Thuringia

For steamships named Thuringia, see SS Thuringia.

"Thüringen" redirects here. For the municipality in Austria, see Thüringen, Austria.

Erfurt, capital of Thuringia.

Gera

Jena

The Free State of Thuringia (Template:Lang-de, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈtyːʁɪŋən]; English: /θəˈrɪndʒiə/) is a federal state of Germany, located in the central part of the country. It has an area of 16,171 square kilometres (6,244 sq mi) and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states. Most of Thuringia is within the watershed of the Saale, a left tributary of the Elbe. Its capital is Erfurt.

Thuringia has been known by the nickname of "the green heart of Germany" (das grüne Herz Deutschlands) from the late 19th century, due to the dense forest covering the land.

Thuringia is known in Germany for nature and winter sports. It is home to the Rennsteig, Germany's most famous hiking trail, and the winter resort of Oberhof. Germany has won more Winter Olympics gold medals than any other country in the last 20 years, and half of Germany's gold medals have been won by Thuringian athletes.

Johann Sebastian Bach spent the first part of his life (1685-1717) and important further stages of his career in Thuringia. In the classical period, Goethe and Schiller lived at Weimar. Both worked also in the famous University of Jena nearby, which now hosts the most important centre of science in Thuringia. Other Universities of this federal state are the TU Ilmenau, the University of Erfurt, and the Bauhaus University of Weimar.

Weimar

Etymology and symbols

The Name Thuringia or Thüringen derives from the Germanic tribe Thuringii, who emerged during the Migration Period. Their origin isn't completely known, an older theory said that they were sucessors of the Hermunduri, but the younger research rejected that. Other historians argue that the Thuringians were allies of the Huns, came to central Europe together with them and lived prior in what is Galicia today. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus first mentioned the Thuringii around 400; during that period, the Thuringii were famous for their excellent horses.

The Thuringian Realm existed until 531 and later, the Landgraviate of Thuringia was the largest state in the Region, persisting between 1131 and 1247. Afterwards there was no state named Thuringia anymore, nevertheless the terminus stayed common for the region between the Harz mountains in the north, the Weiße Elster river in the east, the Franconian Forest in the south and the Werra river in the west. Since the Treaty of Leipzig, Thuringia had its own dynasty again, the Ernestine Wettins. Their various lands formed the Free State of Thuringia, founded in 1920, together with some other small principalities. The Prussian territories around Erfurt, Mühlhausen and Nordhausen joined Thuringia in 1945.

The coat of arms of Thuringia shows the lion of the Ludowingian Landgraves from 12th century origin. Furthermore, there are eight stars around it, representing the eight former states, which formed Thuringia. The flag of Thuringia is a white-red bicolor, derived from the white and red stripes of the Ludowingian lion. The coat of arms and flag of Hesse are quite smilar to the Thuringian ones, because they are also derived from the Ludowingian symbols.

Symbols of Thuringia in popular culture are the Bratwurst and the Forest, because a large amount of the territory is forested.

History

For the earlier history of the region, see Thuringii and Duchy of Thuringia.

Named after the Thuringii tribe who occupied it ca. AD 300, Thuringia came under Frankish domination in the 6th century.

Arms of the landgraves of Thuringia (1265)

Thuringia became a landgraviate in 1130. After the extinction of the reigning Ludowingian line of counts and landgraves in 1247 and the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264), the western half became independent under the name of "Hesse", never to become a part of Thuringia again. Most of the remaining Thuringia came under the rule of the Wettin dynasty of the nearby Margraviate of Meissen, the nucleus of the later Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony. With the division of the house of Wettin in 1485, Thuringia went to the senior Ernestine branch of the family, which subsequently subdivided the area into a number of smaller states, according to the Saxon tradition of dividing inheritance amongst male heirs. These were the "Saxon duchies", consisting, among others, of the states of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Jena, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, and Saxe-Gotha; Thuringia became merely a geographical concept.

Thuringia generally accepted the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic faith was abolished as early as 1520; priests that remained loyal were driven away and churches and monasteries were largely destroyed, especially during the German Peasants' War of 1525. In Mühlhausen and elsewhere, the Anabaptists found many adherents. Thomas Müntzer, a leader of some non-peaceful groups of this sect, was active in this city. Within the borders of Thuringia the Catholic faith was maintained only in the district called Eichsfeld, which was ruled by the Archbishop of Mainz, and to a small degree in the city and vicinity of Erfurt.

This German map shows the various states of Thuringia within the German Empire in 1905.

Map of Thuringian States 1890

Some reordering of the Thuringian states occurred during the German Mediatisation from 1795–1814, and the territory was included within the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine organized in 1806. The 1815 Congress of Vienna confirmed these changes and the Thuringian states' inclusion in the German Confederation; the Kingdom of Prussia also acquired some Thuringian territory and administered it within the Province of Saxony. The Thuringian duchies which became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany were Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities of Reuss Elder Line and Reuss Younger Line. In 1920, after World War I, these small states merged into one state, called Thuringia; only Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead. Weimar became the new capital of Thuringia. The coat of arms of this new state was simpler than they had been previously.

Coat of arms used 1945–1952

After briefly being controlled by the US, from July 1945, the state of Thuringia came under the Soviet occupation zone, and was expanded to include parts of Prussian Saxony, such as the areas around Erfurt, Mühlhausen, and Nordhausen. Erfurt became the new capital of Thuringia.

In 1952, the German Democratic Republic dissolved its states, and created districts ([Bezirke] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) instead. The three districts that shared the territory of Thuringia were centered in Erfurt, Gera and Suhl.

The State of Thuringia was restored with slightly altered borders during Germany's reunification in 1990.

Geography

From the northwest going clockwise, Thuringia borders on the German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria and Hesse. The ridges of the western Harz Mountains divide the region from Lower Saxony on the north-west, while the eastern Harz similarly separates Thuringia from the state of Saxony-Anhalt to the north-east. To the south and southwest, the Thuringian Forest effectively separates the ancient region of Franconia, now the northern part of Bavaria, from the rolling plains of most of Thuringia. The central Harz range extends southwards along the western side into the northwest corner of the Thuringian Forest region, making Thuringia a lowland basin of rolling plains nearly surrounded by ancient somewhat-difficult mountains. To the west across the mountains and south is the drainage basin of the Rhine River.

The most conspicuous geographical feature of Thuringia is the Thuringian Forest, a mountain chain in the southwest. The Werra River, a tributary of the Weser River, separates this mountain chain from the volcanic Rhön Mountains, which are partially in Thuringia, Bavaria, and Hesse. In the northwest, Thuringia includes a small part of the Harz. The eastern part of Thuringia is generally a plain. The Saale River runs through these lowlands from south to north.

The geographic center of the Federal Republic is located in Thuringia, near the municipality of Niederdorla.

See also List of places in Thuringia.

Demographics

Towns

Towns in Thuringia
position	town	inhabitants			district
		31 December 1970	31 December 2000	30 June 2005
1.	Erfurt	192.679	200.564	234.590	independent city
2.	Jena	106.841	112.835	124.737	independent city
3.	Gera	85.169	99.893	109.201	independent city
4.	Weimar	63.985	62.425	64.361	independent city
5.	Gotha	57.256	48.376	47.045	Gotha
6.	Eisenach	50.059	44.442	37.858	independent city
7.	Nordhausen	42.018	45.633	43.781	Nordhausen
8.	Meiningen	68.177	48.025	49.992	Schmalkalden-Meiningen
9.	Altenburg	47.497	41.290	38.203	Altenburger Land
10.	Suhl	34.876	32.240	37.642	independent city
11.	Mühlhausen	46.135	38.695	37.480	Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis
12.	Saalfeld	31.048	29.511	28.148	Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
13.	Ilmenau	19.634	27.176	26.713	Ilm-Kreis
14.	Arnstadt	27.368	27.220	25.828	Ilm-Kreis
15.	Rudolstadt	30.087	27.528	25.584	Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
16.	Apolda	29.754	25.899	24.684	Weimarer Land
17.	Greiz	39.424	26.177	24.007	Greiz
18.	Sonneberg	29.811	24.837	23.928	Sonneberg
19.	Sondershausen	22.195	23.088	21.718	Kyffhäuserkreis
20.	Sömmerda	15.959	21.977	20.885	Sömmerda
21.	Leinefelde-Worbis (formed on 16 March 2004)	4.315 (LF) 3.401 (WO)	15.056 (LF) 5.497 (WO)	20.816	Eichsfeld
22.	Bad Langensalza	16.813	19.917	18.760	Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis
23.	Schmalkalden	14.527	18.551	17.893	Schmalkalden-Meiningen
24.	Zeulenroda-Triebes (formed on 1 March 2006)	13.549 (ZR) 4.790 (TR)	14.600 (ZR) 4.230 (TR)	17.702	Greiz
25.	Heiligenstadt	12.464	17.291	17.175	Eichsfeld
26.	Bad Salzungen	11.466	17.086	16.551	Wartburgkreis
27.	Pößneck	19.547	14.341	13.592	Saale-Orla-Kreis
28.	Schmölln	13.968	13.193	12.693	Altenburger Land
29.	Zella-Mehlis (formed on 1 April 1919)	17.136	13.036	12.355	Schmalkalden-Meiningen
30.	Hildburghausen	10.652	12.466	12.351	Hildburghausen
31.	Eisenberg	13.859	11.764	11.489	Saale-Holzland-Kreis
32.	Waltershausen	14.219	11.725	11.307	Gotha

Religion

Religion in Thuringia - 2009
religion			percent
Protestants			24.0%
Roman Catholics			7.8%
Other or none			68.2%

Since the Protestant Reformation, the largest religion in Thuringia has been Lutheranism. Under Communist rule, church membership was strongly discouraged and today over half of the population is religiously unaffiliated. As of 2009 the Evangelical Church in Germany remains the largest faith in the state, adhered to by 24.0% of the population. Members of the Catholic Church form 7.8%. 68.2% of the Thuringians are irreligious or adhere to other faiths.

Politics

List of Minister-presidents of Thüringen

Main article: List of Ministers-President of Thuringia

August 30, 2009 state election

See also: Thuringia state election, 2009

Turnout was 56.2%. SPD and CDU formed a coalition seven weeks after the election.

Local government

Thuringia is divided into 17 districts (Landkreise):

Map of Thüringen showing the boundaries of the districts (note: district numbers do not match the table in the article as of Oct. 2013)

Altenburger Land Eichsfeld Gotha Greiz Hildburghausen Ilm-Kreis

Kyffhäuserkreis Nordhausen Saale-Holzland Saale-Orla Saalfeld-Rudolstadt Schmalkalden-Meiningen

Sömmerda Sonneberg Unstrut-Hainich Wartburgkreis Weimarer Land

Furthermore there are six urban districts (not numerated in the map):

1. Erfurt
2. Eisenach
3. Gera
4. Jena
5. Suhl
6. Weimar

Transportation

• Autobahn: A4, A9, A38, A71, A73;
• Airports: Altenburg-Nobitz Airport, Erfurt Airport.

The state of Thuringia (red) upon its formation in 1920

External links

• Official government site
• Tourist website for Thuringia Template:De icon
• Official Directory Template:De icon
• Another Tourist website for Thuringia
• Historical Overview
• Tourist website with many pictures of thuringian landscapes Template:De icon
• Alternative Tourist website for Thuringia Template:De icon Template:En icon
• Template:Dmoz
• Thuringian flags at
  1. "Thuringia (Germany)". Fotw.vexillum.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  2. Marcus Schmöger. "Thüringen". Flaggenkunde.de. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
• Search engine for Thuringia with videos Template:De icon
• Geographic data related to Thuringia at OpenStreetMap