Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is a state in southwestern Germany, bordered by Switzerland in the south, France to the west, the state of Bavaria on the east, Rhineland-Palatinate on the northeast, and Hesse to the north. It measures some 13,804 square miles in area. Most of its people are Alemanni, relatives of the French Alsatians, plus Franconians, Palatinate people, and Swabians. Before the Romans occupied it, the main European trading artery was the River Rhein which runs through Baden-Württemberb. It also had immense hardwood forests, now largely cut. To the south are the Alps. The state was formed in the post-World War II occupational period from three former states in the American and French zones; this arrangement was ratified by a referendum in 1951 and made official in 1952. Its capital is Stuttgart. The 2004 estimated population was 10,721,600.