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Lower Saxony
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Meppen
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2,881
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309,613
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2005
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108
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EL
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http://wwwemslandde
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is a district in
Lower Saxony ,
Germany . It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of
Leer ,
Cloppenburg and
Osnabrück , the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia (district of
Steinfurt ), the district of
Bentheim and the
Netherlands .
For a long time the Emsland was extremely sparsely populated, due to the fens on both sides of the river. Small villages were established in medieval times along the river and on the Hümmling. In the
13th Century the bishops of
Münster gained control over the region; the Emsland remained property of the bishop until
1803 , when the clerical states were dissolved. It came under
Prussia n rule, but after the
Napoleonic Wars the
Congress Of Vienna decided to hand the territory over to the kingdom of
Hanover . It was now called the duchy of . When Hanover was annexed by Prussia (
1866 ), the dukes were deposed soon after.
The now Prussian province of Hanover was subdivided into districts in
1885 ; four districts were established on the territory of what is now the Emsland. The districts were merged in
1977 to form the present district.
In
1950 a governmental plan for the development of Emsland was adopted. Its aim was to turn the region into an industrial location. This was accomplished by draining the fens and establishing projects like the test track of the
Maglev "
Transrapid " and several large
Shipyard s such as the
Meyer-Werft in
Papenburg . Although the Emsland lost much of its original character, some areas retain their natural character, for example the Hümmling.
1977 District reforms in Lower Saxony unite the former districts of
Lingen ,
Meppen and
Aschendorf-Hümmling in the district of Emsland, with Meppen as administrative seat.
The district is located on the Dutch border. It is named after the
Ems river, which crosses the region from south to north. It is an absolutely plain countryside, which was once full of fens. The only elevations are in the , which is a hilly forest area east of the Ems.
(Population 2005)
# (9,749)
# (11,279)
#, town (22,754)
#, town (12,549)
#, town (51,318)
#, town (34,196)
#, town (34,519)
# (4,228)
# (7,436)
# (9,640)
- (15,446)
- , town (10,834)
- (9,821)
- (10,815)
- (9,083)
- (12,149)
- (15,484)
- (12,653)
- (15,660)
