Augsburg

Sister cities

• Dayton
• Mysore
• Nagahama
• Amagasaki
• Changsha
• Jinan
• Inverness
• Liberec
• Bourges

History

The city of Augsburg was founded in 15 BC on the orders of Emperor Augustus. Emperor Augustus conducted extensive military campaigns and established administrative settlements. The Roman colony that became Augsburg was known as Augusta Vindelicorum, meaning "the Augustan city of the Vindelici". The settlement was established at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach. In 120 AD Augsburg became the administrative capital of the Roman province of Raetia. Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the fifth century AD, by Charlemagne in the eighth century and by Welf I, Duke of Bavaria in the 11th century. Augsburg was granted the status of a Free Imperial City on 9 March 1276, and from then until 1803, it was independent of its former overlord, the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg. Frictions between the city-state and the prince-bishops were to remain frequent, however, particularly after Augsburg became Protestant and curtailed the rights and freedoms of Catholics. With its strategic location at an intersection of trade routes to Italy, the Free Imperial City of Augsburg became a major trading centre. Augsburg produced large quantities of woven goods, cloth, and textiles. Augsburg became the base of two banking families that rose to great prominence, the Fuggers and the Welsers. The Fugger family donated the Fuggerei part of the city devoted to housing for needy citizens in 1516, which remains in use today. In 1530, the Augsburg Confession was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Augsburg. Following the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, after which the rights of religious minorities in imperial cities were to be legally protected, a mixed Catholic–Protestant city council presided over a majority Protestant population; see Paritätische Reichsstadt. Augsburg's…

Geography

Augsburg lies at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach and on the Singold. The oldest part of the city and the southern quarters are on the northern foothills of a high terrace, which has emerged between the steep rim of the hills of Friedberg in the east and the high hills of the west. In the south extends the Lechfeld, an outwash plain of the post ice age between the rivers Lech and Wertach, where rare primeval landscapes were preserved. The Augsburg city forest and the Lech valley heaths today rank among the most species-rich middle European habitats. Augsburg borders the nature park Augsburg Western Woods, a large forestland. The city itself is also heavily verdant. As a result, in 1997, Augsburg was the first German city to win the Europe-wide contest Entente Florale for Europe's greenest and most livable city. Augsburg is surrounded by the counties Landkreis Augsburg in the west and Aichach-Friedberg in the east. The suburbs of Augsburg are Friedberg, Königsbrunn, Stadtbergen, Neusäß, Gersthofen, Diedorf. Neighbouring municipalities: Rehling, Affing, Kissing, Mering, Merching, Bobingen, Gessertshausen.

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2008-07-03
  2 km ESE of Oberhaching, Germany
• M 2.7 — 2008-06-14
  3 km S of Diedorf, Germany
• M 3.8 — 2004-07-22
  5 km SSE of Lenggries, Germany
• M 2.5 — 2002-08-22
  5 km SSE of Rain, Germany