Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhabitants (as of 30 March 2022), it is the smallest of the eight major cities () in Bavaria. The number of inhabitants exceeded the threshold of 100,000 in 1974, making Erlangen a major city according to the statistical definition officially used in Germany.
Together with Nuremberg, Fürth, and Schwabach, Erlangen forms one of the three metropolises in Bavaria. With the surrounding area, these cities form the European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg, one of 11 metropolitan areas in Germany. The cities of Nuremberg, Fürth, and Erlangen also form a triangle on a map, which represents the heartland of the Nuremberg conurbation.
An element of the city that goes back a long way in history, but is still noticeable, is the settlement of Huguenots after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Today, many aspects of daily life in the city are dominated by the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Siemens technology group.
Geography
Erlangen is located on the edge of the Middle Franconian Basin and at the floodplain of the Regnitz River. The river divides the city into two halves of about equal sizes. In the western part of the city, the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal lies parallel to the Regnitz.
Neighboring municipalities
The following municipalities or nonmunicipal areas are adjacent to the city of Erlangen. They are listed clockwise, starting in the north:
The unincorporated area Mark, the municipalities Möhrendorf, Bubenreuth, Marloffstein, Spardorf, and Buckenhof, and the forest area Buckenhofer Forst (all belonging to the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt), the independent cities of Nuremberg and Fürth, the municipality Obermichelbach (district of Fürth), the city of Herzogenaurach, and the municipality Hessdorf (both in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt).
City arrangement
Erlangen officially consists of nine districts and 40 statistical districts, 39 of which are inhabited. In addition, the urban area is subdivided into twelve land registry and land law relevant districts whose boundaries deviate largely from those of the statistical districts. The districts and statistical districts are partly formerly independent municipalities, but also include newer settlements the names of which have also been coined as district names. The traditional and subjectively perceived boundaries of neighborhoods often deviate from the official ones.
Districts and statistical districts
Gemarkungen
Erlangen is divided into the following Gemarkungen:
Historical city districts
Some still common names of historical districts were not taken into account with the official designations. Examples are: Brucker Werksiedlung (in Gemarkung Bruck) Erba-Siedlung (in Gemarkung Bruck, am Anger) Essenbach (near Burgberg, north of Schwabach) Heusteg (in Gemarkung Großdechsendorf) Königsmühle (in Gemarkung Eltersdorf) Paprika-Siedlung (in Gemarkung Frauenaurach) Schallershof (in Gemarkung Frauenaurach) Siedlung Sonnenblick (in Gemarkung Büchenbach) Stadtrandsiedlung (in Gemarkung Büchenbach) St. Johann (in the statistical district Alterlangen) Werker (near Burgberg, east of the Regnitz) Zollhaus (eastern city center)
Climate
Because of its location in Central Europe, Erlangen is located in a cool temperate climate zone. The place can neither be defined as a place with continental climate, nor a maritime climate. Instead, there are influences of both, such as a low annual precipitation of 645 mm. During the fall and winter months, fog often occurs in the valley of the Regnitz river. There were 97 lightning strikes in the year 2020.
History
Overall history
Early history
In the prehistory of Bavaria, the Regnitz valley already played an important role as a passageway from north to south. In Spardorf a blade scraper was found in loess deposits, which could be attributed to the Gravettians, which places it at an age of about 25,000 years. Due to the relatively barren soils in the area farming and settlements could only be detected at the end of the Neolithic (2800–2200 BC). The "Erlanger Zeichensteine" (Erlangen Sign Stones, sandstone plates with petroglyphs) in the Mark-Forst north of the city also originated in this time period. The stone plates were later reused as grave borders in the Urnfield period (1200–800 BC).