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157-600: The municipality lies in the western part of the district about 37 km east of Siegen and about 15 km west of Marburg in the upper Lahn valley. It is characterized by the Palaeozoic Rhenish Massif ( Rheinisches Schiefergebirge ). Indeed, this range's foothills from the west meet the Westerwald 's from the south and the Rothaargebirge 's from the north here. Historically speaking, Dautphetal belongs to

314-617: A Greek Orthodox parish and a Romanian Orthodox parish. Moreover, there are various free churches established in Siegen, among them several Evangelical Free Church parishes ( Baptists ), an Evangelical-Methodist Church, an Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (SELK), a Seventh-day Adventist parish, several Free Evangelical parishes (FeG), the Achenbach Christian Community, the Christian Assembly, Calvary Chapel and

471-499: A trombone choir and men's or women's choirs . There are moreover, of course, other music clubs such as singing clubs , a Jägerchor ("hunters' choir") or a brass band . The more than 12,000 inhabitants therefore have all together "almost 50 dance and music clubs" to choose from. In the field of animal, breeding or protection clubs, many fowl breeding as well as nature preservation and gardening clubs can be named. Last but not least, more than 40 culture- or homeland-related clubs are at

628-472: A "higher centre" in the South Westphalian urban agglomeration. In 1975, municipal reforms and amalgamations lifted Siegen's population above the 100,000 mark. The city of Siegen lies in the basin of the upper reaches of the river Sieg . From there, lateral valleys branch off in many directions. The heights of the surrounding mountains, wherever they are not actually settled, are covered in coppice . To

785-412: A commercial airfield at Cölbe-Schönstadt. The nearest greater airport is Frankfurt International Airport at Frankfurt am Main . Owing to its advantageous location in a low mountain range and its attendant great forests and idyllic dales, the whole region is endowed with a substantial trail network. Its potential, however, was only recognized a few years ago and has been organizationally supported for

942-618: A five-year term. The SPD lost two seats while the Freie Wähler ("Free Voters", a citizens' coalition) gained three more and the Bürgerliste Dautphetal ("Dautphetal Citizens' List") lost out utterly. Participation in the election fell by 8.5% from 59.3% in 2001 to 50.8%. Of 9,030 eligible voters, only 4,589 went to the polls. The next municipal election in Hesse will take place in March 2011. At

1099-475: A half millennia . It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3100 BC, traditionally under Menes . The civilisation of ancient Egypt was characterised primarily by intensive agricultural use of the fertile Nile Valley; the use of the Nile itself for transportation; the development of writing systems – first hieroglyphs and then later hieratic and other derived scripts – and literature ;

1256-493: A large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old (20th to 18th centuries BC), Middle (14th to 11th centuries BC), and Neo-Assyrian (9th to 7th centuries BC) kingdoms, or periods. Mitanni was a Hurrian empire in northern Mesopotamia founded around 1500 BC. The Mitanians conquered and controlled Assyria until the 14th century BC while contending with Egypt for control of parts of modern Syria. Its capital

1413-575: A later emperor, Darius the Great , expanded the empire to the Indus River , creating the largest empire in the world to that date. But Darius and his son Xerxes I failed to expand into Greece , with expeditions in 490 and 480 BC eventually failing. The Achaemenid dynasty and empire fell to Alexander the Great by 330 BC, and after Alexander's death, much of the area previously ruled by the Cyrus and his successors

1570-447: A number of dynasties that peaked in power under the reign of Ashoka Maurya, one of India's most legendary and famous emperors. During the reign of Ashoka, the four dynasties of Chola , Chera , and Pandya were ruling in the South, while Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BC) controlled Anuradhapura (now Sri Lanka ). These kingdoms, while not part of Ashoka's empire, were in friendly terms with

1727-514: A period often known as the Vedic period . Between 1500 and 500 BC these peoples spread throughout most of India and had begun to found small cities. Vedic society was characterised by the varna system which divided society into four broad castes, which were later elaborated. By the end of the Vedic period, this way of organising society had become central to Indian society. Religion in the late Vedic period

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1884-529: A petit-bourgeois 3-room flat from the turn of the twentieth century housing typical exhibits from Dautphe's local history. Moreover, there are exhibits of Dautphe costume and old documents (photographs, maps, registers, family chronicles of Dautphe's oldest families, etc.). The community of Dautphetal harbours an unusually high number of clubs. Near each centre, alongside the well over 30 sport clubs dealing in everything from football to tennis , gymnastics , riding , motor sports and even balloon flying, are

2041-401: A short time by the association Lahn-Dill-Bergland e. V. Friedensdorf has since the 1950s been the site of an electrical substation . There, high-voltage current at 110 kV is stepped down to the middle voltage of 20 kV. After the transformers' useful working life had come to an end, a 20 kV switchgear set and new open-air transformer fields were installed in 1998. The substation

2198-529: A total area of 730 000 m with roughly 65,000 graves. Characteristic of regional cemeteries are hillside graves and a green, parklike layout that even affords wildlife a chance at reoccupying the land. Cemeteries within city limits are: In the Apollo-Theater (a downtown former 1930s cinema that underwent remodelling and opened in mid-2007), Siegen has one of the current decade's most important newly built theatres. A controlling interest in this venture

2355-456: A tradition of bronze production and the manufacture of evermore refined bronze and iron objects, such as plows, axes and sickles with shaft holes, socketed arrows and spearheads and small ornamented items. By about 500 BCE, large and delicately decorated bronze drums of remarkable quality, weighing more than 70 kg (150 lb), were produced in the laborious lost-wax casting process. This industry of highly sophisticated metal processing

2512-523: Is Harappan, after the first of its cities to be excavated, Harappa in the Pakistani province of Punjab . Harappan civilisation grew out of the earlier agricultural communities as they evolved into cities. These communities created and traded jewelry, figurines, and seals that appear widely scattered throughout Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Iran. Chickens were domesticated in addition to the earlier crops and animals. They developed their own writing system,

2669-597: Is Steffen Mues of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020 and the results were as follows: At the city's helm since the 13th century, there have been several mayors of whom evidence survives. In 1304 and 1305, a council ("consules") was mentioned for the first time. As early as 1224, however, documents mention Burgmänner ("Castle Men") as well as three Bürgermeister ("Mayors") who were changed yearly. As of 1500, only two mayors were chosen every year. In

2826-550: Is about 12 km (7 mi), and its greatest north-south span is about 12 km (7 mi). City limits are 48 km (30 mi) long. Siegen lies at a median elevation of 290 m (951 ft) above sea level. The city's greatest elevation is the peak of the Pfannenberg at 499 m (1,637 ft) above sea level at southern city limits. Siegen's lowest point is 215 m (705 ft) above sea level at Niederschelden at southwestern city limits, which there also forms

2983-650: Is about 800–1000 mm in Dautphetal, and in the Buchenau and Elmshausen area about 700–800 mm. The biggest flowing waterway in Dautphetal is the river Lahn. This flows through the northern part of the municipal area from west to east. The smaller river Dautphe flows, just as all the smaller streams in the municipal area do sooner or later, into the Lahn. Clockwise from the north, the following communities are Dautphetal's neighbours: The towns of Biedenkopf and Wetter (Hessen) ,

3140-526: Is any relation between this name and the Celtic- Germanic Sicambri (Ger. Sugambrer ) people, who in pre-Christian times lived in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia. The first documentary mention of the place called Sigena dates from 1079. The city's history is markedly shaped by mining, which locally began as far back as La Tène times. Bearing witness to this longtime industry are the many mines that can be found within city limits. In 1224, Siegen

3297-487: Is described as a commercial hub. The main road in Dautphetal is Federal Highway ( Bundesstraße ) 62. This interregionally important road leads from eastern North Rhine-Westphalia ( Siegen ) through Middle Hesse (Dautphetal, Marburg) and East Hesse ( Alsfeld , Bad Hersfeld ) to Thuringia ( Bad Salzungen ) thereby fulfilling the function of interregional transportation axis. Across the community's municipal area, it runs east-west, going through Buchenau. Bundesstraße 453, which

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3454-404: Is evenly split between industry and trade, while the services sector is a bit smaller. Historically, the one industry that has grown especially in strength and is particularly well represented is the steel and moulding industry. Although Dautphetal with the Lahn valley and its widespread woodlands offers good potential for recreation and tourism , it has hitherto not been exploited as such. Over

3611-446: Is held by TheaterSiegen intendant Magnus Reitschuster. Ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity . The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BC – AD 500, ending with

3768-734: Is its riveted casing. Only three other such gas holders are known to exist worldwide (all in Germany, in Schwerte , Offenburg and Bielefeld ). The holder had to be moved a few metres owing to construction on the municipal Autobahn, the Hüttentalstraße , and in the residential area of Ziegenberg, and it now forms the symbolic sun as part of a scale model of the planets above the gas holder. Within Siegen's city limits are 36 municipally run cemeteries . Ten of them are already closed and are available for burials only because of existing laws. The cemeteries have

3925-573: Is made up of works by the man who is arguably the best known native, Peter Paul Rubens . There is also quite a comprehensive collection of portraits of members of the Houses of Nassau and Orange. The top floor is devoted to 19th-century home décor. A kitchen from the Siegerland, a bedroom and many pieces of furniture from the Biedermeier era give one an impression of life in the region in bygone days. Late in

4082-597: Is mentioned as a newly built town whose ownership was shared by the Count of Nassau , Heinrich the Rich, and Engelbert II of Berg , Archbishop of Cologne after the latter transferred one half of the ownership to the former. Moreover, there is proof that the Oberes Schloss ("upper stately home") was already standing at this time. On 19 October 1303, the town was granted Soester Stadtrecht , or Soest town rights. The town remained under

4239-725: Is nowadays represented in Europe , North and South America , and even in China . Alongside household products (such as shower partitions), synthetic manufacturing and environmental technology (tank manufacturing), companies in machine building and aggregate manufacture are parts of the conglomerate. Johnson Controls maintains a location in Friedensdorf. This company makes vehicle fuel tanks and car seats, employing 200 people to do so. The firm Bamberger, formerly Europe's third-biggest manufacturer of enamelled-steel bathtubs, and with 200 employees one of

4396-477: Is only 15 km long, branches off B 62 in the neighbouring community of Biedenkopf, leading in a southerly direction through the centres of Wolfgruben, Dautphe, Mornshausen and Herzhausen on its way to Gladenbach. The nearest Autobahnen are Bundesautobahn 45 about 30 km away to the west in Dillenburg which goes towards Dortmund in one direction and Frankfurt am Main in the other, Bundesautobahn 485 in

4553-414: Is run by E.ON Mitte. In each of the bigger centres in the community is found a kindergarten . Only Damshausen, Elmshausen and Silberg do not have their own. Holzhausen and Buchenau each also have a primary school , the latter's having had until 2006 an attached orientation programme ( Förderstufe ) which was discontinued because the class-size threshold was no longer being met. In Friedensdorf, alongside

4710-614: Is sometimes called Krönchenstadt for this unusual feature). Another church is the Marienkirche , built by the Jesuits between 1702 and 1729. Also worth seeing are Siegen's Old Town and several museums in the city core. In the southwest of the city core, at the foot of the Ziegenberg, is a spherical gas holder, or gasometer , which is protected by law as a monument. It is one of the oldest spherical gas holders still preserved. Another peculiarity

4867-457: Is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport is thus given special importance. Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, Dautphetal - Gladenbach , with a regional connective function. Together with Biedenkopf and Breidenbach, Dautphetal

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5024-489: Is today Dautphetal, was ceded to Prussia . This district was for a short time (1932–33) united with the Dillenburg district before the districts of Biedenkopf and Marburg were made to form the still functioning Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse's 1974 municipal reform. What follows is an explanation of the population development of today's community of Dautphetal. What stands out is that the first small surge in population in

5181-514: Is yet to be confirmed with extensive survey work. With the help of archaeological excavations mainly by Susan and Roderick McIntosh , the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to AD 900. The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved where the current city is located due to the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenné . Previously, it was assumed that advanced trade networks and complex societies did not exist in

5338-555: The Chaldeans in 614 BC. The Achaemenid Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great , who first became king of the Persians, then conquered the Medes, Lydia , and Babylon by 539 BC. The empire built on earlier Mesopotamian systems of government to govern their large empire. By building roads, they improved both the ability to send governmental instructions throughout their lands as well as improving

5495-703: The Confederation of the Rhine , founded by Napoleon , he found himself unseated by the French leader and the Siegerland passed to the Grand Duchy of Berg . After Napoleon's downfall in 1813, however, William I regained his former German inheritances, but in 1815 he ceded them to the Kingdom of Prussia for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . Siegen was assigned to the Siegen district , first in

5652-747: The Congo River and into the Great Lakes area. By AD 1000 these groups had spread throughout all of southern Africa south of the equator. Iron metallurgy and agriculture spread along with these peoples, with the cultivation of millet, oil palms, sorghum, and yams as well as the use of domesticated cattle, pigs, and sheep. These technologies helped increase population, and settled communities became common in sub-Saharan Africa except in deserts or heavy forests. Paleolithic tools have been discovered in India dating to 200,000 years ago, and Neolithic sites are known from near

5809-501: The Counterreformation could not gain ground in 1623, with one fifth of the townsfolk and those living in the surrounding area becoming Catholic once again. As of 1626, there was once more a monastery in town, this time a Jesuit one. After passing to Prussia in 1815, the union between Lutheran and Reformed churches was introduced in Siegen, as it was throughout Prussia, but the town's parishes kept their Reformed emphasis. As part of

5966-723: The Dautphetalschule with its primary school and Hauptschule and Realschule branch, itself with an orientation programme, there is the Burgbergschule , a school for learning and educational help. A school for the educable mentally handicapped with a department for those who also have physical handicaps is located in Hommertshausen. In Wilhelmshütte is found the Jule-Spannagel-Schule for hard to educate youth. Further schooling such as vocational schools and colleges (or

6123-603: The Hinterländer Werkstätten , a recognized workshop for the handicapped. The Evangelical spiritual guidance centre help center e.V. has set itself the goal of helping youth in crisis on the basis of Christian belief. In Dautphetal, the Oberhessische Presse and the Hinterländer Anzeiger are the two daily newspapers , with the latter taking the greater part of the market share. A local section for

6280-658: The Indus Valley dating to around 8000 BC. Agriculture began in the Indus Valley around 7000 BC, and reached the Ganges Valley by 3000 BC. Barley , cotton , and wheat were grown and the population had domesticated cattle, goats, and sheep. The Indus Valley Civilisation developed around 3000 BC in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys of eastern Afghanistan , Pakistan, and western India. Another name for this civilisation

6437-490: The Indus Valley script , which is still mostly undeciphered. The exact structure of society and the way the cities were governed is not known. By about 1600 BC, the Indus Valley culture had abandoned many of their cities, including Mohenjo-Daro . The exact reason for this decline is not known. Indo-European speaking peoples began to spread into India about 1500 BC. The Rigveda , in Sanskrit , dates to this period and begins

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6594-566: The Koblenz region , and as of 1817 in the Arnsberg region within the Prussian Province of Westphalia . Under Prussian rule, Siegen developed into the South Westphalian centre that it is today. On 1 March 1923, Siegen was set apart from the district bearing its name, and became a district-free town , while still keeping its function as seat of the district of which it was no longer part, and which

6751-574: The Maccabean revolt led to independence during Hellenistic period until Roman conquest . Phoenicia was an ancient civilisation centred in the north of ancient Canaan , with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern-day Lebanon , Syria and Israel. Phoenician civilisation was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean between the period of 1550 to 300 BC. One Phoenician colony, Carthage , ruled an empire in

6908-766: The Maritime Jade Road , a jade trade network, in Southeast Asia which existed in Taiwan and the Philippines for 3,000 years from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE. The trade was established by links between the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines, and later included parts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and other areas in Southeast Asia (known as the Sa Huynh - Kalanay Interaction Sphere). Lingling-o artifacts are one of

7065-583: The Maurya Empire . An alliance existed between Devanampiya Tissa and Ashoka of India, who sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. Most of North India was reunited under the Gupta Empire beginning under Chandragupta I around AD 320. Under his successors the empire spread to include much of India except for the Deccan Plateau and the very south of the peninsula. This was a period of relative peace, and

7222-560: The Nazis ', were removed forcibly. After the Second World War, the military government of the British Zone of Occupation installed a new mayor, and in 1946 it introduced a new town charter based on a British model, leading to a "Council of the town" elected by the people, whose members were called Stadtverordnete (town councillors). In the beginning, the council chose one from its midst as

7379-739: The Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient Egyptian civilisation included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant , the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula , and the Western Desert (focused on the several oases ). Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and

7536-661: The Old Kingdom , which saw pyramid building on a large scale. After 2100 BC, the Old Kingdom dissolved into smaller states during the First Intermediate Period , which lasted about 100 years. The Middle Kingdom began around 2000 BC with the reunification of Egypt under pharoes ruling from Thebes . The Middle Kingdom ended with the conquest of northern Egypt by the Hyksos around 1650 BC. The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and

7693-566: The Paleolithic (earliest), Mesolithic , and Neolithic . The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago. Evidence for the use of fire has been dated as early as 1.8 million years ago, a date which is contested, with generally accepted evidence for the controlled use of fire dating to 780,000 years ago. Actual use of hearths first appears 400,000 years ago. Dates for

7850-787: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . Austronesians established prehistoric maritime trade networks in Island Southeast Asia, including

8007-416: The Quartiere that they serve. The communities of Weidenau, Geisweid, Birlenbach, Langenholdinghausen, Buchen, Sohlbach, Dillnhütten, Niedersetzen, Obersetzen and Meiswinkel formed from 1 July 1966 to 31 December 1974 the town of Hüttental. The communities of Eiserfeld, Eisern, Gosenbach, Niederschelden and Oberschelden formed the town of Eiserfeld between those same two dates. The city of Siegen borders in

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8164-422: The Roman Catholic Church , and wanted to use force to make the townsfolk also convert back to Roman Catholicism . In 1632, Nassau-Siegen was conquered by the Swedes, after which his half-brother John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen , the Dutch commander in Brazil, re-introduced Protestantism. John VIII died in 1638 and was succeeded by his only son Johan Frans Desideratus , who had to cede part of Nassau-Siegen (north of

8321-495: The Seleucid Empire . Parthia had many wars with the Romans, but it was rebellions within the empire that ended it in the 3rd century AD. The Sasanian Empire began when the Parthian Empire ended in AD 224. Their rulers claimed the Achaemenids as ancestors and set up their capital at Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia. Their period of greatest military expansion occurred under Shapur I , who by the time of his death in AD 272 had defeated Roman imperial armies and set up buffer states between

8478-442: The Zapotec civilization . The ancient Near East is considered the cradle of civilisation . It was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture; created one of the first coherent writing systems , invented the potter's wheel and then the vehicular wheel , created the first centralised governments , law codes and empires, as well as displaying social stratification , slavery, and organized warfare. It began

8635-458: The copper ore that can be found here, the municipal area also has deposits of manganese and iron ore. Dautphetal's municipal area is classified under the German system of natural regions as follows: The Sackpfeifen foothills (with Wollenberg) ( Sackpfeifen-Vorhöhen (mit Wollenberg) ) (natural region 332.0) in the area north of the Upper Lahn Valley ( Oberes Lahntal ) falls under the main unit Ostsauerländer Gebirgsrand . The natural region of

8792-408: The expansion of Islam in late antiquity. The three-age system periodises ancient history into the Stone Age , the Bronze Age , and the Iron Age , with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages vary between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of

8949-403: The "Old Church" ( Alte Kirche ) has a weaving room, old photographs and a dialectal archive to visit. From time to time, there are also special exhibits. The Heimatmuseum Altes Rathaus at the old town hall in Buchenau shows exhibits particularly having to do with household and kitchen, especially from the 1920s to the 1950s. In the Mini-Museum „Backes Stibbcher“ in Dautphe, visitors can see

9106-422: The 17th century, the Lower Stately Home came into being in its current form, somewhat like an open rectangle. The Protestant line of the House of Nassau-Siegen resided here. Also belonging to the Schloss is the "Dicker Turm" , or "Fat Tower" with a carillon . In 1959, the then town of Siegen built a memorial for victims of war and tyranny. Inside the Schloss is also found the crypt of the Evangelical branch of

9263-406: The 18th century, the guilds were achieving ever greater influence in the town. Thereafter the "ruling" or "office-holding" old shoemaking master represented the "common townsfolk" on the council. The mediaeval town charter was kept right up until 1809, and parts of it even held until 1815, but that year there was a self-endorsing council with 12 members, over which presided the mayor. As of 1824,

9420-416: The Allied ground assault against Siegen and the dominating military-significant high ground north of the river. The battle against determined German forces at Siegen continued through 2 April 1945, until organized resistance was finally overwhelmed by the division on 3 April 1945. The town of Siegen belonged in the beginning to the Archbishopric of Mainz , or more precisely to its deaconry of Arfeld . There

9577-424: The Americas about 15,000 years ago. Evidence for agriculture emerges in about 9000 BC in what is now eastern Turkey and spread through the Fertile Crescent . Settlement at Göbekli Tepe began around 9500 BC and may have the world's oldest temple. The Nile River Valley has evidence of sorghum and millet cultivation starting around 8000 BC and agricultural use of yams in Western Africa perhaps dates to

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9734-454: The Assyrians, who conquered Israel in 722 BC. The Neo-Babylonian Empire did the same to Judah in 586. After both conquests, the conquering forces deported many of the inhabitants to other regions of their respective empires. Following the fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great allowed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem , and some of the exiles from Judah returned to Judea , where they remained under Persian rule until

9891-452: The Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony , but an ethnic group rather than an organised state. Israel had emerged by the middle of the 9th century BC, when the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III named " Ahab the Israelite" among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853). Judah emerged somewhat later than Israel, probably during the 9th century BC, but the subject is one of considerable controversy. Israel came into conflict with

10048-451: The Fertile Crescent, alongside the first evidence for agriculture. Other animals, such as pigs and poultry , were later domesticated and used as food sources. Cattle and water buffalo were domesticated around 7000 BC and horses , donkeys , and camels were domesticated by about 4000 BC. All of these animals were used not only for food, but to carry and pull people and loads, greatly increasing human ability to do work. The invention of

10205-439: The Gupta rulers generally left administration in local rulers. The Gupta Empire was weakened and ultimately ruined by the raids of Hunas (a branch of the Hephthalites emanating from Central Asia), and the empire broke up into smaller regional kingdoms by the end of the fifth century AD. India would remain fragmented into smaller states until the rise of the Mughal Empire in the 1500s. The Neolithic period of Southeast Asia

10362-418: The Hesse cross-country bicycle path ( Hessischer Radfernweg ) R 2. On weekdays there are 21 journeys between 5:30 and 21:00, on Saturdays 13 between 6:45 and 19:00 and on Sundays 12 between 8:45 and 19:00. All trains allow bicycles. In Marburg are connections to DB's long-distance rail network. The immediate vicinity has two special airfields at Bad Endbach-Bottenhorn and Eschenburg-Hirzenhain as well as

10519-406: The Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution , which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood at 2 million, it rose to 45 million by 3000 BC. By the Iron Age in 1000 BC,

10676-404: The Landgravate of Hesse ( Landgrafschaft Hessen ). The Lords of Hohenfels, who alongside the Lords of Hollende were regarded as the local lords, had to forsake their rights in 1249 under pressure from Sophie. Hohenfels Castle was razed in 1293. Only meagre ruins are to be seen of it today. Ownership of the domain remained under this line until Philip the Magnanimous's death in 1567, at which time

10833-543: The Malayan-Indonesian " thalassian " zone shared these characteristics with Indochinese polities like the Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy River valley, the Văn Lang kingdom in the Red River Delta and Funan around the lower Mekong . Văn Lang, founded in the 7th century BCE, endured until 258 BCE under the Hồng Bàng dynasty , as part of the Đông Sơn culture that sustained a dense and organised population that produced an elaborate Bronze Age industry. Intensive wet-rice cultivation in an ideal climate enabled

10990-399: The Middle East. Egypt developed its own system of hieroglyphs by about 3200 BC. By 2800 BC the Indus Valley Civilisation had developed its Indus script , which remains undeciphered. Chinese Characters were independently developed in China during the Shang dynasty in the form of the Oracle Bone Script dating to the period 1600 to 1100 BC. Writing in Mesoamerica dates to 600 BC with

11147-404: The Nassau princely house. Today, the Schloss serves as a state authority building in which the North Rhine-Westphalia Building and Property Establishment, the State Environment Office, the Office for Occupational Health and Safety and the Attendorn Correctional Facility (Siegen Branch Facility) are all housed. By the city's plans, a university is supposed to move into the Unteres Schloss within

11304-520: The Nubians had created a new kingdom further south, known as the Kingdom of Kush , centred on the upper Nile with a capital at Kerma . In the Egyptian New Kingdom period, Kush once more was conquered by Egypt. However, by 1100 BC a new kingdom of Kush had formed, with a capital at Napata . Nubian rulers conquered Egypt around 760 BC and retained control for about a century. The Kingdom of Aksum

11461-635: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained

11618-639: The Reformation, still belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz . With the restructuring of the Catholic Church early in the 19th century, Siegen was assigned to the Archbishopric of Paderborn and became the seat of a district synod , today a deaconry, to which all the district's Catholic parishes belong. Paderborn was raised to Archbishopric in 1929. Besides the Roman Catholic Church, Siegen also has

11775-624: The Rich built a "paedagogium" in the buildings that had once housed a Franciscan Monastery . It later grew into today's Gymnasium at Siegen's Löhrtor (gate). John VII of Nassau-Siegen ("John the Middle") built the Unteres Schloss ("lower stately home") on the site of an old Franciscan Monastery. In 1616, John VII founded a knightly war school in the still standing old armoury on Burgstraße, "expressly to produce an officer corps for Calvinism". His son John VIII ("The Younger") returned in 1612 to

11932-923: The Rimberg mountain or on the Hünstein (a megalithic monument). The first mention, however, was the naming of a Mark Dautphe in 791. This community is therefore the oldest documented place in the greater community. It was early on already the site of the Zentgericht , the local court under the local counts. It was the lowest court, but it had within its bailiwick the villages of Allendorf, Buchenau, Damshausen, Dautphe, Elmshausen, Friedensdorf, Holzhausen, Hommertshausen, Mornshausen, Silberg and Wolfgruben (nowadays in Dautphetal) as well as Eckelshausen, Kombach, Katzenbach, Dexbach and Engelbach (nowadays in Biedenkopf ). In Charlemagne 's time,

12089-647: The Sasanians and Roman Empires. After Shapur, the Sasanians were under more pressure from the Kushans to their east as well as the Roman then Byzantine Empire to its west. However, the Sasanians rebuilt and founded numerous cities and their merchants travelled widely and introduced crops such as sugar, rice, and cotton into the Iranian plateau. But in AD 651, the last Sassanid emperor was killed by

12246-500: The Sieg river) to the Protestant branch of the family. John Maurice's leadership served in 1650–1651 to bring about a split in the Siegerland along denominational lines. Under Wilhelm Hyacinth of Nassau-Siegen, violence broke out between the two denominational groups. When on 29 March 1707 townsman Friedrich Flender was killed, Wilhelm Hyacinth was himself unseated and furthermore driven out of

12403-994: The Siegen-Meiswinkel Mission Community. Further religious communities in Siegen are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the New Apostolic Church , the Jehovah's Witnesses , an Original Christianity community and Baháʼí . Moreover, owing to a great number of Turkish and Arab migrants in Siegen, the Muslim community is also very much in evidence there and there are several mosques in Siegen run by Turkish, Arab and Albanian communities. There are said to be more than 15,000 Muslims out of Siegen's total population. The following communities and rural areas have been amalgamated with Siegen: In 1897, Siegen had 20,000 inhabitants. By 1939, this figure had doubled to 40,000. In

12560-657: The Upper Lahn Valley, 320.2, Bottenhorn Plateau ( Bottenhorner Hochflächen , 320.01) as well as the Damshausen Hills ( Damshäuser Kuppen , 320.10) belong to the Gladenbach Uplands ( Gladenbacher Bergland ). The highest mountain in this area is the Nimerich (533 m above sea level ) northwest of the constituent community of Dautphe. The lowest point anywhere in the area is found on the river Lahn at Elmshausen, where

12717-638: The Western Mediterranean until being defeated by Rome in the Punic Wars . The Phoenicians invented the Phoenician alphabet , the forerunner of the modern alphabet still in use today. The history of Pre-Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the AD 630s is not known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian Peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to

12874-535: The Westphalian Provincial Church (now the Church of Westphalia), Siegen became the seat of a Superintendency. A similar entity still exists in Siegen, known as the Kirchenkreis , or church district, to which all the city's parishes nowadays belong, unless they are Free Church parishes. This church district encompasses the whole of South Westphalia all the way to Olpe . The town's Catholics, even after

13031-509: The World War II, the town lost roughly 30% of its inhabitants (12,000). The population had fallen to 28,000 by 1945 and only in 1952 did it once again reach prewar levels. On 1 January 1975, Siegen's population surpassed 100,000 through the amalgamation of Hüttental (38,867 inhabitants in 1974) and Eiserfeld (22,354 inhabitants in 1974), making it a city. With 117,224 inhabitants it also at the same time reached its all-time highest population. At

13188-492: The ability of their military forces to be deployed rapidly. Increased trade and upgraded farming techniques increased wealth, but also exacerbated inequalities between social classes. The empire's location at the centre of trading networks spread its intellectual and philosophical ideas throughout a wide area, and its religion, while not itself spreading far, had an impact on later religions such as Christianity , Islam , and Judaism . Cyrus' son Cambyses II conquered Egypt, while

13345-486: The archipelago of the Philippines , intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and

13502-630: The area covered by today's community of Dautphetal belonged to the Oberlahngau (a noble domain). After the local noble line, the Gisonen , died out, the area fell to Thuringia . Under Sophie von Brabant, Ludwig IV's and Saint Elisabeth's daughter, the Hessian counties, which had come to the Thuringian counties through marriage, once more began their own development by 1264, and under their son Henry I grew into

13659-590: The biggest firms in the community, was taken over by the Kaldewei company and in 2005 it was broken up. In the 2001 Middle Hesse Regional Plan, Dautphetal is designated a low centre in the rural area (in terms of Walter Christaller 's Central Place Theory ). Dautphe and Friedensdorf, it is said in this plan, are the central communities. Furthermore, the greater community is part of the Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe) regional development belt. This belt's job

13816-495: The boroughs ( Bezirke ) or communities ( Ortsteile and Stadtteile ), the Quartiere have no statistical or administrative importance. They do, however, serve some function as to their inhabitants' identity, but more practically than that, they are also useful for finding one's way with a city map and using in bus route names and on public notices and traffic signs. Many of the Hüttentalstraße city Autobahn's exits are also named after

13973-569: The capital of the Akkadian Empire. Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between about 2330 and 2150 BC, following the conquests of King Sargon of Akkad . Through the spread of Sargon's empire, the language of Akkad, known as Akkadian from the city, spread and replaced the Sumerian language in Mesopotamia and eventually by 1450 BC

14130-608: The casting of iron with molds and then hammering it which enabled weapons and tools to be made stronger and also cheaper. Although chariots had been used previously, the use of spoked wheels allowed the chariots to be much lighter and more maneuverable. In 1274 BC the Hittites clashed with the Egyptians at the Battle of Kadesh , where both sides claimed victory. In 1207 the Hittite capital of Hattusa

14287-546: The city's arms is the Bishop of Cologne . The wall symbolizes the city itself, and the inescutcheon in the gateway shows the Lion of Nassau in blue and gold (or yellow), which are Nassau's colours. The arms are based on the oldest known town seal, from 1248. The inescutcheon once also had gold billets (upright rectangles) around the lion, but these do not appear in what became the town's (and later city's) coat of arms in 1875. [1] Although

14444-593: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to

14601-400: The communities amalgamated with others under the reform have experienced a kind of "local patriotism" in favour of the old communities. Dautphetal's municipal area is divided into 12 constituent communities ( Ortsteile ) From finds, it seems likely that the area covered by today's community of Dautphetal was already settled in antiquity as also witnessed by ringwall remains such as those on

14758-649: The communities of Lahntal , the towns of Marburg and Gladenbach , the communities of Bad Endbach and Steffenberg as well as the community of Breidenbach . All these communities likewise lie in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Moreover, other centres can be named, such as the former group of homesteads belonging to Mornshausen and known as Die Amelose, and the two former iron ore smelting centres of Carlshütte (part of Buchenau) and Wilhelmshütte (part of Dautphe). The constituent communities of Dautphe, Friedensdorf and Wilhelmshütte form, with over 4,000 inhabitants,

14915-682: The communities, each with its own name, but none with distinctly clear borders. They are called Quartiere , which can be rendered as "quarters" or "neighbourhoods". Examples of these include the Unterstadt, the Oberstadt, Hammerhütte, Lindenberg, Charlottental, Haardter Berg (with the university) and the Alte Dreisbach. Some neighbourhoods even straddle community boundaries, like Sieghütte, parts of which can be found in both Siegen-Mitte and Weidenau. Moreover, some neighbourhoods even overlap each other. Unlike

15072-644: The community . Local rail transport is afforded by the Obere Lahntalbahn , a Deutsche Bahn line also designated as Line 43 of the Rhine-Main Transport Association, running from Erndtebrück in Siegen-Wittgenstein district to the town of Marburg by way of Bad Laasphe and Biedenkopf and serving the Dautphetal stations of Wilhelmshütte (Lahn), Friedendorf (Lahn) and Buchenau (Lahn). The last two named stations are conveniently placed for

15229-399: The community's disposal. Siegen Siegen ( German pronunciation: [ˈziːɡn̩] ) is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia . It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semester) is the district seat, and is ranked as

15386-482: The core of the greater community, which was brought about by the appropriate town planning. The history of the greater community of Dautphetal still is not very long. It came into being only in 1974 with municipal reform, having formerly been a series of 12 independent villages until the Hesse Landtag legislated new municipal divisions. This did not necessarily meet with everyone's approval. Ever since then, some of

15543-609: The crow flies the distances to these places are, however, 65 km (40 mi) (Hagen), 95 km (59 mi) (Frankfurt), 65 km (40 mi) (Koblenz) and 75 km (47 mi) (Cologne). The city lies on the German-Dutch holiday road called the Orange Route , joining towns, cities and regions associated with the House of Orange . The city's total land area is roughly 115 km (44 sq mi). Its greatest east-west span

15700-607: The district maintains two branches (Dautphetal and Dautphetal-Holzhausen) of the Volkshochschule Marburg-Biedenkopf. Alongside many mostly Christian-based institutions like the Blue Cross ( Blaues Kreuz ), there are many other social institutions in Dautphetal. For one, there is the Seniorenzentrum Dautphetal which serves as a nursing home and a residence for the elderly, and for another, there are

15857-530: The elevation is 225 m above sea level. East of the community's municipal lands at Damshausen lies the Rimberg (mountain, 498 m above sea level). The Dautphetal area has a warm temperate rainy climate, lying as it does in the northern temperate zone of the middle latitudes. The average daytime temperature in the summer is about 15-16 °C (in the Lahn Valley area about 16-17 °C) and in winter about -1 °C to 1 °C. The average yearly rainfall

16014-445: The emergence of Homo sapiens (modern humans) range from 250,000 to 160,000 years ago, with the varying dates being based on DNA studies and fossils respectively. Some 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa . They reached Australia about 45,000 years ago, southwestern Europe about the same time, southeastern Europe and Siberia around 40,000 years ago, and Japan about 30,000 years ago. Humans migrated to

16171-533: The empire was Aksum , now in northern Ethiopia. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 BC and mysteriously vanished around AD 200. The civilisation's social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok civilisation was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta which have been discovered by archaeologists. The Nok also used iron smelting that may have been independently developed. The civilisation of Djenné-Djenno

16328-580: The end of June 2005, according to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Data Processing and Statistics ( Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung und Statistik Nordrhein-Westfalen ), 105,328 people made Siegen their main abode. Since 1975, the population has fallen by roughly 10% (12,000). The following chart shows population figures for Siegen's municipal area, however big it was at each given time. Up to 1833, most figures are estimates, and thereafter census figures (¹) or official estimates by

16485-492: The entire territory. Among large, thin-walled terracotta jars, ornamented and colorized cooking pots, glass items, jade earrings and metal objects were deposited near the rivers and along the coast. Around 3000 to 1500 BCE, a large-scale migration of Austronesians , known as the Austronesian expansion began from Taiwan . Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in

16642-486: The expanding Islamic Arabs. The Hittites first came to Anatolia about 1900 BC and during the period 1600-1500 they expanded into Mesopotamia where they adopted the cuneiform script to their Indo-European language. By 1200 their empire stretched to Phoenicia and eastern Anatolia . They improved two earlier technologies from Mesopotamia and spread these new techniques widely – improved iron working and light chariots with spoked wheels in warfare. The Hittites introduced

16799-515: The farming communities to produce a regular crop surplus that was used by the ruling elite to raise, command and pay work forces for public construction and maintenance projects such as canals and fortifications. The earliest known evidence of copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia was found at Ban Chiang in north-east Thailand and among the Phùng Nguyên culture of northern Vietnam around 2000 BCE. The Đông Sơn culture established

16956-407: The figure has been stagnating. Population figure development: : Figures from before 1974 have outlying centres' figures added. Source 1834 - 1967: Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für Hessen Heft 1, Die Bevölkerung der Gemeinden 1834 - 1967, Hess. Stat. Landesamt Source after 1998: Statistik der Gemeinde Dautphetal Community representatives were last chosen on 26 March 2006 for

17113-670: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonisation. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like

17270-545: The land was reunited in the New Kingdom around 1550 BC. This period lasted until about 1000 BC, and saw Egypt expand its borders into Palestine and Syria. The Third Intermediate Period was marked by the rule of priests as well as the conquest of Egypt by Nubian kings and then later Assyria, Persia, and Macedonians. The Ta-Seti kingdom in Nubia to the south of Egypt was conquered by Egyptian rulers around 3100 BC, but by 2500 BC

17427-554: The landgravate was divided among four lines, and the Dautphetal area then belonged to Hesse-Marburg . After its line also died out, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt then fought over the territory, with the latter under its own landgrave eventually winning out, taking the so-called Hinterland in 1648. As a result of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Biedenkopf district, formed in 1832 and in which lies what

17584-419: The last few years, however, some small development has been seen in this field of endeavour, as witnessed by the membership of the regional Lahn-Dill-Bergland club. The greatest employer in the community is the firm Roth Industries GmbH & Co. KG. This worldwide active business has all together more than 1,100 workers. After being founded in 1947 as a simple handicraft business, the firm has steadily grown and

17741-456: The last municipal election on 18 March 2001, the result was as seen at left. The number of seats had been reduced from 37 in 1997. The greater community's first mayor in 1974 was Hans Hauswirth (CDU). He led the community for thirty years, leaving office only in 2004. On 21 March of that year, Bernd Schmidt of the Free Voters' Community became Dautphetal's new mayor. The economy in Dautphetal

17898-476: The like) or professional Gymnasien are to be found in the surrounding towns of Marburg, Biedenkopf, Bad Laasphe or Gladenbach. Technical colleges or universities are found in Marburg ( Philipps University of Marburg ), Gießen ( Justus-Liebig-Universität and University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg ), Kassel (University of Kassel) and Siegen (University of Siegen). In the field of adult education ,

18055-463: The many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia. Existing material consists primarily of written sources from other traditions (such as Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, etc.) and oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars. A number of small kingdoms existed in Arabia from around AD 100 to perhaps about AD 400. Carthage was founded around 814 BC by Phoenician settlers. Ancient Carthage

18212-425: The mayor as the town's head and representative, which was an honorary function. Furthermore, as of 1946, the council also began choosing a full-time Oberstadtdirektor , or Higher Town Director, to lead the town's administration. After Siegen was reunited with the district of the same name in 1975, these two officials bore the titles Bürgermeister and Stadtdirektor respectively. In 1999, this two-headed arrangement

18369-490: The next few years, but at this time, the plan is failing to find any financial backing. Two churches in downtown Siegen are to be brought to the visitor's attention: The Martinikirche dating from the 11th century and the Nikolaikirche at the marketplace with its unusual eight-sided shape and its golden Krönchen ("coronet") – the city's landmark – on the church tower, which is a prominent feature of Siegen's skyline (Siegen

18526-462: The north lies the Sauerland , to the northwest the Rothaargebirge and to the southwest the Westerwald . The nearest cities to Siegen, taking into account average travelling distances, are Hagen to the north 83 km (52 mi), Frankfurt am Main to the southeast 125 km (78 mi), Koblenz to the southwest 105 km (65 mi) and Cologne to the west 93 km (58 mi). As

18683-508: The north on the town of Kreuztal and the community of Wenden , in the east on the town of Netphen , in the southeast on the community of Wilnsdorf , in the south on the community of Neunkirchen , in the west on the community of Mudersbach ( Altenkirchen in Rhineland-Palatinate) and in the northwest on the town of Freudenberg . The name Siegen comes from the possibly Celtic river name Sieg. It is, however, unclear whether there

18840-639: The old district of Biedenkopf is published by the Oberhessische Presse from Marburg. Furthermore, there is a whole range of advertising flyers such as Hinterland extra from the Oberhessische Presse , the MAZ ( Mittelhessische Anzeigen Zeitung , or Middle Hesse Advertising Newspaper) or the Sonntag Morgenmagazin ("Sunday Morning Magazine") from publishing houses in Gießen. In the community of Friedensdorf,

18997-414: The one hand, and ecological and nature preservation concerns on the other have found themselves at odds, meaning that thus far, no acceptable route has been found for the new roadway. Local public transportation is afforded by the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), as well as by four local bus routes, MR-41, MR-52, MR-55 and MR-57, which are meant to improve connections within

19154-442: The organisation of collective projects such as the pyramids ; trade with surrounding regions; and a polytheistic religious tradition that included elaborate funeral customs including mummification . Overseeing these activities were a socio-political and economic elite under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler from a succession of ruling dynasties . Ancient Egyptian history is divided across various periods, beginning with

19311-455: The population had risen to 72 million. By the end of the ancient period in AD 500, the world population is thought to have stood at 209 million. In 10,500 years, the world population increased by 100 times. Prehistory is the period before written history. Most of our knowledge of that period comes from the work of archaeologists. Prehistory is often known as the Stone Age , and is divided into

19468-472: The population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and herds. It also allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labour force and division of labour. This organisation led to the necessity of record keeping and the development of writing. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq ), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of

19625-554: The region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found that the Soninke of the Mandé peoples were responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BC, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to Koumbi Saleh. From the type of architecture and pottery, it is believed that Tichit was related to

19782-618: The region until the arrival of traders from Southwest Asia . However, sites such as Djenné-Djenno disprove this, as these traditions in West Africa flourished long before. Towns similar to that at Djenne-Jeno also developed at the site of Dia, also in Mali along the Niger River , from around 900 BC. Dhar Tichitt and Oualata were prominent among the early urban centres, dated to 2000 BC, in present-day Mauritania. About 500 stone settlements littered

19939-420: The same time period. Cultivation of millet, rice , and legumes began around 7000 BC in China . Taro cultivation in New Guinea dates to about 7000 BC also with squash cultivation in Mesoamerica perhaps sharing that date. Animal domestication began with the domestication of dogs , which dates to at least 15,000 years ago, and perhaps even earlier. Sheep and goats were domesticated around 9000 BC in

20096-412: The simple plough by 6000 BC further increased agricultural efficiency. Metal use in the form of hammered copper items predates the discovery of smelting of copper ores , which happened around 6000 BC in western Asia and independently in eastern Asia before 2000 BC. Gold and silver use dates to between 6000 and 5000 BC. Alloy metallurgy began with bronze in about 3500 BC in Mesopotamia and

20253-447: The so-called Hessisches Hinterland . Since the community is to be found in the Rhenish Massif region, rock from the Palaeozoic Era can be found here. In Dautphetal, common minerals to be found include greywacke , diabases , quartzites , and loam produced by weathering of slate and diabase, but also partly limestone . The geological zone is known to the Hessian Environmental Atlas ( Umweltatlas Hessen ) as Dill-Mulde . Besides

20410-446: The southeast towards Gießen connected by the expresswaylike Bundesstraße 3 at Marburg (about 15 km away), Bundesautobahn 5 about 45 km to the east at Homburg leading to Basel in the south and Hamburg in the north, and Bundesautobahn 49 to the northeast connected by Bundesstraße 3 and leading to Kassel . An extension to this last expressway towards Marburg is planned. However, transport, economic and planning interests on

20567-500: The state boundary with Rhineland-Palatinate . Roughly 60% of the city's land is wooded, making Siegen one of Germany's greenest cities. The city area is divided into six zones, called Bezirke in German and comparable to boroughs in some cities, which themselves are further divided into various communities ( Ortsteile and Stadtteile ). Each "borough" has a borough board consisting of 15 voting and 15 non-voting members who are appointed by city council with regard to each party's share of

20724-462: The statistical office of the time or the town/city administration itself. The given figures indicate from 1843 the "population present in the town" ( Ort Anwesende Bevölkerung ), from 1925 the "dwelling population" ( Wohnbevölkerung ), and since 1987 the "Population in the place of main residence" ( Bevölkerung am Ort der Hauptwohnung ). Before 1843, population figures come from irregular surveying procedures. ¹ Census figure The current mayor of Siegen

20881-525: The study of the stars and the sciences of astronomy and mathematics. Mesopotamia is the site of some of the earliest known civilisations in the world. Agricultural communities emerged in the area with the Halaf culture around 8000 BC and continued to expand through the Ubaid period around 6000 BC. Cities began in the Uruk period (4000–3100 BC) and expanded during the Jemdet Nasr (3100–2900 BC) and Early Dynastic (2900–2350 BC) periods. The surplus of storable foodstuffs created by this economy allowed

21038-439: The subsequent Ghana Empire. Old Jenne (Djenne) began to be settled around 300 BC, producing iron and with sizeable population, evidenced in crowded cemeteries. The inhabitants and creators of these settlements during these periods are thought to have been ancestors of the Soninke people. Peoples speaking precursors to the modern-day Bantu languages began to spread throughout southern Africa, and by 2000 BC they were expanding past

21195-485: The suburbs got their own chief administrator who was subordinate to the mayor of Siegen. In 1836, the Prussian municipal system was introduced. After the town was separated from Siegen district in 1923, the mayor was given the title Oberbürgermeister (roughly equivalent to Lord Mayor). The mayor who came to office in 1919 kept his position right through the time of the Third Reich , whereas some mayors in other German and Austrian towns, whose political views were at odds with

21352-460: The territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad . The Neo-Babylonian Empire , or Chaldea , was Babylonia from the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II , it conquered Jerusalem . This empire also created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the still-surviving Ishtar Gate as architectural embellishments of its capital at Babylon. Akkad was a city and its surrounding region near Babylon. Akkad also became

21509-402: The time of industrialization comes before another one right after the Second World War which saw the population figure rise by almost 50%. This can be explained by the great number of refugees who came and settled in the area after the war, especially from Hungary . The town sisterhood with Cikó in Hungary came to be not the least because of this. Since peaking in 2002 with 13,000 inhabitants,

21666-483: The town was about 80% destroyed in the World War II, Siegen has kept a number of buildings worth seeing, such as the two stately homes, the Oberes Schloss and the Unteres Schloss . The castle on the Siegberg was first mentioned in a document in 1259 and was the family seat of the House of Nassau. Since 1905, the Siegerland Museum has been here. Alongside regional exhibits – among them an artificial demonstration mine – are many paintings. The centrepiece of this collection

21823-490: The town. Wilhelm Hyacinth was the last in the line of Nassau-Siegen's Catholic rulers, dying in 1743. Already in 1734, though, the Reformed line had died out, too, with Friedrich Wilhelm's death, leading Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor to transfer power in the territory to the Prince of Orange and the Prince of Nassau-Diez . Under their leadership, mining, the main source of wealth, blossomed, along with agriculture and silviculture . When Prince William of Orange refused to join

21980-421: The two overlords' joint ownership until 1 February 1381, only then passing fully into Nassau hands. In the 16th century, the town of Siegen bore a formidable defensive look. It was surrounded by mighty walls with 16 towers and three town gates, and was home to a great castle. The town was stricken several times by townwide fires. Documents record such fires in 1592, and from 10 to 20 April 1695. In 1536, Heinrich

22137-404: The vote in the municipal elections in the borough in question. The borough boards decide on matters particular to their respective boroughs. These matters are laid down in Siegen's city charter. Siegen's six boroughs and communities belonging to each boroughs are: Along with the boroughs and communities into which the city is divided, as mandated by law, there are also further subdivisions within

22294-414: Was Washukanni , whose precise location has not been determined by archaeologists. The Medes and Persians were peoples who had appeared in the Iranian plateau around 1500 BC. Both peoples spoke Indo-European languages and were mostly pastoralists with a tradition of horse archery. The Medes established their own Median Empire by the 6th century BC, having defeated the Neo-Assyrian Empire with

22451-412: Was a White Nun convent in town that folded in the 15th century. Furthermore, there was a Franciscan Monastery that was dissolved in 1533 after the Nassau overlords had introduced the Reformation in 1530. After that, the town was first Lutheran , but in 1550, the Principality of Nassau converted to the Reformed Church. Subsequently, Siegen was a predominantly Protestant town, but not so strongly that

22608-414: Was a city-state that ruled an empire through alliances and trade influence that stretched throughout North Africa and modern Spain . At the height of the city's influence, its empire included most of the western Mediterranean. The empire was in a constant state of struggle with the Roman Republic , which led to a series of conflicts known as the Punic Wars . After the third and final Punic War , Carthage

22765-437: Was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa centred in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia , it existed from approximately AD 100 to 940, growing from the Iron Age proto-Aksumite period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. The Kingdom of Aksum at its height by the early 6th-century AD extended through much of modern Ethiopia and across the Red Sea to Arabia. The capital city of

22922-445: Was characterised by several migrations into Mainland and Island Southeast Asia from southern China by Austronesian , Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai and Hmong-Mien -speakers. Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, characterised as "agrarian kingdoms", developed an economy by around 500 BCE based on surplus crop cultivation and moderate coastal trade of domestic natural products. Several states of

23079-422: Was destroyed and then occupied by Roman forces. Nearly all of the territory held by Carthage fell into Roman hands. Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilisation geographically located in north-eastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extent during the 2nd millennium BC, which is referred to as the New Kingdom period. It reached broadly from

23236-405: Was developed independent of Chinese or Indian influence. Historians relate these achievements to the presence of organised, centralised and hierarchical communities and a large population. Between 1000 BCE and 100 CE, the Sa Huỳnh culture flourished along the south-central coast of Vietnam . Ceramic jar burial sites that included grave goods have been discovered at various sites along

23393-609: Was developed independently in China by 2000 BC. Pottery developed independently throughout the world, with fired pots appearing first among the Jomon of Japan and in West Africa at Mali . Sometime between 5000 and 4000 BC the potter's wheel was invented. By 3000 BC, the pottery wheel was adapted into wheeled vehicles which could be used to carry loads further and easier than with human or animal power alone. Writing developed separately in five different locations in human history: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, and Mesoamerica. By 3400 BC, "proto-literate" cuneiform spread in

23550-421: Was evolving into Hinduism , which spread throughout Southeast Asia. Siddhartha Gautama , born around 560 BC in northern India, went on to found a new religion based on his ascetic life – Buddhism . This faith also spread throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia after his death. This period also saw the composition of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata . The kingdom of Magadha rose to prominence under

23707-443: Was forsaken in favour of a single city leader, with the title Bürgermeister , who serves as chairman or chairwoman of city council, leader of city administration and city representative. The mayor is directly elected. Mayors ( Bürgermeister and Oberbürgermeister ) since 1919 Stadtdirektoren and Oberstadtdirektoren 1946–1999 The Siegen city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election

23864-495: Was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: Siegen's civic coat of arms might be described thus: Argent a town wall embattled gules with an open gateway argent, therein in an inescutcheon azure a lion rampant Or armed and langued gules, issuant from the wall a bishop in robe and mitre azure (trimmed in argent) holding in his hand dexter a crozier argent with crook Or sinister, in his hand sinister, upraised, an open book argent with pages edged gules. The bishop in

24021-417: Was itself merged with Wittgenstein district under district reform in 1975. Siegen also lost its district-free status at this time, becoming part of the new Siegen-Wittgenstein district, the name that the district has borne since 1984. During World War II, Siegen was repeatedly bombed by the Allies owing to a crucial railroad that crossed through the town. On 1 April 1945, the US 8th Infantry Division began

24178-455: Was located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali and is considered to be among the oldest urbanised centres and the best-known archaeology site in sub-Saharan Africa . This archaeological site is located about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from the modern town and is believed to have been involved in long-distance trade and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed 33 hectares (82 acres); however, this

24335-403: Was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty . Parthia was an Iranian civilisation situated in the northeastern part of modern Iran. Their power was based on a combination of military power based on heavy cavalry with a decentralised governing structure based on a federated system . The Parthian Empire was led by the Arsacid dynasty , which by around 155 BC under Mithradates I had mostly conquered

24492-442: Was sacked, ending the Hittite Empire . Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of the ancient Levant and had existed during the Iron Ages and the Neo-Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic periods. The name Israel first appears in the stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah around 1209 BC. This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity of the central highlands, well enough established to be perceived by

24649-516: Was the main language of diplomacy in the Near East. Assyria was originally a region on the Upper Tigris , where a small state was created in the 19th century BC. The capital was at Assur , which gave the state its name. Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia , the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital. The Assyrian kings controlled

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