Bonn - City of Germany
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999. Starting in 1998, many national government institutions were moved from Bonn to Berlin. Both houses of the German national parliament, the Bundestag as well as the Bundesrat, were moved along with the Chancellery and the residence of German head of state, the Bundespräsident.
Bonn is the seat of some of Germany's largest corporate players, chiefly in the areas of telecommunications and logistics. Simultaneously, Bonn is establishing itself as an important national and international centre of meetings, conventions and conferences, many of which are directly related to the work of the United Nations. A new conference centre capable of hosting thousands of participants is currently under construction in the immediate vicinity of the UN Campus.
The history of the city dates back to Roman times. In about 11 BC, the Roman Army appears to have stationed a small unit in what is presently the historical centre of the town. Even earlier, the Army had resettled members of a Germanic tribal group allied with Rome, the Ubii, in Bonn. The Latin name for that settlement, "Bonna", may stem from the original population of this and many other settlements in the area, the Eburoni. The Eburoni were members of a large tribal coalition effectively wiped out during the final phase of Caesar's War in Gaul.
The chief Roman road linking the provincial capitals of Cologne and Mainz cut right through the fort where it joined the fort's main road . Once past the South Gate, the Cologne-Mainz road continued along what are now streets named Belderberg, Adenauerallee et al. To both sides of the road, the local settlement, Bonna, grew into a sizeable Roman town.
During World War II, Bonn had some military significance due to its population.
After World War II, Bonn was in the British zone of occupation, and in 1949 became the capital of West Germany. The choice of Bonn was made mainly due to the advocacy of Konrad Adenauer, a former Cologne Mayor and Chancellor of West Germany after World War II, who came from that area, despite the fact that Frankfurt already had most of the required facilities and using Bonn was estimated to be 95 Mill DM more expensive than using Frankfurt. Because of its relatively small size for a capital city,
The Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universität Bonn is one of the largest universities in Germany.
Private Schools
- Bonn International School , a private English-speaking school
- Aloisiuskolleg, a Jesuit private school in Bad Godesberg
- Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium
- King Fahd Academy, a private school in Mehlem
- Libysch-Arabische El-Fateh Schule
- Independent Bonn International School
- École de Gaulle
- Ernst-Kalkuhl-Gymnasium
- Otto-Kühne-Schule Godesberg
GERMANY National Animal : Eagle, Lepord GERMANY National Bird : White Stork GERMANY National Flower : Centaurea/Knapweed
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