West Mecklenburg (german: Westmecklenburg) is the western part of the German federal state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

, covering an area of ca. 7,000 km². It incorporates parts of the historic territories of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and

Mecklenburg-Strelitz The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in northern Germany consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district (the former Lordship of Stargard), ...

(parts of the former

Principality of Ratzeburg The Principality of Ratzeburg was a former state, existing from 1648 to 1918. It belonged to the imperially immediate territory of Duchy of Mecklenburg and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Mecklenburg was split up in the third partition of Meckl ...

around the town of Schönberg (Mecklenburg)) and of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg, called ''Niedersachsen'' (Lower Saxony) between the 14th and 17th centuries), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296–1803 and again from 1814–1876 in the extreme sou ...

(the Prussian municipalities allocated to the former Soviet Zone of Occupation by the

Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Muir Barber & Bar (27 June 1897 – 5 May 1964) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II where he commanded the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division during their actions acros ...

). The region of West Mecklenburg consists of the districts of

Nordwestmecklenburg Nordwestmecklenburg (''Northwestern Mecklenburg'') is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north-western part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea and borders on Schleswig-Holstein to the west. Neighboring d ...

and

Ludwigslust-Parchim Ludwigslust-Parchim is a district in the west of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bordered by (clockwise starting from the west) the state Schleswig-Holstein, the district Nordwestmecklenburg, the district-free city Schwerin, the districts R ...

as well as the independent city of

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

and is legally defined as a planning region, i. e. a sub-region for regional

spatial planning Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...

that is carried out by a regional planning association. The region had a population of 483,939 on 30 June 2008. The centre for the region is the state capital of

; other important towns are

Parchim Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch: ''Parchen'') is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, to whom a monument was erected in 1876. Foun ...

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

Gadebusch Gadebusch () is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the district of Nordwestmecklenburg. Halfway between Lübeck, Schwerin and Wismar, it is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The town is known for two notable monuments: the ''Stad ...

Klütz Klütz () is a town in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated near the Baltic Sea coast, 22 km northwest of Wismar, and 33 km northeast of Lübeck. It is famous for the manor house B ...

Grevesmühlen Grevesmühlen () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. It was the seat of the Nordwestmecklenburg district until 2011, when Wismar became the seat. It is situated 33 km east of Lübeck, and ...

and

Hagenow Hagenow () is a German town in the southwest of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, 30 kilometers south of Schwerin. Its population is approximately 11,300 inhabitants (2013). Hagenow is part of the Hamburg Met ...

. West Mecklenburg is an undulating

morainic A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

terrain in the

Baltic Uplands The Baltic UplandsDickinson, Robert E. (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 614. . (german: Baltischer Landrücken or ''Nördlicher Landrücken'') is a chain of morainic hills about wide that borde ...

interspersed with inland lakes and formed by the

Weichsel glaciation Weichsel may refer to: * Vistula river (Weichsel in German) * Weichselian glaciation * Peter Weichsel Peter M. Weichsel (born 1943) is an American professional bridge player from Encinitas, California. College and war years Early Weichsel star ...

. On the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

rim is a

cliffed coast A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal areas in whic ...

with the

Bay of Lübeck The Bay of Lübeck (, ) is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. It forms the southwestern part of the Bay of Mecklenburg. The main port is Travemünde, a b ...

and Bay of Wismar with the island of

Poel Poel () or Poel Island (german: Insel Poel), is an island in the Baltic Sea. It forms the natural northern and eastern boundaries of the Bay of Wismar on the German coast. The northern coast of the island is also on the south side of the large gul ...

and the seaside resort of

Boltenhagen Boltenhagen () is a German seaside resort in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern situated on the Baltic Sea coast 30 km east of Lübeck. It has a wide view of the Bay of Lübeck; a 5 km stretch of a wide and sandy beach, a boardwalk, restaurants and ...

. In the northeast West Mecklenburg gives way to the region of Middle Mecklenburg; in the southeast it merges gradually into the

Mecklenburg Lake District The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

District reorganisation

Based on the decision by the state parliament (''Landtag'') on 5 April 2006 a major new district, ''Westmecklenburg'', was to have been created on 1 October 2009 with its capital at

. This megadistrict was to have incorporated the old districts of

and

as well as the formerly independent towns of

and

. Following a judgement by the State Constitutional Court on 26 July 2007 the reform act could not be carried through in its intended form as it was incompatible with the constitution.Judgement of the ''Landesverfassungsgericht'' dated 26 July 2007
/ref>

References

External links

Zweites Beteiligungsverfahren zum Entwurf des Regionalen Raumentwicklungsprogramms Westmecklenburg vom 4. Mai bis 4. September 2009
(mit aktuellen Planungsunterlagen — u. a. Karte — sowie einer Dokumentation der Abwägung zu den im vorangegangenen Beteiligungsverfahren erfolgten Stellungnahmen) {{Coord missing, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Regions of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania