Thuringia

Located in the central part of Germany is the Free State of Thuringia. Known as the “green heart of Germany” because of its natural beauty of dense forests that covers the terrain.  If you imagine lush and green sceneries then that is what you will find all over the state.

The state of Thuringia has an area of approximately 6,243.7 square miles and about 2.29 million in population with the capital of Erfurt. Being thus, the state is the sixth in the smallest by area of all the states and the fifth in the smallest of population.

Geography

The state of Thuringia borders the other German states beginning from the northwest which is Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse and Bavaria.  The western parts of the Harz Mountains divide the region, Lower Saxony on the North West. The eastern parts of the Harz separate the state of Saxony-Anhalt on the north east. In the south and southwest part the Thuringian Forest separates the region of Franconia which is now the northern part of Bavaria. The region of Thuringia is actually a lowland basin which has rolling plains and surrounded by mountains and forest. The Rhine River, the drainage basin is located just west across the mountains and south.

One of the most noticeable geographical features that the state is known for is the Thuringian Forest; it is located in the southwest and is known to be a mountain chain. This mountain chain is separated from the volcanic Rhön Mountains by the Werra River. Northwest of the state includes a small area of Harz, in the east of the state are plains and the lowlands from the south to the north and ran through by the Saale River.

History

The state of Thuringia got its name after the Thuringii tribe who occupied it ca. AD300. Come the 6^th century, the state was under Frankish domination which became a part of the subsequent Holy Roman Empire.

In 1130, it became a landgraviate. In 1247, the western half of Thuringia became independent under the name of Hesse this happened after the end of the reign of the Ludowingian line of counts and the War of the Thuringian Succession. The remaining of Thuringia was under the rule of the Wettin Dynasty of Margraviate of Meissen which is the core of the Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony. In the year 1485, there was the division of the House of Wettin. The state then went the eldest Ernestine branch of the family and then subdivided the area into smaller states, which was done according to the Saxon tradition of how to divide the inheritance among the male heirs.

These smaller states were called the “Saxon duchies,” which consists of the state SaxeWeimar, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Jena, Saxe-Meiningen,  Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, and Saxe-Gotha.

During the German Mediatisation from 1795 to 1814 there was the reordering of the Thuringian States, and the territory became part of the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine in the year of 1806.  The Congress of Vienna confirmed of these changes in the year 1815 and its being part of the German Confederation. The Thuringian Duchies became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1920 which was after the First World War,

In July 1945, the state was under the Soviet Occupation Zone and was made bigger because of the inclusion of parts of Prussian Saxony, areas like Erfurt, Mühlhausen, and Nordhausen. The new capital of the state became Erfurt then. In 1952, there was the dissoluiton of the states which was then created to be dicstrsits by the German Democratic Republic. Three districs of Erfurt, gera and Suhl shared the territoty of thuringia.

In 1990, because of the German Reunification, the state of Thuringia was restored.

Religion

In the early 1520, the Catholic faith was abolished and they have generally accepted Protestant Reformation. The ones who remained loyal to the catholic religion were driven away, while the churches and monasteries were destroyed. This change mostly happened in the year 1525, during the German Peasant’s War. In the district of Eichsfeld is where the catholic faith was preserved which was led by the Archbishop of Mainz. The city and the vicinity of Erfurt was also part of this faith.