Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) is a Bundesland (federal state) in northern Germany.

It has an area of 23,170 km² but has only 1.7 million inhabitants, making it the German state with the lowest population density. The Baltic Sea's beaches and islands, as well as the many lakes in the interior, attract many tourists every year. There are two universities and a number of colleges of applied science.

The largest cities are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Wismar and Greifswald. All have a population of less than 200,000.

History

The old Pomerania proper (Pommern), consisting of Szczecin (Stettin) and the land east of the Oder river (Hinterpommern), is now a part of Poland. Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) was under Swedish control from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 until its annexation to Prussia in 1720 and 1815.

Mecklenburg, to the west of Vorpommern, became a duchy in 1348 but was divided from the 17th century until 1934. The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became grand duchies in 1815 but republican government was established in 1918. They were briefly combined with Vorpommern in 1947–1952 and have been part of the present state since German reunification in 1990. Between 1952 and 1990 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was split in three Bezirke (districts) (Bezirk Rostock, Bezirk Schwerin and Bezirk Neubrandenburg, named by the capitals) under the centralistic government of the GDR.

Geography

Sixth largest in area but only thirteenth in population among Germany's sixteen states, it is bounded on the north by the Baltic Sea, in the west by Schleswig-Holstein, in the south-west by Lower Saxony, to the south by Brandenburg and to the east by Poland. Its administrative seat is Schwerin but the Baltic port of Rostock is nearly twice as populous. The other major cities are Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald and Wismar. The coast of the Baltic Sea contains several islands, most notably Germany's biggest island Rügen, Hiddensee, Usedom and Poel.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently divided into twelve Kreise (districts):

Bad Doberan ;Demmin ;Güstrow ;Ludwigslust ;Mecklenburg-Strelitz ;Müritz ;

 Nordvorpommern ;Nordwestmecklenburg ;Ostvorpommern ;Parchim ;Rügen ;

Uecker-Randow .

Furthermore there are six independent towns, which don't belong to any district:

Greifswald ;Neubrandenburg ;Rostock ;Schwerin ;Stralsund ;Wismar .

In December 2003 a second administrative reform was started which will reorganize the Bundesland into five districts until 2008. Additionally to the larger territory the districts will also gain some responsibilities from the central government. The outline of the new districts isn't finalized yet.

Education:

University of Rostock;Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald.