Soest (district)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kreis Soest
District

Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region	Arnsberg
Capital	Soest
Area
• Total	1,327.47 km² (512.54 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2012)^[1]
• Total	296,029
• Density	220/km² (580/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration	SO
Website	http://www.kreis-soest.de

Soest (German: [ˈzoːst] ( listen)) is a Kreis (district) in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Warendorf, Gütersloh, Paderborn, Hochsauerland, Märkischer Kreis, Unna and the district-free city Hamm.

History

In medieval times Soest was the biggest city of Westphalia; however, after it liberated itself from the bishops of Cologne in the Soester Fehde in 1449 it slowly lost importance, only to gain it again when in 1816 the new Prussian government created the district. In 1975 the district was merged with the neighboring district of Lippstadt and parts of the former district of Arnsberg.

Geography

Geographically it covers the northern part of the Sauerland hills and the lower land north of it, the 'Hellweg'. The rather flat land and very fertile loess soil have made it an agricultural area from ancient times. The main rivers through the district are the Ruhr, the Lippe and the Möhne, which is dammed to form the Möhne Reservoir. The highest elevation is in the area of Warstein with 580m, while the lowest is the Lippe valley with 65m.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms show two symbols from the bishops of Cologne, who possessed Soest until 1449. In left half is the key of Saint Peter, the patron of Cologne; in the right is the black cross of Cologne. After the district was merged with Lippstadt the rose, symbol of the Lippe area, was added on top of the cross. This new version of the coat of arms was granted in 1976.

Towns and municipalities

Towns	Municipalities
Erwitte Geseke Lippstadt Rüthen Soest Warstein Werl	Anröchte Bad Sassendorf Ense Lippetal Möhnesee Welver Wickede

References

↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 31 July 2013.

External links

Media related to Kreis Soest at Wikimedia Commons

Official website (German, English)

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany

Urban districts	Bielefeld Bochum Bonn Bottrop Dortmund Duisburg Düsseldorf Essen Gelsenkirchen Hagen Hamm Herne Köln (Cologne) Krefeld Leverkusen Mönchengladbach Mülheim Münster Oberhausen Remscheid Solingen Wuppertal

Rural districts	Aachen Borken Coesfeld Düren Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Euskirchen Gütersloh Heinsberg Herford Hochsauerlandkreis Höxter Kleve (Cleves) 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

Coordinates: 51°35′N 8°15′E / 51.58°N 8.25°E / 51.58; 8.25

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.