Aachen

Aachen (German pronunciation: [ˈʔaːxən]), also known as Bad Aachen, is a spa and border town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a residence of Charlemagne, and later the coronation place for German kings.

Aachen is the westernmost city of Germany, on its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, 61 km (38 mi) west-southwest of Cologne in a former coal-mining area.RWTH Aachen University is in the city. Aachen's industries include science, engineering and information technology. In 2009, Aachen was ranked eighth among cities in Germany for innovation.

Name

The name Aachen is a modern descendant, like southern German Ach(e), Aach ‘river, stream’, of Old High German aha ‘water; stream’ which directly translates (and etymologically corresponds to) Latin Aquae, referring to the springs. The location has been inhabited by humans since the Neolithic era, about 5,000 years ago, attracted to its warm mineral springs. Latin Aquae figures in Aachen’s Roman name Aquae granni, which meant ‘Grannus’ waters’, referring to the Celtic god of healing who was worshiped at the springs. This word became Åxhe in Walloon and Aix in French, and subsequently Aix-la-Chapelle after Charlemagne had a cathedral built there in the late eighth century and then made the city his empire’s capital.

Aachen (district)

The district of Aachen (German: Städteregion Aachen) is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Düren, Euskirchen, and also the Netherlands province of Limburg and the Belgian province of Liège.

History

Becoming effective on 21 October 2009, the Städteregion Aachen (literally: "cities region" Aachen) was formed from the former district Aachen (Kreis Aachen) and the city of Aachen. This is the first Städteregion that was formed in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its status is similar to that of the district Hanover (Region Hannover) in Lower Saxony, in that the powers of the city of Aachen are slightly less than those of an district-free city (Kreisfreie Stadt).

The former district Aachen was created in 1975 in the reorganization of the district North Rhine-Westphalia, by merging the previous districts (Landkreise) of Aachen and Monschau, and some parts of the districts of Düren, Jülich and Schleiden as well as the Selfkant district, while a part of the former district was incorporated to the district-free city of Aachen.

Aachen I

Aachen I is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the German Bundestag. Part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and including the city of Aachen, the constituency elects one representative under the mixed member proportional representation (MMP) system. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 87. The constituency was created for the 1949 election, the first election in West Germany after World War II. It was called Aachen-Stadt until being renamed Aachen at the 1980 election. It assumed its current name for the 2013 election.

Election results

2009 election

The following table does not list parties which did not contest or gain constituency votes.

References