Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald District is a district (Kreis) in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Emmendingen, Schwarzwald-Baar, Waldshut, Lörrach and the Frenchdépartements of the Haut-Rhin and the Bas-Rhin. The district-free city of Freiburg is surrounded by the district. The District is named after the Breisgau, a historical territory, and the high parts of the Black Forest (Hochschwarzwald).
The district was created in 1973 by merging the previous districts of Freiburg, Müllheim und Hochschwarzwald.
Geography[]
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald is a large and rural district with at least three distinct landscapes:
the river plain of the Upper Rhine (Oberrheinebene) with the Kaiserstuhl mountain, the Tuniberg, the Breisgau and the Markgräflerland
the slopes of the Black Forest mountains, with Black Forest valleys reaching to the Rhine, such as Glottertal, Dreisamtal, Höllental and Münstertal
the higher mountain ranges of the Black Forest (Hochschwarzwald), including the highest mountain in the Black Forest, the Feldberg (1493 m)
The economy is based on tourism, wine, and forestry.
Politics[]
Politically, the majority of the district parliament (Kreistag) is traditionally conservative (CDU), with higher levels of conservative votes the farther the distance from Freiburg (which has a red-green majority).
Coat of arms[]
The left half of the coat of arms show the colors of Austria, and the right side the colors of Baden, as parts of the District belonged to both states at various times. In the middle, the coat of arms shows an eagle, taken from the coat of arms of the Princes of Fürstenberg. The coat of arms was granted in 1974, and it is very similar to the coat of arms of the previous Freiburg district.
Germany
