|
Steffen Lux in Raum und Zeit
|
BasicsHistory of Hesse Hesse (German Hessen), state in west central
Germany, bounded on the north by the states of North
Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, on the east by Thuringia, on
the south by the states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, and on
the west by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Wiesbaden is the
capital; other major cities are Frankfurt am Main, Kassel,
Darmstadt, Offenbach, and Marburg. Hesse is a heavily forested
upland. The Taunus and the Vogelsberg mountains cut through
central Hesse, and the Odenwald and Spessart ranges cross the
southern part of the state. The Rhine River and its tributaries,
the Lahn River and the Main River, drain western Hesse, and the
Eder, Fulda, and Weser flow through the northeast. Area, 21,114
sq km (8152 sq mi); population (1990 estimate) 5,763,300. Farming
is the main economic activity. In addition to wine grapes, the
chief agricultural products are cereals, potatoes, fruit,
tobacco, and flax. Dairying is also important, and forests are
extensive. The state has small deposits of iron, manganese, salt,
and lignite. Industry, which is concentrated in the southwest,
consists of chemical, machinery, and vehicle manufacturing.
Textiles and scientific equipment are also produced. The state is
governed by a cabinet headed by a minister-president. The cabinet
is responsible to a popularly elected diet (legislature). The
people of Hesse were converted to Christianity in the late 7th
century and incorporated into the empire of the Franks. In the
12th century the region was part of the landgraviate (territory
over which a nobleman or nobelwoman held jurisdiction) of
Thuringia. Hesse was established as a separate landgraviate in
1247 by Duchess Sophia, niece of the Thuringian ruler Henry
Raspe. Her son, Henry the Child, became the first male landgrave
of Hesse in 1263. During the 16th century the rulers and people
of the landgraviate played an important part in the Reformation.
Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous founded Marburg University, a
Protestant institution, in 1527. Following Philip's death, the
landgraviate was divided among his four sons. Two branches of the
family subsequently became extinct, and their holdings were
absorbed by the surviving lines, the houses of Hesse-Darmstadt,
descended from George I, and Hesse-Kassel, started by William IV.
Important landgraves of Hesse-Kassel included Frederick I, king
of Sweden, and Frederick II, who furnished Hessian troops to the
British during the American Revolution (1776-1783). In 1803
Hesse-Kassel was constituted an electorate, and in 1806
Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a grand duchy. In 1866, after
siding with Austria in the Seven Weeks' War, Hesse-Kassel was
annexed by Prussia; Hesse-Darmstadt was forced to cede
Hesse-Homburg, a landgraviate that had been established out of
its territory in 1622. The Prussians merged Hesse-Kassel, Nassau,
parts of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Frankfurt into the new province of
Hesse-Nassau in 1867, with Kassel as the capital. Hesse-Darmstadt
remained a grand duchy until after World War I (1914-1918), when
it became a state in the Weimar Republic. After World War II
(1939-1945) the area was made part of the American Zone of
Occupation. Subsequently, most of Hesse-Nassau was merged with
Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1946 the merged territories were established
as the state of Hesse. |