Ratingen

Ratingen

Coat of arms
Ratingen
Location of Ratingen within Mettmann district
Coordinates: 51°18′0″N 6°51′0″E / 51.30000°N 6.85000°E / 51.30000; 6.85000Coordinates: 51°18′0″N 6°51′0″E / 51.30000°N 6.85000°E / 51.30000; 6.85000
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Düsseldorf
District Mettmann
Government
 • Mayor Klaus Konrad Pesch (Gemeinschaftskandidat von CDU, FDP, die Grünen, SPD[1])
Area
 • Total 88.72 km2 (34.25 sq mi)
Elevation 50 m (160 ft)
Population (2016-12-31)[2]
 • Total 87,158
 • Density 980/km2 (2,500/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 40878–40885 (1962-1995: 4030)
Dialling codes 02102
Vehicle registration ME, seit 1975 (1956-1974: D)
Website www.ratingen.de

Ratingen is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the northwestern part of Berg - about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf.

Administration

With a communal reform of 1975 the independent municipalities of Breitscheid, Eggerscheidt, Hösel, Lintorf (seat Angerland) as well as the local part of Homberg and the municipality of Homberg-Meiersberg (seat Hubbelrath) were added into the city of Ratingen.

History

Ratingen was settled before 849. Since the Middle Ages, the Ratingen area belonged to the count and later dukes of Berg. On December 11, 1276 the settlement received city rights. Ratingen was one of the four places of Berg which experienced an economic boom in the end of the Middle Ages, but slowed down during the Thirty Years' War. At the beginning of the Industrial Age, the first manufacturing plants opened in 1783. In Cromford the first mechanical spinnery of Europe opened, which grew into the Textilfabrik Cromford, now part of the Rheinisches Industriemuseum (Rhine Industry Museum). In the Napoleonic times, it became part of the city of Berg and in 1815, into the Kingdom of Prussia.

In the communal re-organization of 1929, Ratingen maintained its independence. After relatively small war damage, Ratingen in the 1960s and the 1970s experienced years of growth and development (West Ratingen with 20,000 inhabitants, developed in the late 1960s-1980s). Several important international enterprises (particularly from the IT industry) as Vodafone, ASUS, Hewlett-Packard, SAP, CEMEX, Tiptel and Esprit maintain branches and/or main centers in Ratingen. It is also the hometown of automotive dealer Gottfried Schultz. In 1970, before further incorporations the number of inhabitants surpassed 50,000.

Since 1997 the town has hosted the Mehrkampf-Meeting, an annual decathlon and pentathlon meeting.

Twin towns

Ratingen keeps partnerships to following cities:[3]

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ "Bürgermeister Klaus Pesch". Stadt Ratingen. Stadt Ratingen. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  3. ↑ "Partnerstädte und Patenschaften national und international". Stadt Ratingen. Stadt Ratingen. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.