Euskirchen (district) : History, Geography, Coat of arms, Towns and municipalities Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Euskirchen (district)

District in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Flag

Coat of arms

CountryGermanyStateNorth Rhine-WestphaliaAdm. regionCologneCapitalEuskirchenGovernment

• District admin.Markus Ramers (SPD)Area

• Total1,249.093 km² (482.278 sq mi)Population

(31 December 2022)^[1]

• Total197,247 • Density160/km² (410/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Vehicle registrationEU, SLEWebsitehttp://www.kreis-euskirchen.de

Euskirchen (German pronunciation: [ˈɔʏskɪʁçn̩] ^ⓘ) is a Kreis (district) in the south-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Aachen, Düren, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Sieg, Ahrweiler, Daun, Bitburg-Prüm, and the Liège province (Belgium).

History

In 1827 a first district around the city of Euskirchen was created, however much smaller than today. In 1932 the district of Rheinbach was dissolved, whereby the Euskirchen district gained its southern part. In 1972 the Euskirchen district grew again by the inclusion of the Schleiden district.

Geography

Geographically, the south-western half of the district is inside the Eifel hill chain. This land is hardly suitable for agriculture, and therefore in historical times the region was rather poor. Areas further to the north-east are more flat and have historically been used to grow a variety of crops, most notably sugar beets. The only other source of wealth was the iron ore, but today the many forests there make the area interesting for tourists.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the four signs of the main historical territories or rulers of the district. Top-left are the roses of the counts of Arenberg, top-right the lion of Jülich, bottom-right the wave-line of the counts of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, and bottom-left the Cologne cross. The coat of arms was granted in 1973.

Towns and municipalities

Towns	Municipalities
Bad Münstereifel (17,395) Euskirchen (55,502) Mechernich (26,776) Schleiden (12,892) Zülpich (19,689)	Blankenheim (8,534) Dahlem (4,163) Hellenthal (8,168) Kall (11,306) Nettersheim (7,475) Weilerswist (15,824)

References

^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2022 – Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes auf Basis des Zensus vom 9. Mai 2011" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 20 June 2023.