North Rhine-Westphalia usually shortened to NRW, official short form NW) is the westernmost and—in terms of population and economic output—the largest Federal State of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the western part of Germany and portions boundaries with Belgium and the Netherlands. It has margins with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the southwest and Hesse to the southeast. The center city is Düsseldorf, and the leading city is Cologne. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was time-honored by the British military administration on 23 August 1946.

North Rhine-Westphalia usually shortened to NRW, official short form NW) is the westernmost and in terms of population and economic output the largest Federal State of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the western part of Germany and portions boundaries with Belgium and the Netherlands. Nowhere in Germany has more populace, and there is a likewise great number of cities: Cologne, with its Gothic cathedral; Bonn, the Federal Republic’s first capital city; Düsseldorf, the fashion-conscious state capital; Aachen, under Charlemagne the capital of Europe; Duisburg, with Europe’s largest inland port; the business centers of Krefeld and Bielefeld; not to mention Essen and Dortmund, the two major cities in the Ruhr region.