Hessen

Capital

Wiesbaden

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Hesse is a state of Germany with an area of 21,110km² (8,150 sq mi) and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main. Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area.

Situated in west-central Germany, Hesse borders on the German states (starting from the northwest and proceeding clockwise) of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The principal cities of Hesse include Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Gießen, Wetzlar and Limburg in the greater Rhine Main Area, Fulda in the east, and Kassel and Marburg an der Lahn in the north.

The most important rivers in Hesse are the Fulda and Eder rivers in the north, the Lahn in the central part of Hesse, and the Main and Rhine in the south. The countryside is hilly and there are numerous mountain ranges, like the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus, the Vogelsberg, the Knüll or the Spessart.

Most of the population of Hesse is in the southern part of Hesse in the Rhine Main Area. The Rhine borders Hesse on the southwest without running through the state, only one old arm – the so-called Alt-Rhein – runs through Hesse. The mountain range between the Main and the Neckar river is called the Odenwald. The plain in between the rivers Main, Rhine and Neckar, and the Odenwald mountains is called the Ried.

Hessen ist ein Land in der Mitte Deutschlands und gehört vor allem mit seinen südlichen Landesteilen zu den am dichtesten besiedelten und wirtschaftsstärksten Regionen Deutschlands. Die Landeshauptstadt ist Wiesbaden, die größte Stadt Frankfurt am Main.

Das heutige Land Hessen wurde am 19. September 1945 unter dem Namen Groß-Hessen gegründet und hatte als erstes noch heute bestehendes Land der Bundesrepublik eine neue demokratische Verfassung. Seine unmittelbaren Vorgängerstaaten waren der Volksstaat Hessen und die preußischen Provinzen Kurhessen und Nassau, die der Freistaat Preußen am 1. April 1944 durch Teilung der Provinz Hessen-Nassau schuf.