Upper Bavaria

Author: Leandro Alegsa Creation date: September 6, 2021

This article is about the district and administrative region of Upper Bavaria. For the Wittelsbach duchy of Upper Bavaria see Duchy of Upper Bavaria, for other terms of this name see Upper Bavaria (disambiguation).

Upper Bavaria is both a district (third municipal level) and a governmental district of equal area in Bavaria. Upper Bavaria is located in the southeast of the Free State and borders Austria to the south and east, Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate to the northeast, Middle Franconia to the northwest and Swabia to the west. The administrative seat of the district and the seat of the district government is Munich.

The Bavarian districts are the third municipal level of self-governing bodies, which include several counties and independent cities. There is a government district of the same name, the area of responsibility of the district government (often abbreviated to government) as the central state authority. Unlike the district administrations, which are both state and local authorities at the same time, there are separate authorities for this in Bavaria with the district administrations and the governments.

Upper Bavaria is a designation for an administrative unit whose boundaries have changed several times over the centuries, with no regard for tribal or linguistic boundaries. In particular, there is no specifically Upper Bavarian dialect. The term "Upper Bavaria" appears for the first time in 1255 during the Bavarian division of land. However, the extent was originally different: Chiemgau and the area around Bad Reichenhall belonged to Lower Bavaria at that time. The designation refers to the relative location on the Danube and its tributaries: downstream, Upper Bavaria is followed by Lower Bavaria, Upper Austria, Lower Austria.

Upper Bavaria is the region in Germany with the second highest gross domestic product per inhabitant after Hamburg. The major centres in Upper Bavaria are (in order of population) Munich, Ingolstadt, Rosenheim, Freising, Erding, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Weilheim in Upper Bavaria and Traunstein.

Planning Regions

Upper Bavaria comprises four planning regions. These are the planning region Ingolstadt, planning region Munich, planning region Oberland and planning region Südostoberbayern.

History

With the first Bavarian division of land in 1255, an independent duchy of Upper Bavaria was created under Ludwig the Strict, which, however, was not congruent with today's administrative district. After temporary reunification in 1340, the Duchy of Bavaria was divided into three parts in 1392: Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Ingolstadt were created in Upper Bavaria, and Bavaria-Landshut in Lower Bavaria. In addition, Bavaria-Straubing existed in Lower Bavaria as a fourth duchy since 1353. In 1505 all partial duchies were reunited.

For administrative purposes, Bavaria was subsequently divided into rent offices. Thus, in the south of the duchy, the Rentamt München and the Rentamt Burghausen were created. With the secularization in 1802/03, the territories of the Freising diocese became part of Bavaria. In 1810 the Rupertiwinkel came to Bavaria, the final border to Austria was not determined until 1816 with the Treaty of Munich, when the Duchy of Salzburg was ceded.

With the Bavarian Constitution of 1808, the systematic division of the now Kingdom of Bavaria into districts took place, which as central authorities did not correspond to today's counties, but to today's districts. In 1837, the romantically moved King Ludwig I. had the French naming system of the Bavarian districts according to river names replaced by historicizing names, which were supposed to reflect the history of the Bavarian parts of the country. As a result, the district of Upper Bavaria was created from the district of Isar. However, during the Nazi period, the designation "Kreis" was adapted to the Prussian designation "Regierungsbezirk". In addition, the Gau München-Oberbayern existed from 1930 to 1945, which had political significance from 1933 during the NS dictatorship.

The inner Bavarian borders have subsequently changed several times. In 1972 the city and the main part of the administrative district Neuburg a.d. Donau as well as the Fuchstal communities of the former administrative district Kaufbeuren fell to Upper Bavaria and the main part of the former administrative district Aichach to Swabia.