Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis

Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis
District

Flag

Coat of arms
Country  Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region Arnsberg
Founded 1 August 1929
Capital Schwelm
Government
  District admin. Arnim Brux
Area
  Total 408.44 km2 (157.70 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2015)[1]
  Total 325,954
  Density 800/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration EN, WIT
Website www.enkreis.de

The Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis is a district in the center of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is part of the southern Ruhr urban area and has ca. 324,000 inhabitants (2012). The district's seat (capital city) is Schwelm; the largest of its nine towns is Witten.

Geography

The name of the district describes its geographical location – it is located in the valleys of the rivers Ruhr and Ennepe. Geologically it is part of the north-eastern Rhenish Massif, a Mittelgebirge landscape; only small parts of Witten belong to the flat Westphalian Lowland.

Municipalities

The district consists of nine municipalities, all entitled "Stadt" (town or city).

Bochum Dortmund Essen Gelsenkirchen Hagen Herne Kreis Mettmann Kreis Unna Märkischer Kreis Oberbergischer Kreis Remscheid Wuppertal Breckerfeld Ennepetal Gevelsberg Hattingen Herdecke Schwelm Sprockhövel Wetter (Ruhr) WittenMunicipalities in EN.svg
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Municipality Area
1. Breckerfeld 58.78 km2 (22.70 sq mi)
2. Ennepetal 57.43 km2 (22.17 sq mi)
3. Gevelsberg 26.29 km2 (10.15 sq mi)
4. Hattingen 71.40 km2 (27.57 sq mi)
5. Herdecke 22.40 km2 (8.65 sq mi)
6. Schwelm 20.50 km2 (7.92 sq mi)
7. Sprockhövel 47.80 km2 (18.46 sq mi)
8. Wetter (Ruhr) 31.47 km2 (12.15 sq mi)
9. Witten 72.37 km2 (27.94 sq mi)
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, total 408.44 km2 (157.70 sq mi)

Adjacent cities and districts

The Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the district-free cities of Bochum, Dortmund and Hagen, the districts of Märkischer Kreis (with Schalksmühle and Halver) and Oberbergischer Kreis (with Radevormwald), the city of Wuppertal, the district of Mettmann (with Velbert) and the city of Essen.

History

The Kreishaus (district administration building) in Schwelm

The district was created in 1929 by merging the former district of Schwelm with parts of the former districts of Hattingen and Hagen. In 1970 and 1975 it was modified a bit during the reorganization of the districts in North Rhine-Westphalia; most notable was the inclusion of the previously independent city of Witten in 1975.

Coat of arms

In the middle of the coat of arms there is the checked red-white bar of the County of Mark, which owned the area in medieval times. The two wavy lines above and below depict the two rivers which gave the district its name, the Ruhr and the Ennepe.

References

Media related to Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 51°21′N 7°18′E / 51.350°N 7.300°E / 51.350; 7.300

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/16/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.