Baden-Württemberg

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Baden-Württemberg
Details	Civil flag State flag
Time zone:	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Administration
Capital:	Stuttgart
Prime Minister:	Günther Oettinger (CDU)
Governing parties:	CDU / FDP
Votes in Bundesrat:	6 (from 69)
Basic Statistics
Area:	35,752 km² (13,804 sq.mi.)
Population:	10,736,000 (31. Aug. 2006)
- Density:	300 /km² (778 /sq.mi.)
Further Information
GDP:	€ 331 billion (2005)
	- 15 % of German GDP
NUTS-Region:	DE1
ISO 3166-2:	DE-BW
Website:	baden-wuerttemberg.de
Location within Germany

Baden-Württemberg is a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine. It is third largest in both area and population among the country's sixteen states, with an area of 35,742 km² and 10.7 million inhabitants. The state capital is Stuttgart.

1 Geography
2 Administration
3 History
4 Politics
- 4.1 List of minister-presidents of Baden-Württemberg
- 4.2 2006 state election results
5 Education
6 Historical buildings
7 External links

[edit] Geography

The state borders on Switzerland to the south, on France to the west, and on the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate (northwest), Hesse (north) and Bavaria (east).

Its principal cities include Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Ulm, Tübingen, Pforzheim and Reutlingen.

The Rhine (Rhein) forms the western border as well as large portions of the southern border. The Black Forest (Schwarzwald), the main mountain range of the state, rises east of the Rhine valley. Baden-Württemberg shares both Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the foothills of the Alps with Switzerland.

The Danube (Donau) river has its source in Baden-Württemberg near the town of Donaueschingen, in a place called Furtwangen in the Black Forest.

[edit] Administration

Baden-Württemberg is divided into 35 districts and 9 independent cities, both grouped into the four Administrative Districts (Regierungsbezirke) of Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Tübingen.

Map

A campaign bumper sticker. The text says: "We can [do] everything - except [speak] standard German"; This is an allusion to the fact that Baden-Württemberg is one of the principal centers for innovation and economy in Germany, while many inhabitants of Baden-Württemberg speak very distinctive regional dialects

Furthermore there are nine independent cities, which do not belong to any district:

[edit] History

This state combines the historical states of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg.

After World War II the Allied forces established three states: Württemberg-Baden (occupied by the USA), Württemberg-Hohenzollern (France) and Baden (France). In 1949 these three states became parts of the Federal Republic of Germany. Article 118 of the new German constitution however allowed for those states to merge. After a plebiscite held in 1952 these states merged into Baden-Württemberg.

In 1956 the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the plebiscite was unlawful because it had disadvantaged Baden's population. The plebiscite was then held again within the area of former Baden in 1970 resulting in a majority of more than 81% for the new state.

[edit] Politics

Baden-Württemberg's voters are, similar to neighboring Bavaria, predominantly conservative. Except for the first election, all minister-presidents were members of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

[edit] List of minister-presidents of Baden-Württemberg

1952 - 1953: Reinhold Maier (FDP/DVP)
1953 - 1958: Gebhard Müller (CDU)
1958 - 1966: Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU)
1966 - 1978: Hans Karl Filbinger (CDU)
1978 - 1991: Lothar Späth (CDU)
1991 - 2005: Erwin Teufel (CDU)
since 2005: Günther Oettinger (CDU)

[edit] 2006 state election results

Party	Party List votes	Vote percentage (change)		Total Seats (change)		Seat percentage
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	1,748,781	44.2%	-0.6%	69	+6	49.7%
Social Democratic Party (SPD)	996,095	25.2%	-8.1%	38	-7	27.3%
Alliance '90/The Greens	462,889	11.7%	+4.0%	17	+7	12.2%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)	421,885	10.7%	+2.6%	15	+5	10.8%
Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (WASG)	121,875	3.1%	+3.1%	0	0	0.0%
The Republicans	100,079	2.5%	-1.9%	0	0	0.0%
All Others	108,741	2.6%	0.0%	0	+0	0.0%
Totals	3,960,345	100.0%		139	+11	100.0%

[edit] Education

Baden-Württemberg is home to some of the oldest, most renowned and prestigious universities in Germany, such as the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg and Tübingen. Other university towns are Karlsruhe, Konstanz, Mannheim and Ulm. Furthermore, two universities are located in the state capital Stuttgart, the University of Hohenheim and the University of Stuttgart.

[edit] Historical buildings

Old Town Hall in Esslingen	Castle Heidelberg	Castle Hohenzollern	Old Town Hall in Tübingen
Old Castle in Stuttgart	Castle in Karlsruhe	Castle in Ludwigsburg	Castle Lichtenstein
Castle Sigmaringen	Münster Ulm	Castle Langenburg	Sankt Blasien Cathedral
Castle Weikersheim

[edit] External links

v • d • e

States of Germany

Baden-Württemberg · Bavaria · Brandenburg · Hesse · Lower Saxony · Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania · North Rhine-Westphalia · Rhineland-Palatinate · Saarland · Saxony · Saxony-Anhalt · Schleswig-Holstein · Thuringia
City-states: Berlin · Bremen · Hamburg

	Urban districts and districts in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg in Germany
Urban districts	Baden-Baden · Freiburg · Heidelberg · Heilbronn · Karlsruhe · Mannheim · Pforzheim · Stuttgart · Ulm
Rural districts	Alb-Donau · Biberach · Bodensee · Böblingen · Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald · Calw · Konstanz (Constance) · Emmendingen · Enz · Esslingen · Freudenstadt · Göppingen · Heidenheim · Heilbronn (district) · Hohenlohe · Karlsruhe (district) · Lörrach · Ludwigsburg · Main-Tauber · Neckar-Odenwald · Ortenau · Ostalbkreis · Rastatt · Ravensburg · Rems-Murr · Reutlingen · Rhein-Neckar · Rottweil · Schwarzwald-Baar · Schwäbisch Hall · Sigmaringen · Tuttlingen · Tübingen · Waldshut · Zollernalb