Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis

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.

Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis
District
Flag
Coat of arms
CountryGermany
StateNorth Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. regionArnsberg
Founded1 August 1929
CapitalSchwelm
Government
 • District admin.Arnim Brux
Area
 • Total408.44 km2 (157.70 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2018)[1]
 • Total324,296
 • Density790/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registrationEN, WIT
Websitewww.enkreis.de

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).

BochumDortmundEssenGelsenkirchenHagenMärkischer KreisOberbergischer KreisRemscheidWuppertalBreckerfeldEnnepetalGevelsbergHattingenHerdeckeSchwelmSprockhövelWetter (Ruhr)Witten
MunicipalityArea
1. Breckerfeld58.78 km2 (22.70 sq mi)
2. Ennepetal57.43 km2 (22.17 sq mi)
3. Gevelsberg26.29 km2 (10.15 sq mi)
4. Hattingen71.40 km2 (27.57 sq mi)
5. Herdecke22.40 km2 (8.65 sq mi)
6. Schwelm20.50 km2 (7.92 sq mi)
7. Sprockhövel47.80 km2 (18.46 sq mi)
8. Wetter (Ruhr)31.47 km2 (12.15 sq mi)
9. Witten72.37 km2 (27.94 sq mi)
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, total408.44 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.

Largest groups of foreigners :

 Turkey6,474
 Italy3,416
 Poland2,655
 Greece1,864
 Syria1,433
 Portugal1,200

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
  1. "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2018" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 10 July 2019.

Media related to Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.