Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states.

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

is the capital and largest city. Other cities are Ludwigshafen am Rhein,

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

, Trier, Kaiserslautern, Worms, and

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

. It is bordered by

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 ...

, Saarland,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

and Hesse and by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Rhineland-Palatinate was established in 1946 after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from parts of the former states of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(part of its Rhineland and Nassau provinces), Hesse ( Rhenish Hesse) and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

(its former outlying Palatinate kreis or district), by the French military administration in Allied-occupied Germany. Rhineland-Palatinate became part of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and shared the country's only border with the Saar Protectorate until the latter was returned to German control in 1957. Rhineland-Palatinate's natural and cultural heritage includes the extensive Palatinate winegrowing region, picturesque landscapes, and many castles and palaces. Rhineland-Palatinate is currently the only federal state in Germany where nuclear weapons are stored extraterritorially under the responsibility and supervision of US forces. Several German-American ethnicities originated from this state, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch, Maryland Palatines, Ohio Rhinelanders, and Missouri Rhinelanders.

History

The state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, on 30 August 1946. It was formed mainly from the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province (the of

and Trier), from Rhenish Hesse, from the western part of Nassau and the

n Rhenish Palatinate minus the county of Saarpfalz. The Joint German-Luxembourg Sovereign Region () is the only unincorporated area of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This condominium is formed by the rivers Moselle, Sauer, and Our, where they run along the border between Luxembourg and Rhineland-Palatinate or the Saarland. The region has a vast history, from the control of the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

, to the control of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, and saw fighting during the First and Second World Wars.

Emergence

The present state of Rhineland-Palatinate formed part of the French Zone of Occupation (1945–1949) after the Second World War. It comprised the former Bavarian Palatinate, the ("government districts") of Koblenz and Trier (which formed the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province), the parts of the Province of Rhenish Hesse () west of the River Rhine and belonged to the People's State of Hesse (), parts of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau ( Montabaur), and the former Oldenburg region around

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the Birkenfeld (Verbandsgemeinde), like-named ''Verbandsge ...

( Principality of Birkenfeld). On 10 July 1945, the occupation authority on the soil of the present-day Rhineland-Palatinate transferred from the Americans to the French. To begin with, the French divided the region provisionally into two "upper presidiums" (), Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau (for the hitherto Prussian government districts and regions of

, Trier, and Montabaur) and Hesse-Palatinate (for the hitherto Bavarian Palatinate and old Hessian-Darmstadt province of Rhenish Hesse). The formation of the state was ordained on 30 August 1946, the last state in the Western Zone of Occupation to be established, by Regulation No. 57 of the French military government under General Marie-Pierre Kœnig. It was initially called Rhenish-Palatinate ( or ); the name Rhineland-Palatinate () was first confirmed in the constitution of 18 May 1947. The provisional French government at that time wanted originally to leave the option open of annexing further areas west of the Rhine after the Saarland was turned into a

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

. When the Americans and British, however had led the way with the establishment of German states, the French came under increasing pressure and eventually followed their example by setting up the states of Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Rhineland-Palatinate. However the French military government forbade the Saarland from joining Rhineland-Palatinate.

was named as the state capital in the regulation; the "Mixed Commission" (), named as the highest organ of state charged with the administration of the new state and with the preparation of an advisory state assembly, started its work in Mainz. However war damage and destruction meant that Mainz did not have enough administrative buildings, so the headquarters of the state government and parliament was provisionally established in

. On 22 November 1946, the constituent meeting of the Advisory State Assembly () took place there, and a draft constitution was drawn up. Previously, local elections had been held. Wilhelm Boden was (after a short term of office as the of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau) nominated on 2 December as the minister president of the new state by the French military government.

Early years

Adolf Süsterhenn submitted to the Advisory State Assembly a draft constitution, which was passed after several rounds of negotiation on 25 April 1947 in a final vote, with the absolute majority of the CDU voting for and the SPD and KPD voting against. A point of contention involved the draft constitution providing for separate schools based on Christian denomination. On 18 May 1947, 53% of the electorate adopted the Constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. While the Catholic north and west of the new state adopted the constitution by a majority, the majority in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate voted against it. On the same date the first elections took place for the state parliament, the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The inaugural assembly of parliament took place on 4 June 1947 in the large city hall at

. Wilhelm Boden was elected the first minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate. Just one month later, Peter Altmeier succeeded him. The constitutional bodies – the Government (), the Parliament () and the Constitutional Court () – established their provisional seat in Koblenz. In the following period, Koblenz and Mainz each emphasized their suitability as the state capital in a public debate. From the beginning, Minister-President Altmeier pressed for Mainz as the capital because he knew that the south of the country, especially the Palatinate, would not accept Koblenz, which was far to the north and formerly Prussian. On 16 May 1950, the decided to relocate itself and the from Koblenz to Mainz. After the government and parliament moved to Mainz, many state authorities and courts remained in Koblenz, including the Constitutional Court and the State Archives. In addition, the German Federal Archives and Federal Office of Hydrology were established in Koblenz in 1952.

Consolidation

A sense of community developed only very gradually in the "land of the retort", which had been established largely without regard to the historical affiliations of its inhabitants. It was given little chance of survival, especially as it had very few large industrial centres. However, the establishment of numerous military bases, both Allied and , helped to some extent to boost the economy. In 1956, under Article 29 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, petitions were made in the regions of Koblenz, Trier, Montabaur, Rhenish Hesse, and Palatinate for their separation from the state and incorporation into the respective states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg. All petitions for a

except those in the administrative district of Palatinate won the necessary majority; however, almost 20 years passed before the referendums finally took place. On 19 January 1975, none of the regions concerned returned a majority for being transferred to another state. This put an end to decades of discussion. Only the AKK conflict, a dispute over the districts of Mainz-Amöneburg, Mainz-Kastel, and Mainz-Kostheim, has continued to exercise politicians up to the present day.

Geography

Rhineland-Palatinate shares international borders with France (

Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...

), Luxembourg ( Clervaux, Diekirch, Echternach, Grevenmacher, Remich, and Vianden), and Belgium (

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

). Within Germany, its neighbours are

, Hesse,

, and the Saarland. It is the ninth-largest state by area. Rhineland-Palatinate is part of the SaarLorLux euregion. With 42% of its area covered by forests, it is the most forested state along with Hesse. The state's major rivers are the Rhine, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Middle Rhine, and the Moselle. Several crater lakes of volcanic origin are in the Eifel, the largest of which is the Laacher See. Climatically, Rhineland-Palatinate can be divided into two areas: The

Rhenish Massif The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to north by the river Rhine and a few ...

with a typically humid continental climate (Dfb). Summers here are usually warm with much precipitation and winters tend to be dry and cold. Snowfall is a common occasion. The deep valleys of

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and Moselle with an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Cfb''). Summers are hot and moist, while winters are cool. Freezing temperatures are rare and snow usually melts within hours. The mild climate allows palm trees, fig trees, stone pines, oleander shrubs, olive trees,

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

trees and other exotic plants to be grown in this area. The forests in this region are home to common pests such as '' Melolontha Hippocastrani'', that cause damage to the foliage and soil. The

forms roughly the northern half of the state, including the regions Eifel, Moselle Valley, Hunsrück, Westerwald, and parts of the Taunus. The Palatinate forms the biggest part of the southern half along with Rhenish Hesse. The Nahe Valley separates both parts.

Politics

Administration

Rhineland-Palatinate is divided into 24 districts ('' Landkreise''), 12 independent cities (''Kreisfreie Städte'').

Districts

Listing with Vehicle registration plates of Germany # Ahrweiler (AW) # Altenkirchen (Westerwald) (AK) #

Alzey-Worms Alzey-Worms () is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the district Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau (Hesse), the city of Worms, Germany, Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim (district) ...

(AZ) #

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860. Geogra ...

(DÜW) # Bad Kreuznach (KH) # Bernkastel-Wittlich (WIL, BKS) #

(BIR) # Cochem-Zell (COC, ZEL) # Donnersbergkreis (KIB, ROK) # Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm (BIT, PRÜ) # Germersheim (GER) # Kaiserslautern (KL) # Kusel (KUS) # Mainz-Bingen (MZ, BIN) # Mayen-Koblenz (MYK, MY) #

(NR) # Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (SIM, GOA) # Rhein-Lahn-Kreis (EMS, DIZ, GOH) # Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (RP) # Südliche Weinstraße (SÜW) # Südwestpfalz (PS, ZW) # Trier-Saarburg (TR, SAB) #

Vulkaneifel Vulkaneifel () is a district (''Kreis'') in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the least densely populated district in the state and the fourth most sparsely populated district in Germany. The administrative centre of ...

(DAU) # Westerwaldkreis (WW)

Independent cities

Listing with Vehicle registration plates of Germany # Frankenthal (Pfalz) (FT) # Kaiserslautern (KL) #

(KO) # Landau in der Pfalz (LD) # Ludwigshafen am Rhein (LU) #

(MZ) # Neustadt an der Weinstraße (NW) # Pirmasens (PS) #

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

(SP) # Trier (TR) # Worms (WO) #

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

(ZW)

Demographics

Largest cities

The following table shows the ten largest cities of Rhineland-Palatinate:

Vital statistics

*Births from January–August 2016 = 24,871 *Births from January–August 2017 = 24,784 *Deaths from January–August 2016 = 30,572 *Deaths from January–August 2017 = 32,167 *Natural growth from January–August 2016 = -5,701 *Natural growth from January–August 2017 = -7,383

Religion

In 2018, 40.3% of the population of the state adhered to the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and 26.8% to the Protestant Church in Germany; 32.9% of the population was irreligious or adheres to other religions.

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s made up 5.0% of the total.

Jewish culture

The league of ShUM-cities in the later Rhineland-Palatinate comprised the Jewish communities of Mainz,

, and Worms, which became the center of Jewish life during medieval times. The '' Takkanot Shum'' (), or Enactments of ShU"M were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders. Today, there are approximately 20,000 Jews (0.5% of the population) living in the state. {{notelist

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 147.0 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 4.4% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 33,100 euros or 110% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 102% of the EU average.

Industry

Rhineland-Palatinate leads all German states with an export rate around 50%. Important sectors are the winegrowing, chemical, pharmaceutical, and auto parts industries. "Distinctive regional industries" includes

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

s, ceramics and glass, and leather.

Small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

are considered the "backbone" of the economy in Rhineland-Palatinate. The principal employer is the chemical and plastics processing industry, which is represented by BASF in Ludwigshafen. Boehringer, BioNTech, Joh. A. Benckiser, SGE Deutsche Holding, and Schott Glassworks conclude the top five companies in the state.

Agriculture and viticulture

Rhineland-Palatinate is Germany's leading producer of wine in terms of grape cultivation and wine export. Its capital, Mainz, may be called the capital of the German wine industry, being the home of the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund in the {{lang, de, Haus des Deutschen Weines (House of German Wine), and the {{lang, de, Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) Wine Bourse, which brings together the top winemakers of Germany and the wine merchants of the world. Of 13 wine regions producing quality wine in Germany, six ({{lang, de, Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Mosel, Nahe, Mittelrhein, and {{lang, de, Ahr) are located in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 65 to 70% of the production of wine grapes in Germany having their origin within the state. About 13,000 wine producers generate 80 to 90% of the German wine export. The total estimated production from the six Rhineland-Palatinate regions was nearly 7 million hectoliters in 2018. Traditional grape varieties and a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region. Classical white varieties are cultivated at {{convert, 63683, ha, acre. These comprise the famous Rieslings {{convert, 14446, ha, acre, {{lang, de, Müller-Thurgau ({{convert, 8663, ha, acre), {{lang, de, Silvaner ({{convert, 3701, ha, acre), and {{lang, de, Kerner ({{convert, 3399, ha, acre). The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades and amounts to {{convert, 20000, ha, acre. {{lang, de, Dornfelder, a recent cultivar, is the leading red grape cultivated on {{convert, 7626, ha, acre, which is more than a third. {{lang, de, Blauer Portugieser ({{convert, 4446, ha, acre) and {{lang, de, Spätburgunder ({{convert, 3867, ha, acre) show also appreciable cultivated shares. In addition, {{lang, fr, Pinot blanc, {{lang, fr, Pinot gris, Chardonnay as white varieties and

Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

and St. Laurent as red varieties have been increasing their share, as the growing conditions improve in Rhineland-Palatinate. The state supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers ({{langx, de, DLR, links=no) of the land. The Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding is fully financed by the state. Many well-known new varieties such as {{lang, de, Morio-Muskat, Bacchus, Optima, and

have been created in these institutes. The worldwide leader in sparkling wine production, producing 224,4 million bottles in 2017/18, is the renowned {{lang, de, Schloss Wachenheim Group. This company is headquartered in Trier, with operations in several locations in Rhineland-Palatinate and three sites in France (Compagnie Française des Grands Vins (CFGV)). Other renowned sparkling wine producers such as {{lang, de, Kupferberg, {{lang, de, Deinhard, and {{lang, de, Henkell also had their roots in the region, but now belong to companies outside the state as a result of business consolidation.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in October 2018 and was lower than the German average. {, class="wikitable" !Year{{Cite web, url=https://www-genesis.destatis.de/genesis/online/data;sid=8605C2647C4C92D731CC1EC4BAC5AF53.GO_1_3?operation=ergebnistabelleUmfang&levelindex=3&levelid=1542098063701&downloadname=13211-0007, title=Federal Statistical Office Germany – GENESIS-Online, last=(Destatis), first=© Statistisches Bundesamt, date=13 November 2018, website=www-genesis.destatis.de, access-date=13 November 2018, archive-date=13 November 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113170119/https://www-genesis.destatis.de/genesis/online/data;sid=8605C2647C4C92D731CC1EC4BAC5AF53.GO_1_3?operation=ergebnistabelleUmfang&levelindex=3&levelid=1542098063701&downloadname=13211-0007, url-status=live !2000 !2001 !2002 !2003 !2004 !2005 !2006 !2007 !2008 !2009 !2010 !2011 !2012 !2013 !2014 !2015 !2016 !2017 !2018 , - , Unemployment rate in % , 7.3 , 6.8 , 7.2 , 7.7 , 7.7 , 8.8 , 8.0 , 6.5 , 5.6 , 6.1 , 5.7 , 5.3 , 5.3 , 5.5 , 5.4 , 5.2 , 5.1 , 4.8 , 4.4

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{commons {{Wikivoyage
Official governmental portal
* {{Osmrelation-inline, 62341 {{States of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Germany districts Rhineland-Palatinate {{SaarLorLux {{Authority control {{coord, 49, 54, 47, N, 07, 27, 00, E, display=title 1946 establishments in Germany States and territories established in 1946 History of the Palatinate (region) NUTS 1 statistical regions of the European Union Wine regions of Germany States of Germany