Unna (district)

Unna
Statistics
State:	North Rhine-Westphalia
Capital:	Unna
Adm. Region:	Arnsberg
Area:	542.62 km²
Inhabitants:	430,269 (2001)
pop. density:	793 inh./km²
Car identification:	UN
Homepage:	http://www.kreis-unna.de
Map

The Unna district is a Kreis (district) in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Coesfeld, district-free city Hamm, Soest, Märkischer Kreis, district-free cities Hagen and Dortmund, and the Recklinghausen district.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Coat of arms
4 Towns and municipalities
5 External links

History

The area of the Unna district belonged to the earldom Mark, which after its end changed to belong to Prussia. In 1753 its organization was reformed and the first Hamm district was created. During the napoleonic times it was part of the ruhr departement, but afterwards Prussia the district was recreated, however with several changes. In 1901 the city Hamm left the district to become district-free city, however the administration of the district stayed in Hamm until 1929. Together with the move of the administration the district also changed its name to reflect the new center Unna. Later reorganization changed the district further, the last one in 1975 finally added the cities Lünen, Schwerte, Selm and Werne to form today's district.

Geography

Geographically it covers area east of Dortmund, thus it marks the east end of the Ruhr area. Both the Ruhr and Lippe rivers flow through this district.