Freiburg - Geography and history
The Freiburg Regierungsbezirk lies at the south-western tip of the Federal Republic and consists of 9 Landkreise, the Stadtkreis of Freiburg and 301 Gemeinden. The seat of the district administration is Freiburg im Breisgau. 41% of the district's 9 350 km2 is farmland, almost half is forest, and 11% is built up (residential and transport infrastructure).
In addition to the area around Freiburg, there are four other built-up areas - around Offenburg/Lahr/Kehl, Basell-Lörrach, Konstanz and around Villingen-Schwenningen und Villingen-Schwenningen/Tuttlingen/Rottweil. The landscape in the western portion is dominated by the Rhine plain and the extinct volcanoes of the Kaiserstuhl. This is also the location of the warmest place in the Federal Republic - the village of Ihringen. The hills of the Black Forest rise steeply from the plain, culminating in the 1 493 metre-high Feldberg, then gradually fall off to the east. To the south-east, the landscape is shaped by the volcanic hills of the Hegau and Lake Constance.
One of Europe's most important traffic thoroughfares, the E 4/A 5 (Stockholm-Frankfurt-Lausanne), runs parallel to the upper Rhine, whilst to the east, the E 70/A 81 (Eisenach-Stuttgart-Zurich) makes its way across the hills. Freiburg, Offenburg, Rottweil, Singen and Tuttlingen have ICE connections. The IC/EC network also covers Donaueschingen, Konstanz, Singen and Triberg. The nearest airports are Strasbourg, Basel-Mulhouse and Zürich-Kloten.
A dynamic district undergoing transformation
This district, which is bordered by the Rhine on two sides, is characterised by geographical, economic and structural diversity. For centuries, its natural ore deposits made it the treasure-house of Baden. A mining industry did not, however, develop. Instead, the Black Forest saw the development of industries in clockmaking, musical instruments, precision engineering, electronic engineering, glass and optics as well as textiles, which were once a major industry. However, the degree of industrialisation is now the lowest of the four Bezirke. In 2003, manufacturing employed 390 000, some 40 000 fewer than in 1970. These losses have been more than offset by over 300 000 new jobs in the tertiary sector. The number of overnight stays shows that this district is very much tourism-oriented.
The district has environmental problems which are not really of its own making. These include the warming of the upper Rhine, basically the fault of Swiss power stations, and the destruction of the forest as a result of air and soil pollutants. What it is responsible for is serious nitrate pollution of the groundwater in the Rhine plain.
The dynamic nature of the district is clearly borne out by the fact that, between 1991 and 2002, the region's contribution to the Land of Baden-Württemberg rose by 0.5%.
Small but diverse
The upper Rhine is covered in lowland forests. 44% of Baden-Württemberg's vines are grown on the loess-rich volcanic slopes of the Kaiserstuhl and in the foothills of the Black Forest. In the north between Kehl, Offenburg and Lahr there is a more heavily built-up area with well-developed industry.
Freiburg is home to the administrative government, the episcopate, the university and four other institutions of higher education (totalling 27 000 students).
The industrial area around Basel/Lörrach extends along the upper Rhine and its side valleys. In terms of employees, there is a fairly even split between the manufacture of producer goods, capital goods and consumer goods.
Between the town of Constance, which is an administrative centre and home to a university of 12 000 students, and the industrial centre of Singen, there is another developed area which is home to a wide variety of industry.
The fifth area of development is around Villingen-Schwenningen. This and the surrounding area is the district's most heavily industrialised area. Between these developed areas lies one of Germany's most popular spa and recreational areas, the southern Black Forest. Tourism now makes a significant contribution to the economy of this formerly disadvantaged region.
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