Hildesheim (district)

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Hildesheim
Map of Lower Saxony highlighting the district Hildesheim
State	Lower Saxony
County seat	Hildesheim
Area	1206 km²
Population	292,900 (2002)
pop. density	243 inh./km²
Car identification	HI
Web page	landkreishildesheim.de

Hildesheim is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Hanover, Peine, Wolfenbüttel, Goslar, Northeim, Holzminden and Hamelin-Pyrmont.

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

[edit] History

In 1885 the Prussian government established districts within the Province of Hanover. The present territory of the district was occupied by four districts: Hildesheim, Alfeld, Gronau and Marienburg. In 1932 the district of Gronau joined Alfeld, and the number of districts was reduced to three.

When the state of Lower Saxony was founded in 1946, the districts were reorganised: Hildesheim became an urban district, the remaining district of Hildesheim and Marienburg were merged to the new district of Hildesheim-Marienburg. The district of Alfeld remained in its former borders.

In 1974 the city of Hildesheim lost its status as an urban district and became part of the surrounding district, which was renamed to Hildesheim. The districts of Hildesheim and Alfeld were merged in 1977.

[edit] Geography

The district is located southeast of Hanover, and the northernmost parts border the Hanover metropolitan area. The northern half of the district is highly urbanised, while the south is covered with forests. The River Leine enters the district in the south, runs through the towns of Alfeld and Gronau and leaves in the northwest towards Hanover; a small affluent, the Innerste, joins the Leine from the east after flowing through the city of Hildesheim. Between Leine and Innerste there are the forested hill chains of the Hildesheimer Wald ("Hildesheim Forest") and the Sieben Berge ("Seven Mountains", see Alfeld for more details).

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays:

the eagle from the arms of the city of Hildesheim
the deer antler represents the Germanic tribe of the Cherusci (cherut="deer")
the rose stands for the nature in the southern half of the district

[edit] Towns and municipalities

Cities	Samtgemeinden	Free municipalities
Alfeld Bad Salzdetfurth Bockenem Elze Hildesheim Sarstedt	Duingen Freden Gronau¹ Lamspringe Sibbesse ¹includes city of the same name	Algermissen Diekholzen Giesen Harsum Holle Nordstemmen Schellerten Söhlde

Cities

Samtgemeinden

Free municipalities

¹includes city of the same name

[edit] External links

Official website (German)

	Urban and rural districts in the Federal State of Lower Saxony in Germany
Region	Hanover
Urban districts	Brunswick \| Delmenhorst \| Emden \| Oldenburg \| Osnabrück \| Salzgitter \| Wilhelmshaven \| Wolfsburg
Rural districts	Ammerland \| Aurich \| Grafschaft Bentheim \| Celle \| Cloppenburg \| Cuxhaven \| Diepholz \| Emsland \| Friesland \| Gifhorn \| Goslar \| Göttingen \| Hamelin-Pyrmont \| Harburg \| Helmstedt \| Hildesheim \| Holzminden \| Leer \| Lüchow-Dannenberg \| Lüneburg \| Nienburg \| Northeim \| Oldenburg \| Osnabrück \| Osterholz \| Osterode \| Peine \| Rotenburg \| Schaumburg \| Soltau-Fallingbostel \| Stade \| Uelzen \| Vechta \| Verden \| Wesermarsch \| Wittmund \| Wolfenbüttel