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Dortmund is a city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the state’s center and is regarded the administrative, commercial, and cultural center of the eastern Ruhr region. With a population of 581,612 (2015), it is Germany’s eighth biggest city. Furthermore, Dortmund is the main city in the Ruhr Area, an urban area with 5.1 million (2011) residents and the largest urban agglomeration in Germany.
Dortmund, founded around 882, became an Imperial Free City. It was the “head city” of the Rhine, Westphalia, and the Netherlands Circle of the Hanseatic League from the 13th to the 14th century. Following the Thirty Years’ War, the city was damaged and declined in importance until the advent of industrialisation. Until the 1970s, the city was one of Germany’s most major coal, steel, and beer centers. Since the demise of its century-long steel and coal industries, the area has turned to high-tech biomedical technology, microsystems technology, and services. Dortmund was named a Node city in the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index in 2009, and it is Germany’s most sustainable city.
Dortmund is home to many cultural and educational institutions, including the Technical University of Dortmund and Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, International School of Management, and other educational, cultural, and administrative facilities with over 49,000 students, as well as many museums, including the Museum Ostwall, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, and the German Football Museum, as well as theatres and music venues, such as the Konzerthaus and the Dortmund Opera House. The city is recognized as the “green metropolis” of Westphalia. Almost half of the municipal area is made up of canals, forest, agricultural, and green spaces, including large parks like Westfalenpark and Rombergpark. This stands in sharp contrast to the city’s almost a century of intensive coal mining and steel milling.
Dortmund is home to the successful German football team Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, also known as Borussia Dortmund.