The land known as the Hessian Hinterland (German : Hessisches Hinterland) lies within the region of Middle Hesse and is concentrated around the old county of Biedenkopf, that is the western part of the present county of Marburg-Biedenkopf, as well as elements of the present-day counties of Lahn-Dill-Kreis and Waldeck-Frankenberg. Formerly it snaked its way from Bromskirchen in the north to Rodheim (near Gießen), in the municipality of Biebertal. [1]
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
The region of Middle Hesse is one of three planning regions in the German state of Hesse, alongside North and South Hesse. Its territory is identical with that of the administrative province of Gießen and covers the counties of Limburg-Weilburg, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Gießen, Marburg-Biedenkopf and Vogelsbergkreis. The Middle Hesse Regional Assembly, which decides on the regional plan, currently consists of 31 members chosen by the five counties and the three towns with special status: Gießen, Marburg and Wetzlar. The regional assembly has tasked the governing president (Regierungspräsident) with delivering regional management. The Mid-Hesse Regional Management Association was founded on 22 January 2003.
Marburg-Biedenkopf is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein.
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The Hinterland was originally territory belonging to Hesse-Darmstadt, from which it was almost completely isolated, and managed by the Ämter of Blankenstein (Gladenbach) with the Breidenbacher Grund, Biedenkopf and Battenberg (Eder). Later the description was just applied to the old county of Biedenkopf.
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Landgrave Philip I.
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a US township or county or English shire district.
Battenberg (Eder) is a small town in the Waldeck-Frankenberg state of Hesse, Germany. The town is noted for giving its name to the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the ruling House of Hesse-Darmstadt, and through it, the name Mountbatten used by members of the British royal family, a literal translation of Battenberg.
Today the term is used locally for those parts of the old county of Biedenkopf that were absorbed into the Marburg-Biedenkopf. The Hinterland Intercommunal Cooperative (Interkommunale Zusammenarbeit Hinterland, a special purpose association set up in 2006, has given the name for this small region a public institutional significance again.
In Hinterland a dialect of Low German known as Hinterländer Platt is spoken – albeit by fewer and fewer people, mostly just its older, local inhabitants.
Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern part of the Netherlands. It is also spoken to a lesser extent in the German diaspora worldwide.
