Osnabrück (district)

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Osnabrück
Map of Lower Saxony highlighting the district Osnabrück
State	Lower Saxony
County seat	Osnabrück
Adm. region	Weser-Ems
Area	2122 km²
Population	357,300 (2003)
Pop. density	168 inh./km²
Car identification	OS
Web page	http://www.lkos.de

Osnabrück is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Emsland, Cloppenburg, Vechta and Diepholz, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts Minden-Lübbecke, Herford, Gütersloh, Warendorf and Steinfurt) and the city of Osnabrück.

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

[edit] History

The district is almost identical to the bishopric principality of Osnabrück which existed until 1803. When the clerical states of Germany were dissolved, Osnabrück became subordinate to Hanover, which in turn fell to Prussia in 1866. The district was established in 1972 by merging four former districts (Osnabrück, Melle, Bersenbrück, Wittlage).

[edit] Geography

The landscape is characterised by two mountain chains: the Wiehengebirge in the north and the northern foothills of the Teutoburg Forest in the south. These chains enclose the city of Osnabrück.

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays the Bennoturm ("Benno's Tower") of Bad Iburg, which served as the fortress of the bishops until 1673. There is also a wheel displayed in the coat of arms, which is the heraldic symbol of the city of Osnabrück.

[edit] Towns and municipalities

Towns	Samtgemeinden	Free municipalities
Bad Iburg Bramsche Dissen Georgsmarienhütte Melle	Artland (incl. town Quakenbrück) Bersenbrück (incl. town Bersenbrück) Fürstenau (incl. town Fürstenau) Neuenkirchen	Bad Essen Bad Laer Bad Rothenfelde Belm Bissendorf Bohmte Glandorf Hagen Hasbergen Hilter Ostercappeln Wallenhorst

[edit] External links

Official website (German, English, Dutch, Polish, Russian)

	Urban and rural districts in the Federal State of Lower Saxony in Germany
Region	Hanover
Urban districts	Brunswick \| Delmenhorst \| Emden \| Oldenburg \| Osnabrück \| Salzgitter \| Wilhelmshaven \| Wolfsburg
Rural districts	Ammerland \| Aurich \| Grafschaft Bentheim \| Celle \| Cloppenburg \| Cuxhaven \| Diepholz \| Emsland \| Friesland \| Gifhorn \| Goslar \| Göttingen \| Hamelin-Pyrmont \| Harburg \| Helmstedt \| Hildesheim \| Holzminden \| Leer \| Lüchow-Dannenberg \| Lüneburg \| Nienburg \| Northeim \| Oldenburg \| Osnabrück \| Osterholz \| Osterode \| Peine \| Rotenburg \| Schaumburg \| Soltau-Fallingbostel \| Stade \| Uelzen \| Vechta \| Verden \| Wesermarsch \| Wittmund \| Wolfenbüttel