Düren (district)

Düren
District

Coat of arms
Country  Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region Cologne
Founded 1972
Capital Düren
Area
  Total 941.15 km2 (363.38 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2015)[1]
  Total 262,828
  Density 280/km2 (720/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration DN, JÜL
Website http://www.kreis-dueren.de

Düren is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Neuss, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Euskirchen and Aachen.

History

The district was created in 1972 by merging the former districts of Jülich and Düren. Both districts date back to 1816 when the new Prussian province Rhineland was created. Before the Napoleonic Wars all of the area belonged to the duchy of Jülich.

Geography

Geographically it covers both the lowlands of the Lower Rhine Bay as well as the mountains and hills of the Eifel. The district has rich lignite (brown coal) deposits, which is used in open pit mining. Another big industry is paper production, which dates back to the second part of the 16th century. The main river in the district is the Rur.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the lion from the city of Jülich in the upper part. In the bottom it has a paper roll with the capital letter D for Düren, because the paper industry has long history. The coat of arms were granted in 1942.

Towns and municipalities

Towns Municipalities
  1. Düren
  2. Heimbach
  3. Jülich
  4. Linnich
  5. Nideggen
  1. Aldenhoven
  2. Hürtgenwald
  3. Inden
  4. Kreuzau
  5. Langerwehe
  1. Merzenich
  2. Niederzier
  3. Nörvenich
  4. Titz
  5. Vettweiß

Sister County

Düren has a partnership with Dorchester County in Maryland.

References

Media related to Kreis Düren at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 50°50′N 6°30′E / 50.83°N 6.5°E / 50.83; 6.5

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.