Villages & Hamlets
This page was translated from German using artificial intelligence. The translation may contain errors or inaccuracies. In case of doubt, the German original version prevails.
More villages than you might expect
More villages than you might expect
The Oberberg district comprises 1,441 villages and hamlets in just 13 municipalities. This means an average of over 110 districts per municipality. Oberberg has an extremely small-scale settlement structure that has evolved over centuries.
For comparison: many German districts consist of just a dozen places.
Most Oberberg residents do not live in the main towns
Most Oberberg residents do not live in the main towns
A special feature of the Oberberg district is that the majority of the population lives outside the actual city centers, i.e., in villages, hamlets, and smaller districts. This makes village life shape the region to this day more strongly than in many other districts.
Unusual names
Unusual names
Another special feature is the partially very unique names of the small villages and hamlets in the Oberbergischer Kreis. A small selection:
- Rome
- Strasbourg
- Coffee Pot
- Apple Tree
- Pear Tree
- Sunshine
- Duck
- Silk Thread
- Desert
- Street
- Madonna
The village as the center
The village as the center
In many villages, there are:
• their own shooting clubs,
• village communities and citizens' associations
• volunteer fire brigades,
• chapels,
• village festivals and fairs.
1000-village region
1000-village region
If you calculate the 1,441 villages and hamlets over the district area of approximately 919 km², you get an average of more than 1.5 places per square kilometer. Hardly anywhere in North Rhine-Westphalia are so many small settlements located so close together.
The main reason for this structure is the topography of the Bergisches Land. It is hilly, crisscrossed by many streams, and was historically characterized by small farms. This has resulted in a network of small settlements between forests, meadows, and valleys, instead of large, contiguous cities – as seen, for example, along the Rhine or in the Ruhr area.