View source for Starkenburg

{{short description|Historical region in Hesse, Germany}}
{{unreferenced|date=June 2025}}
{{Other uses}}
[[Image:Hessen1930.png|thumb|250px|Starkenburg (centre) as one of the provinces of the [[People's State of Hesse]] in 1930]]

'''Starkenburg''' is an historical region in the [[States of Germany|State]] of [[Hesse]], [[Germany]], comprising the area south of the [[Main (river)|Main]] River and east of the [[Rhine]], around the regional capital [[Darmstadt]].

==Geography==
[[File:Starkenburg Bild 01.jpg|thumb|left|300px|View of Starkenburg Castle from Heppenheim]]
The region is named after Starkenburg Castle, above [[Heppenheim]] on the historic [[Bergstraße Route]]. Beside the cities of Darmstadt and [[Offenbach am Main|Offenbach]], it consists of the modern [[Districts of Germany|districts]] (''kreise''):
* [[Bergstraße (district)|Bergstraße]]
* [[Darmstadt-Dieburg]]
* [[Groß-Gerau (district)|Groß-Gerau]]
* [[Odenwaldkreis]]
* [[Offenbach (district)|Offenbach]]
The area comprises about {{convert|2600|km2|mi2}}, roughly equivalent to the German state of [[Saarland]].

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==History==
[[File:Starkenburg 1905.png|thumb|Hessian province of Starkenburg, 1905 map]]
Starkenburg Castle was erected about 1065 to protect the estates around [[Lorsch Abbey]], which itself were held by the [[Electorate of Mainz|Prince-Archbishopric of Mainz]] from the 13th century onwards. Upon the [[German mediatisation]] of 1803, the southern territories of the [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt]]—including the former Mainz lands on the Bergstraße—were incorporated into the newly established Principality (from 1816: Province) of Starkenburg. Elevated to the [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]] in 1806, the possessions in Starkenburg, as well as in the provinces of [[Upper Hesse]] in the north and [[Rhenish Hesse]] in the west were confirmed by resolution of the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna|Vienna Congress]].

From 1832 the administration was subdivided into seven districts (''kreise''):
* [[Bensheim]] 
* [[Heppenheim]], with the [[Enclave and exclave|exclave]] of [[Wimpfen]]
both districts were merged into [[Bergstraße (district)|Bergstraße]] in 1938
* [[Erbach im Odenwald|Erbach]], renamed [[Odenwaldkreis]] in 1972
* [[Darmstadt]], divided into an urban and a rural district in 1938
* [[Dieburg]], merged with the Darmstadt rural district in 1977
* [[Groß-Gerau (district)|Groß-Gerau]] 
* [[Offenbach (district)|Offenbach]], from 1874 with the Upper Hessian exclave of [[Steinbach (Taunus)|Steinbach]], divided into an urban and a rural district in 1938.
With the establishment of the present State of Hesse, Wimpfen and Steinbach were separated from the Starkenburg region; in turn, the [[Bischofsheim, Hesse|Bischofsheim]] and [[Ginsheim-Gustavsburg]] quarters of the City of [[Mainz]], located east of the Rhine River, passed to the Groß-Gerau district. A former administrative union of the Starkenburg districts was dissolved in 2007.

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[[Category:Regions of Hesse]]