Hessen

Hessen, state in west central Germany, bounded on the north by the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen) and Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), on the east by Thüringen, on the south by the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, 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 an der Lahn. Hessen is a heavily forested upland. The Taunus and the Vogelsberg mountains cut through central Hessen, 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 Hessen, and the Eder, Fulda, and Weser flow through the northeast. Area, 21,115 sq km (8,153 sq mi); population 6,089,000 (2004 estimate).

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 Hessen 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 noblewoman held jurisdiction) of Thüringen. Hessen was established as a separate landgraviate in 1247 by Duchess Sophia, niece of the Thüringen ruler Henry Raspe. Her son, Henry the Child, became the first male landgrave of Hessen 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 Hessen-Darmstadt, descended from George I, and Hessen-Kassel, started by William IV. Important landgraves of Hessen-Kassel included Frederick I, king of Sweden, and Frederick II, who furnished Hessian troops to the British during the American Revolution (1775-1783).

In 1803 Hessen-Kassel was constituted an electorate, and in 1806 Hessen-Darmstadt was elevated to a grand duchy. In 1866, after siding with Austria in the Seven Weeks' War, Hessen-Kassel was annexed by Prussia; Hessen-Darmstadt was forced to cede Hessen-Homburg, a landgraviate that had been established out of its territory in 1622. The Prussians merged Hessen-Kassel, Nassau, parts of Hessen-Darmstadt, and Frankfurt into the new province of Hessen-Nassau in 1867, with Kassel as the capital.

Hessen-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 Hessen-Nassau was merged with Hessen-Darmstadt. In 1946 the merged territories were established as the state of Hessen.