Lower Franconia

Lower Franconia Unterfranken
Map of Bavaria highlighting the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Region seat	Würzburg
Area
• Total	8,531.59 km2 (3,294.07 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)
• Total	1,318,076
• Density	154.49359/km2 (400.1366/sq mi)
Website	regierung.unterfranken.bayern.de

Lower Franconia (German: Unterfranken) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria (seven regions), Germany (22 regions in five Federal States, 11 Federal States are not subdivided into regions).

The district was formed in 1817 under the name of Untermainkreis (Lower Main District) and renamed in 1837 as Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg (Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg). In 1933 the regional Nazi Gauleiter Otto Hellmuth insisted on renaming the district Mainfranken, but after 1945 the name Unterfranken was resurrected.

Unterfranken is the north-west part of Franconia and consists of three district-free cities ("Kreisfreie Städte") and nine country districts ("Landkreise").

The major portion of the Franconian wine region is situated in Lower Franconia.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Lower Franconia

The Coat of Arms includes the Arms of Duchy of Franconia in the upper portion, the “Rennfähnlein,” a banner, quarterly argent (silver) and gules (red), on a lance or (gold), in bend, on an azure (blue) field, associated with Würzburg in the lower left quadrant, and a white/silver wheel on a red field symbolizing the clerical state of Mainz, in the lower right quadrant.

Area and population

City or District	Population (2010)		Area (km²)		Communities
City of Aschaffenburg	68,648	5.21%	62	0.7%	1	0.3%
City of Schweinfurt	53,433	4.05%	36	0.4%	1	0.3%
City of Würzburg	132,690	10.06%	88	1.0%	1	0.3%
Aschaffenburg	172,891	13.11%	699	8.2%	32	10.4%
Bad Kissingen	104,628	7.93%	1,137	13.3%	26	8.4%
Haßberge	85,163	6.46%	956	11.2%	26	8.4%
Kitzingen	88,607	6.72%	684	8.0%	31	10.1%
Main-Spessart	128,077	9.71%	1,322	15.5%	40	13.0%
Miltenberg	128,665	9.76%	716	8.4%	32	10.4%
Rhön-Grabfeld	83,085	6.30%	1,022	12.0%	37	12.0%
Schweinfurt	113,167	8.58%	842	9.9%	29	9.4%
Würzburg	159,641	12.11%	968	11.3%	52	16.9%
Total	1,318,695	100.0%	8,531	100.0%	308	100.0%

Historical population
1910	710,943
1939	844,732
1950	1,038,930
1961	1,089,983
1970	1,181,309
1987	1,202,711
2002	1,344,300
2004	1,344,629
2005	1,341,481
2006	1,337,876
2008	1,331,500
2009	1,323,273
2010	1,318,695

Historical country districts

Until the municipal reform ( "Kreisreform" ) in June 1972 Lower Franconia had 22 country districts, 16 of them were attached to the other six existing country districts Aschaffenburg, Bad Kissingen, Kitzingen, Miltenberg, Schweinfurt, Würzburg or united to one of the three new country districts Haßberge, Main-Spessart, Rhön-Grabfeld.

Old country district	Current district(s)
Alzenau	Aschaffenburg
Bad Brückenau	Bad Kissingen
Bad Neustadt/Saale	Rhön-Grabfeld
Ebern	Haßberge
Gemünden	Main-Spessart
Gerolzhofen	Schweinfurt, Kitzingen, Hassberge, Würzburg
Hammelburg	Bad Kissingen
Haßfurt	Haßberge
Hofheim/Unterfranken	Haßberge
Karlstadt	Main-Spessart
Königshofen	Rhön-Grabfeld
Lohr	Main-Spessart
Marktheidenfeld	Main-Spessart, Miltenberg, Würzburg
Mellrichstadt	Rhön-Grabfeld
Obernburg	Miltenberg
Ochsenfurt	Würzburg

Well known people

• Florian Geyer
• Tilman Riemenschneider
• Balthasar Neumann
• Friedrich Rückert
• Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
• Leonhard Frank
• Carl Diem
• Dirk Nowitzki

Institutes of Higher Education

• Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
• Fachhochschule Aschaffenburg
• Fachhochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt

See also

• Middle Franconia
• Upper Franconia

External links

• Official website
• Official website in English
• Official website
• Flag at Flagspot
• Unterfranken 1910
• Statistics
• Lower Franconia, described by a native franc resident