Regierungsbezirk Detmold () is one of the five of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany, located in the north-east of the state. It is congruent with the (cultural) region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL, East

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

–

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. ...

). The Regierungsbezirk was created in 1947 when the former state of Lippe was incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia by merging the former Regierungsbezirk Minden with the territory of the

Free State of Lippe The Free State of Lippe () was created following the abdication of Prince Leopold IV of the Principality of Lippe on 15 November 1918, following the German Revolution. It was a state in Germany during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Aft ...

. The Regierungsbezirk Minden dates back to 1815, when the class of administrative regions was initially created.

Location

The Regierungsbezirk Detmold is located in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia and therefore it forms the area where the German low mountains are divided from the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland () is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's ...

. As the Regierungsbezirk has an expanse of circa 6,500 km², it is one fifth of the area of North Rhine-Westphalia. North and east of the Regierungsbezirk is the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, south there is the state of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. At the western border is the Regierungsbezirk of

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; ) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Ho ...

and the Regierungsbezirk of

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

Administration

The administration is located in

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

in the

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, municip ...

Administrative divisions

The Regierungsbezirk consists of six districts with 69

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

, and of one district-free city.

History

The Regierungsbezirk Detmold has two historical roots: *the East Westphalian part (almost 80% of the area) belonged to the former Prussian Province of Westphalia and there it formed the unit of the Regierungsbezirk

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

. In 1946 the Prussian Province formed the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia along with the northern

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. *the region roughly around the today's district of Lippe was called ''Land Lippe'' until 1947 and it was a separate German State just like

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Until 1918 it had been a

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...

(Fürstentum), then a Free State () and so it has a different historical background than East Westphalia.

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 77.7 billion € in 2018, accounting for 2.3% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 34,700 € or 115% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 97% of the EU average.

References

External links

Official administrative website in German
Government regions of Germany Geography of North Rhine-Westphalia NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union Detmold (region) {{NorthRhineWestphalia-geo-stub