A European Industrial Area : Germany

Industrial heartland, modern technology center, land of culture and the media: Formerly an industrial landscape dominated by factory smokestacks, winding towers and blast furnaces, North Rhine-Westphalia - with nearly 18 million inhabitants the most populous federal state - has undergone a profound structural change in recent decades. The land of coal and steel has become a land of coal, steel and promising new industries, an attractive site for domestic and foreign investors not least because of its outstanding infrastructure. About half of its people live in large cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants; at 527 persons per square kilometer, its population density is one of the highest in Europe.

The nickname “Kohlenpott” (coal scuttle) is a thing of the past, for the state has long since satisfied the call of the 1960s for “blue skies over the Ruhr”. Nevertheless, the Ruhr area - Europe’s largest industrial region with roughly 30 power plants and a population of approximately 5.4 million people - is still Germany’s main source of energy. The creation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia dates back to the time of British occupation after World War II: In 1946 the greater part of the former Prussian Rhine province and the province of Westphalia were merged - and later augmented by the inclusion of the former state of Lippe-Detmold.

ln 1949 the city of Bonn on the Rhine (nearly 300,000 inhabitants) was chosen the provisional capital of the Federal Republic. After the unification of Germany, Berlin became the permanent capital. Around the year 2000 the seat of the Bundestag, the Bundesrat and the Federal Government will also be moved to the banks of the Spree River in Berlin. The “federal city” of Bonn, however, will continue to play an important role in the future as an administrative and scientific center.