Rhineland-Palatinate

**Rhineland-Palatinate**
*Rheinland-Pfalz*
Map
	Position of the Rhineland-Palatinate within Germany
Flag and Arms
Flag	Coat of arms
Basic facts
capital:	Mainz
area:	19,853 km² (7,665 sq mi)
population:; - (as of 31 December 2006)	4052860
Pop density:	204.1 per km²
Politics
Ruling party:	SPD
Minister President:	Kurt Beck
Website
	http://rlp.de

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Rhineland-Palatinate (German: 'Rheinland-Pfalz') is one of 16 states (German: Bundesländer) of Germany. It has an area of 19,846 km² (7,662.6 sq mi)and 3.88 million people living in it. The capital is Mainz.

[change] History

Rhineland-Palatinate was created on 30 August 1946. It was formed from the northern part of the French Occupation Zone, (the Rhenish Palatinate or German: pfalz which had been a part of Bavaria) as well as the southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province, Birkenfeld which formerly belonged to Oldenburg), parts of the Prussian Province of Nassau (see Hesse-Nassau), and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt as well as Rheinhessen on the western banks of the Rhine).

The people of the new state voted to accept the boundary changes in a referendum on 18 May 1947.

[change] Geography

Rhineland-Palatinate borders on (from the north and clockwise) North Rhine-Westphalia (other German state), Hesse (other German state), Baden-Württemberg (other German state), France, Saarland (other German state), Luxembourg, and Belgium.

The main axis of the state is the Rhine river, that forms the border with Baden-Württemberg and Hesse in the southeast before running across the northern part of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Rhine Valley is bounded by mountains with some of the historically most significant places of Germany.

In the northwest there are the southern parts of the Eifel mountains. Farther south there is the Hunsrück mountain, which is continued by the Taunus mountains on the opposite side of the Rhine. The hilly lands in the south of the state are called the Palatine Forest (Pfälzerwald).

These mountains are separated from each other by the tributaries of the Rhine: the Moselle (Mosel), the Lahn and the Nahe.

[change] Government

Rhineland-Palatinate is a parliamentary democracy. Every five years, all Germans over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Parliament, German: Landtag. This regional parliament or legislature then elects the premier and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for winegrowing.

See here for a List of Rhineland-Palatinate Cabinet Members(in the German Wikipedia).

[change] Castles

This is only a choice of the castles in Rhineland-Palatine

Marksburg zu Braubach

Trifels

Schloss Stolzenfels

name	place
Burg Arras	Alf
Alte Burg	Boppard
Reichsburg Cochem	Cochem
Dahn	Dahn
Festung Ehrenbreitstein	Koblenz Stadtteil Ehrenbreitstein
Ehrenburg	Brodenbach
Burg Eltz	Münstermaifeld
Burg Falkenstein	Falkenstein
Frauenburg	Frauenberg
Hambacher Schloss	Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Stadtteil Hambach
Burg Hohenfels	Imsbach
Burg und Schloss Idar-Oberstein	Idar-Oberstein
Burg Lahneck	Lahnstein
Burg Altleiningen	Altleiningen
Marksburg	Braubach
Burg Nassau	Nassau
Nürburg	Nürburg
Burg Olbrück	Niederdürenbach
Burg Pfalzgrafenstein	mitten im Rhein bei Kaub
Burg Reichenstein	Trechtingshausen
Burg Rheinfels	Sankt Goar
Rheinstein	Trechtingshausen
Schloss und Burg Sayn	Bendorf
Schloss Bürresheim	Sankt Johann (bei Mayen), Ortsteil Bürresheim
Schloss Neuwied	Neuwied
Schloss Stolzenfels	Koblenz, Stadtteil Stolzenfels
Schmidtburg	Schneppenbach
Schönburg	Oberwesel
Burg Sooneck	Niederheimbach
Burg Stahleck	Bacharach
Trifels	Annweiler am Trifels
Schloss Montabaur	Montabaur
Thurant	Alken