Bergisches Land


The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range region within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over 20 artificial lakes. Wuppertal is one of the biggest towns and seen as the region's capital, whereas the southern part nowadays has closer economic and socio-cultural ties to Cologne. Wuppertal and the neighbouring cities of Remscheid, Solingen form the Bergisches Städtedreieck.

History

Bergisches Land used to be territory of the County of Berg, which later became the Duchy of Berg, who gave the region its name. The Duchy was dissolved in 1815 and in 1822 the region became part of the Prussian Rhine Province.
Amongst the population today, a sense of belonging to the region Bergisches Land is notable in the hilly northern part, but not much anymore in the areas near the Cologne Bight, the Ruhr area or the city of Düsseldorf.

Economic upswing

The region became famous during the period of its early industralisation in the 19th century. At that time Wupper Valley was a historical Silicon Valley. Its twin cities Barmen and Elberfeld were the trading- and industrial capitals of Prussia at that time. This economic upswing caused the expansion of the Ruhrgebiet as coal-mining area and gave birth to research on, and the theoretical underlining of social entrepreneurship and socialism: Friedrich Engels was born in Barmen to a textile mill owner.
After the industrial downturn from the 1960s on, the region lost importance but cooperations by Bergisches Land entrepreneurs, active citizens and politicians are bringing back some regional awareness and economic power.

Cities and districts