Heilbronn-Franken is a region in northeastern

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, Germany, in the Stuttgart subdivision (Regierungsbezirk). It consists of the former

Free imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

of Heilbronn, Heilbronn district and the districts of

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous tim ...

Main-Tauber Main-Tauber-Kreis is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from northwest clockwise) Miltenberg, Main-Spessart, Würzburg, Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim and Ansbach (all in Bavar ...

and Schwäbisch Hall. It covers an area of 4765 km² in the northeast of Baden-Wuerttemberg, with a population of roughly 0.9 million. The administrative seat of the region is Heilbronn. The Heilbronn-Franken region is part of the European metropolitan region of Stuttgart and has the highest density of world market leaders among all regions across Germany measured against their number of inhabitants. Heilbronn-Franken has experienced an outstanding development with regard to the dynamic of its innovation process. The region is administratively part of Baden-Württemberg, especially the eastern parts of it (Hohenlohe) are, however, culturally a part of ''Franken'' (engl.

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper ...

, hence the second half of the name), as the population there mostly speaks Franconian rather than Swabian dialects of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. This area is known as ''

Tauberfranken The region of Tauber Franconia (german: Tauberfranken) is a part of the region of Franconia, most of which lies in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Tauber Franconia is almost coextensive with the county of Main-Tauber-Kreis, which is bisecte ...

'', after the Tauber river, that is flowing through it, and borders in the north and east with the Franconian regions of Lower Franconia and

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...

, that belong to

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 ...

. Towards the west, the region borders the Rhine-Neckar region, to the south the Stuttgart Region. Apart from Heilbronn, smaller cities in the region are

Bad Mergentheim Bad Mergentheim (; Mergentheim until 1926; East Franconian: ''Märchedol'') is a town in the Main-Tauber-Kreis district in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It has a population of around 23,000. An officially recognized spa town since 1926, ...

Crailsheim Crailsheim is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's main attractions include two Evangelical churches, a ...

, Künzelsau, Neckarsulm, Öhringen, Schwäbisch Hall, Tauberbischofsheim and Wertheim.

References

Planning regions in Baden-Württemberg {{BadenWürttemberg-geo-stub