Heinsberg (district)

Heinsberg
District
Country  Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region Cologne
Capital Heinsberg
Area
 • Total 627.7 km2 (242.4 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2015)[1]
 • Total 252,527
 • Density 400/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration HS
Website http://www.kreis-heinsberg.de

Heinsberg is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with the town of Heinsberg as its capital. Neighbouring districts are Viersen, Neuss, Düren and Aachen, the city of Mönchengladbach and the Dutch province Limburg.

History

The area fell to Prussia in 1815, which in 1816 created the three districts Heinsberg, Erkelenz and Geilenkirchen. In 1932 the districts Heinsberg and Geilenkirchen were merged, and in 1972 the Erkelenz district was merged as well. In 1975 the district got its present size when the municipality Niederkrüchten was moved to the district Viersen.

Geography

Geographically it covers the lowlands of the Lower Rhine Bay.

Rivers

Coat of arms

The coat of arms show two lions in the top part, in the left the silver lion of the city and the dukes of Heinsberg, in the right the black lion on yellow ground of the duchy of Jülich. The bottom part derives from the coat of arms of the former district Erkelenz, the fleur-de-lis from the city of Erkelenz represent the Maria-abbey in Aachen, and the blue flax flower in the middle remembers the old tradition of flax and linen trading in Erkelenz.

Towns and municipalities

Towns Municipalities
  1. Erkelenz
  2. Geilenkirchen
  3. Heinsberg
  4. Hückelhoven
  5. Übach-Palenberg
  6. Wassenberg
  7. Wegberg
  1. Gangelt
  2. Selfkant
  3. Waldfeucht

References

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

Media related to Kreis Heinsberg at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 51°00′N 6°10′E / 51.0°N 6.17°E / 51.0; 6.17

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.