North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen in German) is the most populous and most economically important state in Germany. If German Länder were to be considered as independent countries, North Rhine-Westphalia would be the fifth most populous country in Western Europe, after France, the UK, Italy and Spain.
North Rhine-Westphalia borders on (clockwise from the North) the German states of Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands to the West.
It has a surface area of 34,084 km² (in between that of Belgium and the Netherlands), a population of 18,033,000 inhabitants (more than either Belgium or the Netherlands), and is divided into 5 administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), divided into 31 districts (Kreise) and 23 urban districts (kreisfreie Städte) for a total of 396 municipalities.
Before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, what is now North Rhine-Westphalia was composed of the Free Imperial City of Aachen, the Duchy of Jülich, the Duchy of Kleve, the Archbishopric of Cologne, the Free Imperial City of Dortmund, the Duchy of Berg, the County of Mark, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, the Duchy of Westphalia, and the Bishopric of Paderborn.
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North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen in German) is the most populous and most economically important state in Germany. If German Länder were to be considered as independent countries, North Rhine-Westphalia would be the fifth most populous country in Western Europe, after France, the UK, Italy and Spain.
Aachen
Altena Castle
Monschau
Xanten