Hesse
This article refers to a state in Germany. For other uses of the term, see Hesse (disambiguation).Hesse (
German:
Hessen) is one of
Germany's sixteen federal states (
Bundesländer) . It has an area of 21,110
km² and just over six million inhabitants. The capital city of Hesse is
Wiesbaden (Kassel until 1945 ) while its economic centre and largest city is nearby
Frankfurt and the surrounding
Rhine Main Area.
Situated in western-central Germany, Hessen borders on (from the north-west and clockwise) the German states of
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Lower Saxony,
Thuringia,
Bavaria,
Baden-Württemberg and
Rhineland-Palatinate. Its principal cities include
Frankfurt am Main,
Wiesbaden,
Darmstadt,
Offenbach,
Gießen and
Wetzlar in the greater
Rhine Main Area,
Fulda in the east, as well as
Kassel and
Marburg in the north.
The main rivers in the northern part of Hessen are
Fulda and
Lahn. It is a hilly countryside, the main mountain chains being the
Rhön, the
Westerwald, the
Taunus and the
Spessart.
Most inhabitants live in the southernmost part of Hesse between the rivers
Main and
Rhine. The latter borders Hessen on the southwest without running through the state. The mountain chain between the Main and the Rhine is called the
Odenwald.
See also
List of places in Hesse.
Hessen is divided into 21 districts and five independent cities:
 |
Hesse_map.png |
#
Bergstraße (
Heppenheim, Bensheim)#
Darmstadt-Dieburg (
Darmstadt, Dieburg)#
Fulda (
Fulda)#
Gießen (
Gießen)#
Groß-Gerau (
Groß-Gerau, Rüsselsheim)#
Hersfeld-Rotenburg (
Bad Hersfeld)#
Hochtaunuskreis (
Bad Homburg)#
Kassel (
Kassel)#
Lahn-Dill (
Wetzlar)#
Limburg-Weilburg (
Limburg, Weilburg)#
Main-Kinzig (
Gelnhausen)#
Main-Taunus (
Hofheim, Bad Soden)#
Marburg-Biedenkopf (
Marburg)#
Odenwaldkreis (
Erbach)#
Offenbach (
Offenbach)#
Rheingau-Taunus (
Idstein)#
Schwalm-Eder (
Fritzlar, Borken)#
Vogelsbergkreis (
Alsfeld, Lauterbach)#
Waldeck-Frankenberg (
Korbach)#
Werra-Meißner (
Eschwege, Witzenhausen)#
Wetteraukreis (
Friedberg, Bad Nauheim)
* D
Darmstadt* F
Frankfurt (Main)* K
Kassel* O
Offenbach* W
WiesbadenThe 21 districts and five independent cities are grouped in three administrative regions (
Regierungsbezirke):
Kassel,
Gießen and
Darmstadt.
The area of Hesse was settled by the
Chatti in ca. the
1st century BC, and the name
Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name.
In the
early Middle Ages, Hesse was a part of
Thuringia, but in the
War of the Thuringian Succession (
1247-
64) Hesse gained its independence and became a
Landgraviate within the
Holy Roman Empire. It shortly rose to primary importance under Landgrave
Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German
Protestantism. After Philip's death in
1567, the territory was divided up among his four sons from his first marriage (Philip was a
bigamist) into four lines:
Hesse-Kassel,
Hesse-Darmstadt,
Hesse-Rheinfels and the also previously existing
Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (
1583 and
1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in
1622, when
Hesse-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted
Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained
Lutheran and subsequently the two lines often found themselves on different sides of a conflict, most notably in the disputes over
Hesse-Marburg and in the
Thirty Years' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with
Sweden and
France.
Hesse-Kassel was elevated to the dignity of an Electorate in
1803, but this remained without effect as the
Holy Roman Empire was disbanded in
1806. The territory was annexed by the Kingdom of
Westphalia in
1806, but restored to the Elector in
1813. While other Electors had gained other titles, becoming either Kings or Grand-dukes, the Elector of Hesse-Kassel alone retained the anachronistic dignity. The name survived in the term
Kurhessen, denoting the region around Kassel. In
1866 it was annexed by
Prussia, together with the
Free City of
Frankfurt, Hesse-Homburg and the duchy of
Nassau, which established the province of
Hesse-Nassau.
Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to the dignity of a Grand Duchy in
1806. In the
War of 1866, it fought on the side of
Austria against
Prussia, but retained its autonomy in defeat, because a greater part of the country was situated south of the Main river and Prussia did not dare to expand beyond the Main line as this might have provoked France. But the parts of Hesse-Darmstadt north of the Main river (the region around the town of
Gießen, commonly called
Oberhessen) were incorporated in the
Norddeutscher Bund, a tight federation of German states, established by Prussia in 1867. In
1871 the rest of the Grand Duchy joined the
German Empire. Around the turn of the century, Darmstadt was one of the centres of the
Jugendstil.
With the revolution of 1918 Hesse-Darmstadt became a republic, calling itself officially the "Volksstaat Hessen" (People's state Hesse). The parts of Hesse-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (province Rheinhessen) were occupied by French troops until 1930 under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty that officially ended WWI in 1919.
After
World War II the Hessian territory left of the Rhine was again occupied by France, whereas the rest of the country was part of the US occupation zone. The French separated their part of Hesse from the rest of the country and incorporated it into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). The US on the other side formed the state of Groß-Hessen (Greater Hesse) already in 1945, out of Hesse-Darmstadt and most of former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. On
December 4,
1946 Groß-Hessen was officially renamed Hessen.
See also
Rulers of Hesse.
The state is called
Hessen in
German and
Hesse in
English; the English name for the state was taken from
French. An inhabitant of the state is a
Hesse (masculine) or
Hessin (feminine) in German and a
Hessian in English (see
Hessian troops). Occasionally the German term
Hessen is also used in English.
Hessia is another variant, although rarely used.
(The title is
Ministerpräsident in German)#
1945:
Ludwig Bergstraesser#
1945 -
1946:
Karl Geiler#
1946 -
1951:
Christian Stock (
SPD)#
1951 -
1969:
Georg-August Zinn (
SPD)#
1969 -
1976:
Albert Osswald (
SPD)#
1976 -
1987:
Holger Börner (
SPD)#
1987 -
1991:
Walter Wallmann (
CDU)#
1991 -
1999:
Hans Eichel (
SPD)# since
1999:
Roland Koch (
CDU)
See also: Hessen state election, 2003Roland Koch remained Prime Minister of a CDU government. His former partner in coalition, the FDP, was not needed any more and went into opposition.
| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage | Total Seats | Seat percentage |
|---|
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 1,333,863 | 48.8% (+5,4) | 56 (+6) | 50.9% |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 795,576 | 29.1% (-10,3) | 33 (-13) | 30.0% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens | 276,276 | 10.1% (+2,9) | 12 (+4) | 10.9% |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 216,110 | 7.9% (+2,8) | 9 (+3) | 8.2% |
| The Republicans | 34,563 | 1.3% (-1,4) | 0 (=) | 0.0% |
| All Others | 78,604 | 2.9% (+0,6) | 0 (=) | 0.0% |
| - bgcolor=lightgrey | Totals | 2,734,992 | 100.0% | 110 | 100.0% |
|---|
|
Seat results -- SPD in red, CDU in black, Greens in green, FDP in yellow |
The national anthem of Hesse is called "Hessenlied" (Song of Hesse). It was written by Carl Preser (1828-1910, text) and Albrecht Brede (1834-1920, melody).[
1]
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) is the main
ARD broadcaster in Hesse, providing a third TV programme as well as its local radio stations. Other than HR,
ZDF and other privately-run TV stations flourish. Among the commercial radio stations that are active in Hesse are Hit Radio FFH and Planet Radio.
Hesse has one of the best transportation infrastructures in Europe. Many trans-European and German interstate freeways cross Hesse as well as high-speed train lines and many important trans-European waterways.
Frankfurt International Airport is Germany's biggest airport and number three in Europe (after London and Paris).
The
death penalty is still mentioned in the constitution of Hesse, as the Hessian constitution was ratified in 1946, when the death penalty was still part of the German penal code (and carried out as well). Because the
1949 federal constitution provides for the abolition of the death penalty and because of the supremacy of the federal constitution, the Hessian constitutional articles still mentioning the death penalty are de facto obsolete. Nonetheless, no politician has yet proposed to formally abolish the death penalty in Hesse because that would require a plebiscite, and it is doubtful whether Hessian voters will vote to abolish the death penalty.
The chemical element of
Hassium is named for Hesse alongside with
Darmstadtium for the Hessian City of
Darmstadt.
Hesse is a
sister state of
Wisconsin, a
member state of the
United States of America*
official government portal*
Sixty years of modern Hessen (also an official site)
*
portal about the eastern part of Hessen*
360 degree virtual trip through the Rhön - part of eastern hessen
