No state in Germany has more inhabitants than North Rhine-Westphalia, and there is a correspondingly large number of cities: Cologne, with its Gothic cathedral, Bonn, the Federal Republic’s first capital city, Düsseldorf, the fashion-conscious state capital, Aachen, under the rule of Charlemagne the capital of Europe, Duisburg with Europe’s largest inland port, the silk town of Krefeld, the linen town of Bielefeld, not to mention Essen and Dortmund, two major cities in the Ruhr region. They bear witness to the changes Germany’s largest industrial area has seen: coal mining and steel production are more and more replaced by bio-chemicals and high-tech. Yet “NRW”, as the state is referred to, not only has one of Europe’s most highly concentrated research networks, its six UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites make it one of the most important cultural regions.

Capital: Düsseldorf
Population: 17,947,221
Surface area: 34,110 km2