The district of Aachen () is a district in the west of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg,

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Euskirchen (district), district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating ba ...

, and also the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

province of Limburg and the Belgian province of

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

. Its administrative body is the ''Städteregionsparlament'' ("regional parliament"), headed by the ''Städteregionspräsident'' or "region president" (Tim Grüttemeier ( CDU) since 2019). As of 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 a district-free city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'').

History

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 Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, but the administrative seat stayed there, even though the capital was no longer part of the district.

Kreis Aachen (1972)

The Aachen district was re-formed in 1972, and part of it was incorporated to the district-free city of

. At that point in time, the policy that no independent large city in

should be the seat of its district was not yet in effect. In the larger independent cities of Bielefeld (1973) and Münster (1975), the districts named after them were consistently dissolved and several of their communities were incorporated into the respective large city. In the case of Aachen, however, no further municipal reform was carried out and the separation of city and district remained. In 1975 this district of Aachen was merged with the district of Monschau, and parts of the districts of

, Jülich, Schleiden and Selfkant.

Städteregion Aachen (2009)

In 2004, a special-purpose association was formed including the city of Aachen, the district of Aachen, and the nine municipalities belonging to the district. Its regular meetings consisted of 60 representatives of the association members with voting rights, and focused on expanding cooperation between the members, road traffic management, school administration, and economic development. This was a predecessor to the 2009 ''Städteregion''. In 2009, the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament reorganized the district to include the city of Aachen, modeled after the district of Hanover. The existing Aachen district was dissolved and the new ''Städteregion Aachen'' took over tasks such as traffic planning and emergency services from the cities within it.

Geography

Geographically the district covers a part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

mountains in the south, but also the lowlands of the Lower Rhine Bay.

Coat of arms

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

References

External links

*
Official Website
(German, English, Dutch, French, Polish) {{coord, 50, 45, N, 6, 15, E, display=title, region:DE_scale:200000 Districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Cologne (region) Urban districts of North Rhine-Westphalia