt
Rastatt is a district in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Calw, Freudenstadt and the Ortenaukreis. To the west it borders the French département Bas-Rhin...
- Ravensburg
Ravensburg is a district in the south-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bodensee, Sigmaringen and Biberach, the Bavarian urban district Memmingen and the districts Unterallgäu, Oberallgäu and Lindau.- History :The district dates back to the Oberamt Ravensburg, which...
|
- Rems-Murr-Kreis
Rems-Murr is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heilbronn, Schwäbisch Hall, Ostalbkreis, Göppingen, Esslingen, the district-free city Stuttgart and the district Ludwigsburg....
- Reutlingen
Reutlingen , nicknamed "Das Tor zur Schwäbischen-Alb" , is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
- Rhein-Neckar-Kreis
Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bergstraße, Odenwaldkreis, Neckar-Odenwald, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, district-free Speyer, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, and district-free Mannheim and Heidelberg.- History :The district was created in...
- Rottweil
Rottweil is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Freudenstadt, Zollernalbkreis, Tuttlingen, Schwarzwald-Baar and Ortenaukreis.- History :...
- Schwäbisch Hall
Schwäbisch Hall is a district in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Main-Tauber, the Bavarian district Ansbach, Ostalbkreis, Rems-Murr and Hohenlohe.- History :...
- Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis
Schwarzwald-Baar is a district in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ortenaukreis, Rottweil, Tuttlingen, Constance, the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, and the districts Waldshut, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Emmendingen.- History :The district was created in 1973,...
- Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen is a district in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Reutlingen, Biberach, Ravensburg, Bodensee, Constance and Zollernalbkreis.- History :...
- Tübingen
Tübingen is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Böblingen, Reutlingen, Zollernalbkreis and Freudenstadt.- History :...
- Tuttlingen
Tuttlingen is a county in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring counties are Rottweil, Zollernalbkreis, Sigmaringen, Constance and Schwarzwald-Baar.- History :...
- Waldshut
- Zollernalbkreis
The Zollernalbkreis is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The district is located in the Swabian Alb, and contains the second highest elevation of this mountains, the 1011 meter high Oberhohenberg...
|
Furthermore there are nine independent cities, which do not belong to any district:
A.
Baden-BadenBaden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.- History :The German word 'Baden' translates as 'to bath/bathe'...
B.
FreiburgFreiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Located in the extreme south-west of the country, Freiburg straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the...
C.
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
D.
HeilbronnHeilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 121.989 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
E.
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border....
F.
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
G.
PforzheimPforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City...
H.
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
I.
UlmUlm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions...
Economy
Baden-Württemberg is among the most prosperous states in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and is one of the wealthiest regions in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
with a traditionally low unemployment rate. A number of well-known enterprises are headquartered in the state, for example Daimler AG,
PorschePorsche SE is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Piëch and Porsche families. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG , often shortened to Porsche AG, is responsible and manufacturer of the Porsche automobile line...
,
Robert Bosch GmbHRobert Bosch GmbH is a German diversified technology-based corporation which was started in 1886 by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart, Germany.Robert Bosch GmbH is the world's largest supplier of automobile components and has business relationships with virtually every automobile company in the world. The...
(automobile industry), Carl Zeiss AG (optics), and
SAP AGSAP AG is a multinational software development and consulting corporation, which provides enterprise software applications and support to businesses of all sizes globally...
(largest software enterprise in Europe). In spite of this, Baden-Württemberg's economy is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. Although poor in workable natural resources (formerly lead, zinc, iron, silver, copper and salts) and still rural in many areas, the region is heavily industrialized. In 2003, there were almost 8,800 manufacturing enterprises with more than 20 employees, but only 384 with more than 500. The latter category accounts for 43% of the 1.2 million persons employed in industry. The
Mittelstand or mid-sized company is the backbone of the Baden-Württemberg economy. Medium-sized businesses and a tradition of branching out into different industrial sectors have ensured specialization over a wide range. A fifth of the "old" Federal Republic's industrial gross value added is generated by Baden-Württemberg. Turnover for manufacturing in 2003 exceeded 240,000 million, 43% of which came from exports. The region depends to some extent on global economic developments, though the great adaptability of the region's economy has generally helped it through crises. Half of the employees in the manufacturing industry are in mechanical and electrical engineering and automobile construction. This is also where the largest enterprises are to be found. The importance of the precision mechanics industry also extends beyond the region's borders, as does that of the optical, clock making, toy, metallurgy and electronics industries. The textile industry, which formerly dominated much of the region, has now all but disappeared from Baden-Württemberg. Research and development (R&D) is funded jointly by the State and industry. In 2001, more than a fifth of the 100,000 or so persons working in R&D in Germany were located in Baden-Württemberg, most of them in the
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
area. Baden-Württemberg is also one of the
Four Motors of EuropeThe Four Motors of Europe are four highly industrialized regions in Europe. It is composed of the Rhône-Alpes region in France, centered in Lyon, the Lombardy region in Italy, centered in Milan, the Catalonia region in Spain, centered in Barcelona, and Baden-Württemberg, centered in Stuttgart...
.
A study performed in 2007 by the pr campaign "Initiative for New Social Market Economy" ( (INSM)) and the trade newspaper "Wirtschaftswoche" awarded Baden-Württemberg for being the "economically most successful and most dynamic state" among the 16 states.
Tourism
Baden-Württemberg is a popular holiday destination rivalled only by
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in its natural landscapes. Main sights include the capital
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, the spas of
Baden-BadenBaden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.- History :The German word 'Baden' translates as 'to bath/bathe'...
, the architecture of
UlmUlm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions...
, the university cities
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
and
TübingenTübingen, a traditional university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 30 km southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-History:...
, and
FreiburgFreiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Located in the extreme south-west of the country, Freiburg straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the...
as an ideal base for exploring the
Black ForestThe Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
and the vineyards of
BreisachBreisach is a city with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about halfway between Freiburg and Colmar—20 kilometers away from each—and about 60 kilometers north of Basel near Kaiserstuhl...
.
Lake ConstanceLake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
is a draw in the summer.
Education
Baden-Württemberg is home to some of the oldest, most renowned and prestigious Universities in Germany, such as the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg and Tübingen. It also contains four of the nine German 'excellence universities' (Freiburg, Heidelberg,
KarlsruheThe University of Karlsruhe, also known as Fridericiana, was founded in 1825. It recently merged with Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to form the new institution, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ....
, and Konstanz). The
International University in GermanyLiving and learning in one place- discover IU Campus - and going broke in 10 years timeThe International University in Germany is a state-approved private university located in the city of Bruchsal in the heart of Europe, Germany...
is situated in
BruchsalBruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km Northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
.
Other university towns are
TübingenTübingen, a traditional university town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 30 km southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-History:...
,
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
and
UlmUlm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions...
. Furthermore, two universities are located in the state capital
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, the University of
HohenheimStuttgart-Hohenheim is a quarter of Plieningen, one of the 18 outer districts of Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
and the
University of StuttgartThe University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
. Ludwigsburg is home to the renowned national film school Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg).
Language
In many areas of Baden-Württemberg, residents still speak the distinctive dialects of
SwabianSwabian is one of the Alemannic dialects of High German, spoken in the region of Swabia. Swabia covers much of Germany's southwestern Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg and the southwest of the Bundesland Bavaria...
and 'Badisch'/
AllemanicAlemannic German is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries, including southern Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Italy...
, both of which are known for being almost unintelligible to northern Germans, especially in its stronger variants in the countryside. In the northern part of Baden-Württemberg, i.e., the area around
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
and
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
, a third dialect known as Kurpfälzisch is spoken. The dialects spoken in most of Baden-Württemberg are related to those of the neighboring regions of
AlsaceAlsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km²...
, northern
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
,
LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² and it has an estimated population of 35,000...
and
VorarlbergVorarlberg is the westernmost and wealthiest state of Austria. Though it is the second smallest in terms of area it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The only Austrian federal state that shares a border with Vorarlberg is Tyrol to the east...
, being either of Swabian or Alemannic origin.
Demographics
The population of Baden-Württemberg is 10,749,755 (2008), of which 5,466,966 is female and 5,282,789 is male, total population up 0.10 per cent over a year earlier. This was due to more births than deaths. In 2006, the birth rate was 8.61 per 1000, lower than that of 8.80 per 1000 in 2005. The death rate is decrease from 8.80 per 1000 in 2005 to 8.60 per 1000 in 2006. In 2008, Nearly 14.87 percent of the population under the age of 15, fell from 15.13 per cent over a previous year. The proportion of people aged 65 and over rose from 18.72 per cent to 18.99 per cent. Correspondingly, the median age (aged 15–64) of the population fell from 66.15 to 66.14 over the same period. The ratio of people aged under 15 and aged 65 and over to the population of working age (aged 15–64), the overall dependency ratio is 512 per 1000 in 2008. The Sex ratio of total population is 0.966 male(s)/female.
Religion
| Religion |
% |
Roman CatholicsThe German Catholic Church, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, is under the leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the Conference of the German Bishops. The current president of the conference is Robert Zollitsch, the archbishop to Freiburg, the country's second largest diocese with...
|
37.8% |
4.0M |
| Evangelical Church in Germany Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 regional Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant church bodies. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding, because of the denominational differences...
|
33.8% |
3.6M |
| Muslims |
5.6% |
600 000 |
| Buddhists |
0.23% |
25 000 |
| Hindu A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
|
0.14% |
15 000 |
| Jews |
0.08% |
9 000 |
Non ReligiousIrreligion is an absence of religion, indifference to religion, and/or hostility to religion. Depending on the context, it may be understood as referring to atheism, deism, nontheism, agnosticism, ignosticism, antireligion, skepticism, freethought, or secular humanism. Irreligious people may have...
|
22.3% |
2.4M |
Religious Freedom Controversy
Baden-Württemberg was the first of Germany's 16 states to outlaw the wearing of headscarves by Muslim teachers at state schools after a similar ban in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in 2004. Several resultant cases received international attention.
In one prominent example, one of the women affected, Doris Graber, had been teaching since 1973 but began wearing a headscarf in 1995. On March 18, 2008, a German court ruled that she could not wear a headscarf despite her argument that she should be permitted to do so under equal treatment laws since nuns were allowed to teach in a public school at that time while wearing religious habits. The state attorney spoke of a "historic exception" in the aforementioned public school where the nuns still teach in habit. The school, a former
monasteryMonastery , a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer Monastery (plural: monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios...
, was taken over by the state and authorities are bound to a contract governing the "exceptions status" of the school.
In the Fereshta Ludin case, education minister Annette Schavan asserted that headscarves are "understood as a symbol of the exclusion of woman from civil and cultural society," after she, herself, excluded Ms. Ludin from a teaching position because Ms. Ludin wore a scarf.
Politics
The politics of Baden-Württemberg are dominated by the
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), who have led all but one governments since the establishment of the state in 1952. The CDU currently have a minority of one in the state assembly, and rule in coalition with the liberal
Free Democratic PartyThe Free Democratic Party is a classical liberal, pro-business political party in Germany. International counterparts include the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom, Yabloko in Russia and the Democratic Alliance in South Africa. It is a member of the Liberal International...
. The opposition is lead by the leftist
Social Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is Germany's oldest political party. The party governed at the federal level in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union until conceding defeat in the federal election of September 2009...
and the
Alliance '90/The GreensThe Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany which originated from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
party. Until 2001 the anti-immigration The Republicans party also had seats in the state assembly.
External links