Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate , Ger. Rheinland-Pfalz, state (1994 pop. 3,926,000), 7,658 sq mi (19,834 sq km), W Germany. Mainz is the capital. The state was formed in 1946 by the merger of the Rhenish Palatinate , Rhenish Hesse, the southern portion of the former Rhine Province of Prussia (including Koblenz and Trier), and a small part of the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. Rhineland-Palatinate borders on France and the Saarland in the south, on Luxembourg and Belgium in the west, on the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen in the north, and on the German states of Hessen and Baden-Württemberg in the east. It is drained by the Rhine and Moselle (Mosel) rivers and includes the Hunsrück and Eifel ranges and other divisions of the Rhenish Slate Mts. The majority of the working population is employed in industry, which is centered in Ludwigshafen, Pirmasens, Kaiserslautern, and Zweibrücken. There are major chemical and engineering industries in these and other cities. Grain, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit, and tobacco are grown in the fertile Rhine plain. The portion of the region's population engaged in small-scale agriculture is steadily declining as large-scale farming increases. Some of the most successful German vineyards are found in the Moselle and Rhine valleys in Rhineland-Palatinate; these include the celebrated stretch of vineyards, known as the Weinstrasse, that runs parallel to the Rhine. Bad Ems and Bad Kreuznach are noted spas. Although the state has as yet little historic unity, it does include the historic centers of Mainz, Speyer, Trier, and Worms.

Rhineland‐Palatinate (Rheinland‐Pfalz), Germany A state formed in 1946 with a name taken from the Rhine River and the Palatinate, a former state on the Rhine and later part of Bavaria, west of the river. A palatinate was a province that belonged to a palatine, an officer of the palace. The Palatine was the principal hill of the seven hills of Rome and, according to tradition, the first to be settled. It became the favoured area of Rome for the wealthy; it thus gave its name to the word ‘palace’. At various times the German Palatinate was divided into the Upper Palatinate and the Lower Palatinate; the present Rhineland‐Palatinate represents a part of the Lower Palatinate.