Erlangen

Erlangen (German pronunciation: [ˈɛrlaŋən]; East Franconian: Erlang) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located north-west of Nuremberg at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach. Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants.

As of 2015 Erlangen is dominated by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the numerous branch offices of Siemens AG, as well as a large research Institute of the Fraunhofer Society and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. An event that left its mark on the city was the settlement of Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

Felix Klein's Erlangen program of 1872, considering the future of research in mathematics, is so called because Klein then taught at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

History

Erlangen was first mentioned in official records in 1002 under the name of Villa Erlangon. In 1361, the village was sold to Emperor Karl IV. Three years later, a city was built close to the village, which in 1374 was given its own mint. In 1398, the municipal rights were confirmed. In 1402, the city came into the possession of the House of Hohenzollern as part of the principality of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (from 1603 on Brandenburg-Bayreuth), remaining under their rule until 1806. During the four year Napoleonic occupation, Erlangen was the capital of the so-called "Low County" (Unterland) of the principality, encompassing the area until Neustadt an der Aisch and separated from the "High County" (Oberland) by a land corridor. In 1810 it became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, together with the rest of former Brandenburg-Bayreuth.