The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet or, colloquially, Ruhrpott) is a metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. The area, with some 5.3 million people, is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolis of more than 12 million people.

Going from west to east, the area includes the city boroughs of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hamm, Hagen, and Dortmund as well as the "rural" districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr. These districts have grown into a large complex forming an industrial landscape of unique size, inhabited by some 5.3 million people, the fourth largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, Greater London, and Paris (see also: Istanbul). The Ruhr area is often mistakenly perceived as a single city because many maps do not show the boundaries between the individual cities.

History

Being small cities or mere villages for most of their history, the places of the area first grew during the Industrial Revolution, mainly basing their economy on coal mining and steel production. As demand for coal slowly decreased after 1960, the area went through phases of structural crisis and industrial diversification, first developing the traditionally strong manufacturing, then moving into service industries and high technology. The proverbial air and water pollution of the area are largely a thing of the past.

In World War II, the Allies mounted a campaign specifically to encircle and capture the Ruhr Area. This effort was successful, and succeeded in surrounding the entire area, as well as several hundred thousand Wehrmacht troops, forming the Ruhr Pocket. During the Cold War, it was anticipated that a Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap, and would have the Ruhr Area as a primary target.

Language

The local dialect of German is commonly called Ruhrdeutsch, although there is really no uniform dialect that justifies the designation of such one dialect. It is merely a geographical naming of the various dialects to be found in the area.

The influx of foreign workers has introduced new expressions arising from the circumstances of industrial work and led to a form of slang typical of certain groups of people in the area. So there is no unified grammar or spelling of the Ruhrdeutsch variations available, yet a substantial amount of literature has been published, including translations of the famous Asterix comic books representing a typical instance of the varieties spoken in the Ruhr Area.

Migration

In the 19th century Ruhr area pulled over 1 million Poles from East Prussia and Silesia due to the event referred to as Ostflucht. Almost all of their descendants today speak German only and consider themselves Germans, with only their Polish family names remaining as a sign of their past.

In 1900, the main concentrations of Polish minority were:

• Gelsenkirchen, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 13.1 %
• Bochum, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 9.1 %
• Dortmund, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 7.3 %
• Gelsenkirchen, Stadtkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 5.1 %