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Altenburger Land

Coordinates: 51°0′N 12°25′E / 51.000°N 12.417°E / 51.000; 12.417
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Altenburger Land
District
Flag of Altenburger Land
Flag
Coat of arms of Altenburger Land
Coat of arms
Map
CountryGermany
StateThuringia
CapitalAltenburg
Government
 • District admin.Uwe Melzer (CDU)
Area
 • Total
569.41 km2 (219.85 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2022)[1]
 • Total
88,787
 • Density160/km2 (400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registrationABG, SLN
Websitealtenburgerland.de

Altenburger Land is a district in Thuringia, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the district of Greiz, the Burgenlandkreis (Saxony-Anhalt), and the districts Leipzig, Mittelsachsen and Zwickau in Saxony. The district is a member of the Central German Metropolitan Region.

Geography

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Altenburger Land is the easternmost district of Thuringia. It is largely agricultural with three quarters of the total area being used for agriculture.[2] In contrast, forests make up only around 10% of the area, especially in the south of the district there are only few forests. This can be explained by a high soil fertility with a Loess-layer of up to 3.5 meters.

The main river is the Pleiße, a tributary of the White Elster, crossing the district from south to north. The hilly Osterland constituting the northernmost foothills of the Ore Mountains slopes gently away to the plains of eastern Saxony-Anhalt.

History

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The region on the Pleiße River was part of a huge forest, where the Thuringii formed the Thuringian Kingdom. After this, the Kingdom was in 531 taken over by the Franks, Slavic people were also moving in. Thuringians reestablished independent rule. The castle of Altenburg already existed in the 10th century, it became an imperial seat. In the following centuries German settlers from other parts moved in. It was part of the Margravate of Meissen in the 14th century. At this time most of the forests were cleared.

The town of Altenburg and the surrounding lands were the tiny Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg from 1826 to 1918; afterwards it was a state within the Weimar Republic for a short time, before it was dissolved in 1922 in order to join the Free State of Thuringia.

The district in its present borders was established in 1922 under the name "Altenburg". In 1952 there was an administrative reform splitting the districts into two smaller units, called "Altenburg" and "Schmölln". They were merged again in 1994 under the name Altenburger Land.

Historical Population

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Year Population
1994 121,559
1995 120,655
1996 119,359
1997 118,487
1998 117,143
1999 115,689
2000 114,200
2001 112,421
Year Population
2002 110,887
2003 109,304
2004 107,893
2005 106,365
2006 104,721
2007 103,313
2008 101,705
2009 100,215
Year Population
2010 98,810
2011 97,443
2012 94,749
2013 93,605
2014 92,705
2015 92,344
2016 91,607
2017 90,650
Year Population
2018 90,118
2019 89,393
2020 88,356
2021 87,807
2022 88,787
2023 88,692

Source: from 1994 Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik – values from 31st December[3]

Politics

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District Council

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The 46 seats in the district council are distributed between the parties as follows since the Regional Elections in Thüringia 26th May 2024:

Parties Seats
5
1
5
3
1
13
4
14
Total 46 seats
AfD 14 (+4)
CDU 13 (±0)
SPD 5 (−2)
Die Linke 5 (−2)
Starke Heimat 4 (+4)
Bundesverband Freie Wähler 3 (−2)
FDP 1 (−1)
Grüne 1 (−1)
Landratsamt Altenburger Land in der Lindenaustraße in Altenburg

Coat of arms

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District banner of Altenburger Land

The coat of arms displays:

  • The red rose stands for the Burgraviate of Altenburg and is also part of the coat of arms of the city of Altenburg
  • The lion, which was the symbol of the reeves of Plauen; they had great power in the region during the 14th and 15th centuries
  • The black and gold stripes with the green ring was the coat of arms of the Saxon Wettin dynasty
  • The red acorn symbolises the skat game, which was invented in Altenburg in 1813

Partnerschaften

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Towns and municipalities

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AltenburgDobitschenFockendorfGerstenbergGöhrenGöllnitzGöpfersdorfGößnitzHaselbachHeukewaldeHeyersdorfJonaswaldeKriebitzschLangenleuba-NiederhainLöbichauLödlaLuckaMehnaMeuselwitzMonstabNobitzPonitzPostersteinRositzNobitzSchmöllnStarkenbergThonhausenTrebenVollmershainWindischleubaThuringiaGreiz (district)Saxony-AnhaltSaxony
Clickable map of towns and municipalities in the district
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft-free towns and municipalities
  1. Altenburg
  2. Gößnitz
  3. Lucka
  4. Meuselwitz
  5. Schmölln
  1. Dobitschen
  2. Göpfersdorf
  3. Heyersdorf
  4. Langenleuba-Niederhain
  5. Nobitz
  6. Ponitz
Verwaltungsgemeinschaften
  1. Heukewalde
  2. Jonaswalde
  3. Löbichau
  4. Posterstein
  5. Thonhausen
  6. Vollmershain
  1. Fockendorf
  2. Gerstenberg
  3. Haselbach
  4. Treben1
  5. Windischleuba
  1. Göhren
  2. Göllnitz
  3. Kriebitzsch
  4. Lödla
  5. Mehna
  6. Monstab
  7. Rositz1
  8. Starkenberg
1seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft

References

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  1. ^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden, erfüllenden Gemeinden und Verwaltungsgemeinschaften in Thüringen Gebietsstand: 31.12.2022" (in German). Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik. June 2023.
  2. ^ "Thüringisches Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie". Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  3. ^ "Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik, Bevölkerung nach Geschlecht, Landkreis Altenburger Land". Retrieved 2023-09-23.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Landkreis Altenburger Land.
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51°0′N 12°25′E / 51.000°N 12.417°E / 51.000; 12.417

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