Erlangen-Höchstadt is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the t ...

Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim (German: Landkreis Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim, official Landkreis Neustadt a.d.Aisch-Bad Windsheim) is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the distr ...

, Bamberg,

Forchheim Forchheim () is a town in Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Franconian Switz ...

and

Nürnberger Land Nürnberger Land is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Forchheim, Bayreuth, Amberg-Sulzbach, Neumarkt, Roth and Erlangen-Höchstadt, and by the city of Nuremberg. Hi ...

, and by the cities of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

. The city of Erlangen is not part of the district, but nonetheless its administrative seat.

History

300px, Waterwheel in the Regnitz near Möhrendorf. The earliest extant documents are drawings from 1413 which show

water wheels A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

along the

Regnitz The Regnitz is a river in Franconia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is in length. The river is formed by the confluence of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which meet in the city of Fürth. From there the Regnitz runs northwa ...

. The first (1449–1450) and second (1552–1555) Margrave wars, Brandenburg versus Nuremberg, devastated the countryside. In 1715 a lock was placed in the

river at Hemhofen. The highpoint of waterwheel usage was in the early 19th century when more than 190 were in use between Fuerth and Forchheim. The district was established in 1972 by merging the former districts of Erlangen and Höchstadt.

Geography

The main river is the

, which runs through the city of Erlangen. Lands west of the river are covered with several hundred tiny lakes on both sides of the

Aisch The Aisch is an 83 km long tributary of the Regnitz in Middle- and Upper Franconia, in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany. It passes through Bad Windsheim, Neustadt an der Aisch Neustadt an der Aisch (officially: ''Neustadt a.d.Aisc ...

. The Aisch is an affluent of the Regnitz, running from southwest to east. East of the river the country is rising to the hills of the northern

Frankish Alb The Franconian Jura ( , , or ) is an upland in Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. Located between two rivers, the Danube in the south and the Main in the north, its peaks reach elevations of up to and it has an area of some 7053.8 km2. Emil Meyn ...

Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays: * the lion of the clerical state of Bamberg, which ruled the district's western half until 1802 * the red and white border of the right half is taken from the arms of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (see Bayreuth) * the blue and gold colours of the right half are identical to the heraldic colours of Nuremberg * the image in the right half symbolises a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

History

Geography

Coat of arms

Towns and municipalities

References

External links