Herford (district)

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Herford
Map of North Rhine-Westphalia highlighting the district Herford
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
County seat	Herford
Adm. region	Detmold
Area	449.95 km²
Population	255,393 (2001)
pop. density	568 inh./km²
Car identification	HF
Web page	http://www.kreis-herford.de

Herford is a Kreis (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Minden-Lübbecke, Lippe, the urban district of Bielefeld, and the districts Gütersloh and Osnabrück.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Coat of arms
4 Towns and municipalities
5 External links

[edit] History

The region is also known as Wittekind's land, because here the last fights of the Saxon tribes under their leader Wittekind against Charlemagne took place. He is believed to be buried in the town of Enger.

When the area became part of the Prussian province Westphalia the first district Herford was created in 1816. In 1832 it was merged with the district Bünde. 1911 the city Herford left the district, however losing its status as an independent urban district in 1969. The district got its current size in 1973 when the municipality Uffeln which was formerly in the district Minden was merged into the city Vlotho.

[edit] Geography

The district is located between the two mountain chains of the Wiehengebirge in the north and the Teutoburg Forest in the south. To the northeast it is bounded by the Weser river.

[edit] Coat of arms

The black horse of Wittekind is depicted in the coat of arms of the district. After Wittekind was baptized Charlemagne gave him a white horse as present, which is now in the coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

[edit] Towns and municipalities

Towns	Municipalities
Bünde Enger Herford Löhne Spenge Vlotho	Hiddenhausen Kirchlengern Rödinghausen

[edit] External links

Official website (German)
Herforder Pils

	Urban districts and Districts in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Urban districts	Aachen \| Bergisch Gladbach \| Bielefeld \| Bochum \| Bonn \| Bottrop \| Dortmund \| Duisburg \| Düsseldorf \| Essen \| Gelsenkirchen \| Hagen \| Hamm \| Herne \| Köln (Cologne) \| Krefeld \| Leverkusen \| Mönchengladbach \| Mülheim \| Münster \| Oberhausen \| Remscheid \| Solingen \| Wuppertal
Districts	Aachen \| Borken \| Kleve (Cleves) \| Coesfeld \| Düren \| Ennepe-Ruhr \| Euskirchen \| Gütersloh \| Heinsberg \| Herford \| Hochsauerland \| Höxter \| Lippe \| Märkischer Kreis \| Mettmann \| Minden-Lübbecke \| Oberbergischer Kreis \| Olpe \| Paderborn \| Recklinghausen \| Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis \| Rhein-Erft-Kreis \| Rhein-Kreis Neuss \| Rhein-Sieg-Kreis \| Siegen-Wittgenstein \| Soest \| Steinfurt \| Unna \| Viersen \| Warendorf \| Wesel