Oberbayern

Upper Bavaria Oberbayern
Regierungsbezirk
Map of Bavaria highlighting the Regierungsbezirk of Upper Bavaria
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Region seat	Munich
Area
• Total	17,529.41 km² (6,768.14 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2015)
• Total	4,588,944
• Density	260/km² (680/sq mi)
Website	regierung.oberbayern.bayern.de

Upper Bavaria (German: Oberbayern) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany.

Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district government. It is subdivided into four planning regions (Planungsverband): Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland (Bavarian Highland), and Südostoberbayern (South East Upper Bavaria). It is named 'Upper Bavaria' because the land is higher above sea level than the rest of Bavaria, not because it is farther north.

Landkreise (districts):

Kreisfreie Städte (district-free cities):

Historical Population of Upper Bavaria:

The duchy of Upper Bavaria was created for the first time with the First Bavarian partition in 1255 under duke Louis II but there was no exact correlation between this duchy and the current territory. After the reunification in 1340 Bavaria was divided again in 1349, and in 1392 the duchies Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Ingolstadt were created in Upper Bavaria. In 1505 Bavaria was permanently reunited.

After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally reorganised and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative districts (Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk)), in Bavaria called (Kreise (singular Kreis)). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers. Instead of a Rentamt-style mere administrational unit, the newly created districts became predecessors of modern regional self-government, building a political and administrational link in-between the Bavarian state as a whole and the local authorities.

In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of Tyrol, addition of the Palatinate), the number of districts was reduced to 8. One of these was the Isarkreis (Isar District). In 1837 king Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical names and tribes. This also involved minor border changes or territorial swaps. Thus, the name Isarkreis changed to Upper Bavaria.

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Wikipedia