Wikipedia:WikiProject Germany/Portal:Baden-Württemberg
Introduction
Baden-Württemberg (/ˌbɑːdən ˈvɜːrtəmbɜːrɡ/ BAH-dən VURT-əm-burg, German: [ˌbaːdn̩ ˈvʏʁtəmbɛʁk] ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state (Land) in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a total area of nearly 35,752 km2 (13,804 sq mi), it is the third-largest German state by both area (behind Bavaria and Lower Saxony) and population (behind North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria). As a federated state, Baden-Württemberg is a partly-sovereign parliamentary republic. The largest city in Baden-Württemberg is the state capital of Stuttgart, followed by Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Other major cities are Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Pforzheim, Reutlingen, Tübingen, and Ulm.
What is now Baden-Württemberg was formerly the historical territories of Baden, Prussian Hohenzollern, and Württemberg. Baden-Württemberg became a state of West Germany in April 1952 through the merger of South Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. These three states had been artificially created by the Allies after World War II out of the existing traditional states by their separation over different occupation zones.
Baden-Württemberg is especially known for its strong economy with various industries like car manufacturing, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, the service sector, and more. It has the third-highest gross regional product (GRP) in Germany. Part of the Four Motors for Europe and located in the Blue Banana, some of the largest German companies are headquartered in Baden-Württemberg, including Mercedes-Benz Group, Schwarz Group, Porsche, Bosch and SAP.
The sobriquet Ländle, a diminutive of the word Land in the local Swabian, Alemannic and Franconian dialects, is sometimes used as a synonym for Baden-Württemberg. (Full article...)
Selected article
The Blautopf (German for Blue Pot; "blau" means blue, "topf" means pot) is a spring that serves as the source of the river Blau in the karst landscape on the Swabian Jura's southern edge, in Southern Germany. It is located in the city of Blaubeuren, approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Ulm. It forms the drain for the Blau cave system and feeds the river Blau, which after 14.5 km (9.0 mi), flows into the river Danube in the city of Ulm. Because of its high water pressure, the spring has developed a funnel-like shape, which at its deepest point has a depth of 21 metres (69 ft). The water's peculiarly blue color, varying in intensity due to weather and flow, is the result of chemical properties of limestone densely distributed in the water.
Numerous legends and folk tales refer to the Blautopf. Its characteristic colour was explained by the account that every day someone would pour a vat of ink into the Blautopf. Another myth stated that every time someone tried to measure the Blautopf's depth with a leaden sounding line, a water nix stole the sounding line. Therefore, it was not possible to determine the depth of the Blautopf. Because of this tale, there is a rock called Klötzle Blei ("little block of lead" in the local dialect) in the vicinity of the Blautopf.
Selected biography
Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German industrialist, engineer and inventor, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH. Bosch was born in Albeck, a village to the northeast of Ulm in southern Germany. He was the eleventh of twelve children. His parents came from a class of well-situated farmers from the region. His father, a freemason, was unusually well-educated for someone of his class, and placed special importance on a good education for his children. As a child, Robert liked to try and invent, he would fuss with little electric or mechanical toys and make something different out of them. He saw potential for himself to become an inventor and later studied quantum mechanics. From 1869 to 1876, Bosch attended the Realschule (secondary-technical school) in Ulm, and then took an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic.
State facts
- Nickname: Ländle
- Capital: Stuttgart
- Minister-president: Winfried Kretschmann
- Governing parties: Greens / CDU
- Total area: 35,751 km2 (13,804 sq mi)
- Population: 10,879,618 (2015)
- Founded: April 25, 1952
- Website: www.baden-wuerttemberg.de
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Did you know?
- ...that Spaghettieis was created by Dario Fontanella in the late 1960s in Mannheim? Although it is not well known outside Germany, it can be found at some gelaterias and specialty ice cream parlors, at special events and at some hotels and restaurants around the world.
- ...that the world's first filling station was the city pharmacy in Wiesloch, where Bertha Benz refilled the tank of the first automobile on its maiden trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in 1888. Since 2008 the Bertha Benz Memorial Route commemorates this event.
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Schiltach is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the eastern Black Forest, on the river Kinzig, 20 km south of Freudenstadt.
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