Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven

administrative region Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

s of

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 ...

, located in the east of the state.

Geography

Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau-Wald. Recent

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

results mark it as the most

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

part of Germany, generally giving huge margins to the CSU. This part of Bavaria includes the

Bavarian Forest The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest (German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is co ...

, a well-known tourist destination in Germany, and the

Lower Bavarian Upland The Lower Bavarian Upland, Lower Bavarian Hill Country (German: ''Niederbayerisches Hügelland'') or Lower Bavarian Hills, are part of the tertiary ''Hügelland'' or hill country south of the River Danube and cover much of the land within the Bava ...

. ''Landkreise''
(districts) #

Deggendorf Deggendorf () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards ...

Dingolfing-Landau Dingolfing-Landau is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Straubing-Bogen, Deggendorf, Rottal-Inn and Landshut. History The district was established in 1972 by merging ...

Freyung-Grafenau Freyung-Grafenau is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Passau, Deggendorf and Regen, the Czech Republic and by Austria. History The district was established in 1972, by ...

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). History Kelheim is t ...

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

Regen Regen (Northern Bavarian: ''Reng'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the district town of the district of Regen. Geography Regen is situated on the great Regen River, located in the Bavarian Forest. Divisions Originally the town consisted ...

Rottal-Inn Rottal-Inn is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise) Altötting, Mühldorf, Landshut, Dingolfing-Landau and Passau. To the southeast is the Austrian state Upp ...

Straubing-Bogen Straubing-Bogen is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Cham, Regen, Deggendorf, Dingolfing-Landau, Landshut and Regensburg. The independent town of Straubing is s ...

''Kreisfreie Städte''
(district-free towns) #

# Straubing

Population

Economy

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 48.5 billion € in 2018, accounting for 1.4% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 36,100 € or 120% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 100% of the EU average.

Main sights

Next to the former ducal residences

and Straubing and the baroque episcopal city of

, the city of Kelheim with the Befreiungshalle and

Weltenburg Abbey Weltenburg Abbey (Kloster Weltenburg) is a Benedictine monastery in Weltenburg near Kelheim on the Danube in Bavaria, Germany. Geography The abbey is situated on a peninsula in the Danube, in a section of the river valley called the Weltenbu ...

belong to the major tourist attractions. To the scenic attractions belong the River

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

including the Donaudurchbruch at Weltenburg and the

with Mount

Großer Arber The Großer Arber (); cs, Velký Javor, "Great Maple") or Great Arber,e.g. Mauser, Wolfram and Monika Prasch (eds). ''Regional Assessment of Global Change Impacts: The Project GLOWA-Danube''. Heidelberg: Springer, 2006. p. 94. is the highest pea ...

History

The Duchy of Lower Bavaria was created for the first time with the ''First Bavarian

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'' in 1255 under duke

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but there was no exact identity with the current territory. After the reunification in 1340, Bavaria was divided again in 1349, then in 1353

Bavaria-Straubing Bavaria-Straubing denotes the widely scattered territorial inheritance in the Wittelsbach house of Bavaria that were governed by independent dukes of Bavaria-Straubing between 1353 and 1432; a map (''illustration'') of these marches and outliers ...

and Bavaria-Landshut were created in Lower Bavaria. In 1505 Bavaria was permanently reunited. For administrative purposes, Bavaria was split into ''Rentämter'' (plural of '). Lower Bavaria consisted of the Rentamt Landshut and Rentamt Straubing. Control of Lower Bavaria was one of the issues involved in the

War of the Bavarian Succession The War of the Bavarian Succession (; 3 July 1778 – 13 May 1779) was a dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia over succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian br ...

in 1778-9.Swafford, Jan, "Mozart: The Reign of Love", Harpercollins, 2020. After the founding of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

following the dissolution of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

in 1805, the state was totally reorganized and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative districts(German: Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk)), in Bavaria called Kreise (singular: Kreis). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers. In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

o_Italy_and_Austria.html"_;"title="Italy.html"_;"title="o_Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria">Italy.html"_;"title="o_ o_Italy_and_Austria.html"_;"title="Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria.html"_;"title="Italy.html"_;"title="o_Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria">Italy.html"_;"title="o_Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria">Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria.html"_;"title="Italy.html"_;"title="o_Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria">Italy.html"_;"title="o_Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria_addition_of_the_Palatinate_(region).html" ;"title="Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria.html" ;"title="Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria.html" ;"title="Italy.html" ;"title="o Italy">o Italy and Austria">Italy.html" ;"title="o Italy">o Italy and Austria">Italy">o_Italy_and_Austria.html" ;"title="Italy.html" ;"title="o Italy">o Italy and Austria">Italy.html" ;"title="o Italy">o Italy and Austria addition of the Palatinate (region)">Palatinate), the number of districts was reduced to 8. One of these was the Unterdonaukreis (Lower Danube District). In 1837, King Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical territorial names and tribes. This also involved border changes or territorial swaps. Thus the Unterdonaukreis changed to Lower Bavaria. The district capital was moved from

which was added from Isarkreis. Lower Bavaria and

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

were consolidated in 1932 in one administrative district. In 1954 the two districts were restored again. In 1972 Lower Bavaria was reshaped when the rural districts covered were reshaped too.

References

External links

Official website of government

Official website of region
{{Authority control NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union Government regions of Germany