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

References

External links

Media related to Kreis Euskirchen at Wikimedia Commons

• Official Website (German)

Urban and rural districts in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany
Urban districts	Bielefeld Bochum Bonn Bottrop Dortmund Duisburg Düsseldorf Essen Gelsenkirchen Hagen Hamm Herne Köln (Cologne) Krefeld Leverkusen Mönchengladbach Mülheim Münster Oberhausen Remscheid Solingen Wuppertal
Rural districts	Aachen Borken Coesfeld Düren Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Euskirchen Gütersloh Heinsberg Herford Hochsauerlandkreis Höxter Kleve (Cleves) Lippe Märkischer Kreis Mettmann Minden-Lübbecke Oberbergischer Kreis Olpe Paderborn Recklinghausen Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Rhein-Erft-Kreis Rhein-Kreis Neuss Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Siegen-Wittgenstein Soest Steinfurt Unna Viersen Warendorf Wesel

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