With an area of 21,110 km² and just over six million inhabitants, Hesse (German Hessen) is one of Germany's sixteen federal states (Bundesländer).
The capital is Wiesbaden.
The main rivers in the northern part of Hesse are Fulda and Lahn. It is a hilly countryside, the main mountain chains being the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus and the Spessart.
Most inhabitants live in the southernmost part of Hesse between the rivers Main and Rhine. The latter one borders Hesse on the southwest without running through the state. The mountain chain between Main and Rhine is called the Odenwald.
In the early Middle Ages Hesse was a part of Thuringia, but in the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247-64) Hesse gained its independency and became an earldom within the Holy Roman Empire. The state existed until 1567, when Philipp I of Hesse died, as against his earlier intentions, he split it up between his four sons from his first marriage (Philipp was a bigamist) into much smaller states: Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Rheinfels and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel ("Northern Hesse") and Hesse-Darmstadt ("Southern Hesse") were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622Hesse-Homburg from Hesse-Darmstadt.
Hesse-Kassel was called the Electorate of Hesse from 1803 on, although since Napoleon, there was nobody to elect anymore. In 1866 it was together with Hesse-Homburg and the duchy of Nassau annexed by Prussia, which established the province of Hesse-Nassau.
Hesse-Darmstadt was called the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1806 on. It managed to defend its autonomy, because in the War of 1866, it had sided with the winning Prussia and remained one of its allies.
During the Weimar Republic, Hesse-Nassau and Hesse were two administrative regions of Germany. After World War II in 1945, the state of Hesse was established within the United States occupation zone. It by and large combined the former states of Hesse(-Darmstadt) and Hesse-Nassau. Essentially (except for the parts of Hesse on the western banks of the Rhine, which became a part of Rhineland-Palatinate), this was a restoration of the pre-1567 Hesse.
