Statistics
State:North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. Region:Düsseldorf
Capital:Mettmann
Area:407.09 km²
Inhabitants:507,364 (2001)
pop. density:1,246 inh./km²
Car identification:ME
Homepage:http://www.kreis-mettmann.de
Map

Mettmann is a Kreis (district) in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring are the Ennepe-Ruhr and the district-free cities Wuppertal, Solingen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Mülheim, Essen.

Table of contents
1 History
2 Geography
3 Coat of arms
4 Towns and municipalities
5 External links

History

In the 12th century the area of today's district started to belong to the earldom Berg. When Napoleon occupy the area in 1792 it became a canton in the arrondissement Düsseldorf.

After the Congress of Vienna the area went to Prussia in 1816 as part of the province Westphalia, and the first district Mettmann was created. This district was merged from 1820 till 1861 with the district Elberfeld, which then became a city on it's own, now it's part of Wuppertal. In 1877 the administrative seat was moved to Vohwinkel. In 1929 some more area went to Wuppertal, and the district was merged with the district Düsseldorf (Landkreis, excluding the city itself), to form the district Düsseldorf-Mettmann, with administrative seat in Düsseldorf. In 1952 the seat went back to Mettmann, and after the last reorganization of 1975/76 the district got back the old name. The cities Langenfeld and Monheim were included into the district then, while Kettwig became part of the city Essen.

Geography

The district Recklinghausen is located in the Ruhr area, next to the big cities of Düsseldorf. Most famous is the valley of the small river Düssel, the Neandertal, where the fossils human species of Neanderthals were first found.

Coat of arms

The red lion with the blue tongue is the sign of the earldom Berg. In the black border it has the symbols for the two most important industries of the district - the lock production, but also agriculture. The coat of arms was designed in 1936 by the painter and herald Pagenstecher from Düsseldorf.

Towns and municipalities

  1. Erkrath
  2. Haan
  3. Heiligenhaus
  4. Hilden
  5. Langenfeld
  1. Mettmann
  2. Monheim am Rhein
  3. Ratingen
  4. Velbert
  5. Wülfrath

External links

Official website (German)