Viersen (district)

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Viersen
Map of North Rhine-Westphalia highlighting the district Viersen
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
County seat	Viersen
Adm. region	Düsseldorf
Area	563.29 km²
Population	304,112 (2002)
Pop. density	540 inh./km²
Car identification	VIE
Web page	http://www.kreis-viersen.de

Viersen is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Cleves, Wesel, district-free Krefeld, Neuss, district-free Mönchengladbach, Heinsberg and the Dutch province of Limburg.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Coat of arms
4 Cities and municipalities
5 External links

[edit] History

In 1816, the new Prussian government created the district of Kempen. Originally belonging to the Regierungsbezirk Kleve, it was dissolved in 1822, and since then has belonged to Düsseldorf. In 1929 the district was enlarged significantly and renamed to Kempen-Krefeld.

In 1975 the district again changed its borders and was renamed to Viersen even though Kempen remained the capital. Viersen city replace Kempen as the capital in 1984.

Since 1983 the district has had been twinned with Cambridgeshire in England.

[edit] Geography

The district is located in the lowlands between the Rhine and the Meuse river. Highest elevation is at Süchtelner Höhen with 90.7 m, with the lowest at Pielbruch with 28.6 m.

[edit] Coat of arms

At the top of the coat of arms is the black cross of the Cologne bishops, as the district used to belong to the clerical state Cologne. The golden lion on blue ground is the symbol of the duchy of Guelders; the black lion on golden ground the symbol of the duchy of Jülich.

[edit] Cities and municipalities

district-depending municipalities

Brüggen

16.211 inhabitants

Grefrath

15.929 inhabitants

Niederkrüchten

15.457 inhabitants

Schwalmtal

19.279 inhabitants

medium district-depending cities

Kempen

36.323 inhabitants

Nettetal

42.434 inhabitants

Tönisvorst

30.238 inhabitants

Willich

51.939 inhabitants

large district-depending cities

Viersen

76.330 inhabitants

based on data from: 31. December 2005>

[edit] External links

Official website (German)

	Urban districts and Districts in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Urban districts	Aachen \| Bergisch Gladbach \| Bielefeld \| Bochum \| Bonn \| Bottrop \| Dortmund \| Duisburg \| Düsseldorf \| Essen \| Gelsenkirchen \| Hagen \| Hamm \| Herne \| Köln (Cologne) \| Krefeld \| Leverkusen \| Mönchengladbach \| Mülheim \| Münster \| Oberhausen \| Remscheid \| Solingen \| Wuppertal
Districts	Aachen \| Borken \| Kleve (Cleves) \| Coesfeld \| Düren \| Ennepe-Ruhr \| Euskirchen \| Gütersloh \| Heinsberg \| Herford \| Hochsauerland \| Höxter \| 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