Heilbronn-Franken is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

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 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 ...

, 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 Landkreis Heilbronn () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Nec ...

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 Bavaria ...

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 languages, Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three Regierungsbezirk, administrative ...

, hence the second half of the name), as the population there mostly speaks Franconian rather than Swabian dialects of German. 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 Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...

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,

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, ...

, Künzelsau,

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

Öhringen Öhringen ( East Franconian: ''Ähringe'') is the largest town in Hohenlohe (district) in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near Heilbronn. Öhringen is on the railline to Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim. With a population o ...

, Schwäbisch Hall,

Tauberbischofsheim Tauberbischofsheim is a German town in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg on the river Tauber with a population of about 13,200. It is the capital of the Main-Tauber district. It is a popular tourist destination due to its numerous historical ...

and Wertheim.

References

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