Grenzach-Wyhlen is a municipality in the district of Lörrach in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...

, 7 km east of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...

, and 8 km south of

Lörrach Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including th ...

. It has borders to

Inzlingen Inzlingen is a village in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. From the Fondation Beyeler, a famous art collection in Riehen in the canton Basel Stadt, Switzerland, the street Inzlingerstrasse goes uphill to In ...

and

Rheinfelden (Baden) Rheinfelden ( gsw, Badisch-Rhyfälde, ) is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, across from Rheinfelden, Switzerland, and 15 km east of Basel. The population is ...

in Germany, and Riehen (BS), Birsfelden (BL) and Kaiseraugst (AG) in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Grenzach-Wyhlen was established on January 1, 1975 from the two independent municipalities Grenzach and Wyhlen in the course of the Baden-Württemberg reform of the local governments. First settlements in today's municipality area are of Celtic origin, belonging to the

Hallstatt culture The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European culture of Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries ...

in the early 1st millennium BC. The Celtic settlement was followed by

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

settlements and from the 3rd century on by

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

c ones. The name "Wyhlen" originates in Alemannic "ze wilon", meaning "at the farmstead". The Roman settlement was called Carantiacum (well of Carantius). From this name today's name Grenzach emerged. In 1982 remains of a Roman

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became sm ...

were excavated. Later on some ruins of an outbuilding were found and

archaeologically Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

investigated too. 1991 more walls were found, which were restored and are now visible to the public. The first documented mentioning of the settlement was in the 13th century CE, when Grenzach and Wyhlen were under

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

rule. In the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

the villages were separated by a national border. Grenzach came to the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

, while Wyhlen belonged to

Further Austria Further Austria, Outer Austria or Anterior Austria (german: Vorderösterreich, formerly ''die Vorlande'' (pl.)) was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-we ...

. In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

and in later military conflicts the villages suffered severe devastation. With the founding of the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

Wyhlen also became Badisch, so that after more than 500 years the two places were again under the same territorial rule.

References

External links

*
Grenzach-Wyhlen: History & Images
Lörrach (district) Baden {{Lörrach-geo-stub