Euskirchen (district)

Euskirchen
District
Country  Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region Cologne
Capital Euskirchen
Area
 • Total 1,249.093 km2 (482.278 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2015)[1]
 • Total 191,165
 • Density 150/km2 (400/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration EU
Website http://www.kreis-euskirchen.de

Euskirchen is a Kreis (district) in the south-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Aachen, Düren, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg, Ahrweiler, Daun, Bitburg-Prüm, and the Liège province (Belgium).

History

In 1827 a first district around the city of Euskirchen was created, however much smaller than today. In 1932 the district of Rheinbach was dissolved, whereby the Euskirchen district gained its southern part. In 1972 the Euskirchen district grew again by the inclusion of the Schleiden district.

Geography

Geographically, the south-western half of the district is inside the Eifel hill chain. This land is hardly suitable for agriculture, and therefore in historical times the region was rather poor. Areas further to the north-east are more flat and have historically been used to grow a variety of crops, most notably sugar beets. The only other source of wealth was the iron ore, but today the many forests there make the area interesting for tourists.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the four signs of the main historical territories or rulers of the district. Top-left are the roses of the counts of Arenberg, top-right the lion of Jülich, bottom-right the wave-line of the counts of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, and bottom-left the Cologne cross.

The coat of arms was granted in 1973.

Towns and municipalities

Towns Municipalities
  1. Bad Münstereifel (17,395)
  2. Euskirchen (55,502)
  3. Mechernich (26,776)
  4. Schleiden (12,892)
  5. Zülpich (19,689)
  1. Blankenheim (8,534)
  2. Dahlem (4,163)
  3. Hellenthal (8,168)
  4. Kall (11,306)
  5. Nettersheim (7,475)
  6. Weilerswist (15,824)

References

  1. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 18 July 2016.

Media related to Kreis Euskirchen at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 50°30′N 6°40′E / 50.5°N 6.67°E / 50.5; 6.67

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.