Kassel district (

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 ...

: Landkreis Kassel) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the north of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

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 ...

. Neighboring districts are

Northeim Northeim (; nds, Nuurten) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the district of Northeim, with, in 2011, a population of 29,000. It lies on the German Half-Timbered House Road. History Northeim is first mentioned in 800 in a document ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, Werra-Meißner,

Schwalm-Eder Schwalm-Eder is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 170. It is locate ...

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merging ...

Höxter Höxter () is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the left bank of the river Weser, 52 km north of Kassel in the centre of the Weser Uplands. The main town's population is around 15,000, and with outlying centres, about 30,0 ...

. The

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

of Kassel is nearly completely surrounded by the district. Rotbuche Reinhardswald

Geography

The main river in the district is the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

, which also forms part of the eastern boundary. Its headstream, the Fulda, flows through the southern part of the district including the city of Kassel. In the north of the district there is the

Diemel The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Weser. Route The source of the Diemel is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg, an ...

as a tributary of the Weser.

History

The area was first populated by the ancient

Germanic tribe This list of ancient Germanic peoples is an inventory of ancient Germanic cultures, tribal groupings and other alliances of Germanic tribes and civilisations in ancient times. The information comes from various ancient historical documents, beginn ...

Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the va ...

, who later founded the state of Hesse. The present county was disputed between various principalities (Hesse, Mainz, Paderborn, Cologne and Braunschweig) in the early Middle Ages; later it became part of Hesse and Hesse-Kassel. This state was annexed by Prussia in 1866 . The modern federal state of Hesse was founded after 1945. This state reformed its districts in the 1970s. In 1972, the previous districts of Kassel, Hofgeismar and Wolfhagen, were merged to form the newly established district of Kassel.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the lion of

in the top part, as Kassel was the capital of the county of Hesse until 1866, when it moved to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. In the lower part it has three

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

leaves taken from the coat of arms of the Hofgeismar district, and a wolf's hook symbolizing the Wolfhagen district.

Tourism and sights

Many characters and places from the fairy tales of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

have originated in the area around Kassel. Thus the tale of Sleeping Beauty locates at the Sababurg in Reinhardswald and that of Rapunzel on the Trendelburg. Therefore, the district of Kassel is also marketed as the ''"Land of the Brothers Grimm"''. The region is the center of the ''German Fairy Tale Route''. The district is represented in the

European Garden Heritage Network The European Garden Heritage Network is a nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organi ...

with three parks: The park of the castles Schloss Wilhelmsthal (in Calden), the Escheberg-Castle and the Sababurg.

Transportation

The district is served by the motorways 7 ( Würzburg - Kassel - Hanover ), 44 (Kassel - Dortmund ) and 49 (Kassel-Borken). Other roadlinks, including the B 7, B 83 and B 251, exist. With the Airport Kassel-Waldau in 1924 there was an airport with international connections. In 1970 it was closed with the opening of the new

Kassel Calden Airport Kassel Airport (formerly ''Kassel-Calden Airport'', German ''Flughafen Kassel'') is a minor international airport serving the German city of Kassel in the state of Hesse. It is located west of Calden, northwest of Kassel and is mainly used f ...

. Currently this airport is completely rebuilt. The rail transport is oriented to the city of Kassel with tram and rail lines.

Economy

Some parts of the district benefit from good infrastructure.

Baunatal Baunatal is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is a comparatively young town which arose from fusion of the formerly independent municipalities ''Altenbauna'', ''Altenritte'', ''Großenritte'', ''Guntershausen'', ''Hertingshau ...

has large Volkswagen and

Lohfelden Lohfelden is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 6 km southeast of Kassel. It has three parts Crumbach, Ochsenhausen and the former independent Vollmarshausen. Geography Lohfelden / Vollmarshausen bor ...

factories and also has several industrial areas on the border with the city of Kassel. Other more rural parts had experienced population decline, though this has halted in recent years.

Towns and municipalities

Twinnings (partner regions)

Waldviertel The (Forest Quarter; Central Bavarian: ) is the northwestern region of the northeast Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is bounded to the south by the Danube, to the southwest by Upper Austria, to the northwest and the north by the Czech Rep ...

, Austria (federal state of Lower Austria) * Forlì-Cesena, Italy (region Emilia-Romagna) *

Csepel Island Csepel Island (Hungarian: ''Csepel-sziget'', ) is an island on the Danube in Hungary. It is long; its width after sections of bifurcation and rejoining (confluence) varies from . It has an area of and its population is 165,000. The isle extend ...

, Hungary *

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluenc ...

, Russia (Yaroslavl Oblast) * Bistriţa-Nasaud, Romania *

Dane County Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

, United States (Wisconsin)

References

External links

Official website
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kassel (District) Districts of Hesse Districts of Prussia