Hagen

For other uses, see Hagen (disambiguation).
Hagen

Old Town Hall (right) and Square. In the center the Volme Galerie (City Mall).

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Hagen
Coordinates: 51°22′N 7°29′E / 51.367°N 7.483°E / 51.367; 7.483Coordinates: 51°22′N 7°29′E / 51.367°N 7.483°E / 51.367; 7.483
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Arnsberg
District Urban districts of Germany
Government
 • Lord Mayor Erik O. Schulz (independent)
Area
 • Total 160.4 km2 (61.9 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
 • Total 186,716
 • Density 1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 58000-58139
Dialling codes 02331, 02334, 02337
Vehicle registration HA
Website www.hagen.de

Hagen (German pronunciation: [ˈhaːɡən]) is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (met by the river Ennepe) meet the river Ruhr. As of 31 December 2010 the population was 188,529. The city is home to the FernUniversität Hagen, which is the only state funded distance education university in Germany. Counting more than 67,000 students (March 2010), it is the largest university in Germany.[2]

History

Hengsteysee

Hagen was first mentioned ca. 1200, presumably the name of a farm at the junction of the Volme and the Ennepe. After the conquest of Burg Volmarstein in 1324, Hagen passed to the County of Mark. In 1614 it was awarded to the Margraviate of Brandenburg according to the Treaty of Xanten. In 1701 it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia.

After the defeat of Prussia in the Fourth Coalition, Hagen was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Berg from 1807–13. In 1815 it became part of the new Prussian Province of Westphalia.

The growth of the city began in the 19th century with the mining of coal and the production of steel in the Ruhr Area. Hagen was the scene of fighting during the Ruhr Uprising, 13 March - 2 April 1920 and has a monument to the Ruhr Red Army.

In 1928 Hagen developed into a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants.

During World War II, Hagen was bombed repeatedly, by both the Royal Air Force and the Eighth Air Force. On the night of 1 October 1943, 243 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes from the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command attacked the city. According to the Bomber Command Campaign Diary, "This raid was a complete success achieved on a completely cloud-covered target of small size, with only a moderate bomber effort and at trifling cost." Hagen sustained severe damage from that raid, and hundreds of civilians were killed.

After World War II the town became part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Economy

Owing to the extensive use of water power along the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe, metal processing played an important role in the region of Hagen in and even before the 15th century.

In the 17th and 18th century, textile and steel industries as well as paper production followed.

Hagen is the home of the Suedwestfaelische Industrie- und Handelskammer, as well as Sparkasse Hagen, the local municipal savings bank. The bank's former headquarters, the Sparkasse Hagen tower, was a regional landmark until its demolition in 2004.

The city is heavily indebted and in the process of cutting city services in order to balance its budget.

Attractions

Hagen is home to the LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen, or Hagen Open-air Museum, a collection of historic industrial facilities where trades such as printing, brewing, smithing, milling, and many others are represented not simply as static displays, but as living, working operations that visitors may in some cases even be invited to participate in. It is located near the Hagen community of Eilpe. The Historical Center contains the Museum of the City and the Werdringen castle. In the Blätterhöhle cave in Hagen the oldest fossils of modern people in Westphalia and the Ruhr were found. Some date back to the early Mesolithic, 10,700 years B.C. It seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people in this area maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies.[3]

Panoramic view of Hagen (taken from urban forest of Hagen)

Boroughs

Half-timbered houses "Lange Riege" (17th century)
Borough Population
Oct 2007 		Area
in km²
Hagen-Mitte 78.952 20,5
Hagen-Nord 38.451 29,6
Hagen-Haspe 30.360 22,2
Hagen-Eilpe/Hagen-Dahl 17.148 51,1
Hagen-Hohenlimburg 31.306 37,0

some localities of Hagen:

Demographics

The following table shows the largest foreign resident groups in the city of Hagen.[4]

Rank Nationality Population (2012)
1 Turkey 7,707
2 Italy 3,394
3 Greece 3,052
4 Poland 1,997
5 Portugal 1,131
6 Serbia (incl. Montenegro) 1,108
7 Bosnia and Herzegovina 636
8 Croatia 553
9 Morocco 474
10 Ukraine 320
11 Russia 300

Traffic

Shunting yard Hagen-Vorhalle

The Autobahnen A1, A45 and A46 touch Hagen.

Hagen has been an important rail junction for the southeastern Ruhr valley since the first rail line opened in 1848. The shunting yard of Hagen-Vorhalle is among Germany's largest, and the central station offers connections to the ICE network of Deutsche Bahn as well as to local and S-Bahn services. Since December 2005, Hagen has also been the starting point for a new service into Essen, operated by Abellio Rail.

Local traffic is handled by Hagener Straßenbahn (Hagen Tramways), which, despite its name, offers only bus services, as the last tramway route in Hagen was abandoned in May 1976. All local rail and bus services operate under the transport association VRR.

Sport

The German Basketball Federation (DBB) is based in Hagen

Sport clubs in Hagen:

International relations

Hagen is twinned with the following towns:

Personalities

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 23 September 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/universitaet/aktuelles/2010/03/30-am-gdf-nach.shtml
  3. ↑ 2000 Years of Parallel Societies in Stone Age Central Europe. Ruth Bollongino, Olaf Nehlich, Michael P. Richards, Jörg Orschiedt, Mark G. Thomas, Christian Sell, Zuzana Fajkošová, Adam Powell, Joachim Burger. Science. Published Online October 10, 2013. DOI: 10.1126/science.1245049 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/10/09/science.1245049
  4. ↑ "Statistisches Jahrbuch 2013". Westfalenpost. Retrieved 2016-04-23.

External links

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