Voerde

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Voerde
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Wesel
Mayor	Leonhard Spitzer (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	53.49 km² (20.7 sq mi)
Elevation	26 m (85 ft)
Population	38,358 (31/12/2006)
- Density	717 /km² (1,857 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	WES
Postal code	46562
Area codes	0 28 55 02 81 (Friedrichsfeld)
Website	www.voerde.de Coordinates: 51°36′00″N 06°41′0″E / 51.6, 6.68333

Voerde is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Wesel, and 20 km north of Duisburg.

[edit] City structure

According to art. 1(3) of the Main Charter of the town the municipal area is divided into the 11 quarters of Götterswickerhamm, Löhnen, Mehrum, Möllen, Voerde, Stockum, Holthausen, Friedrichsfeld, Emmelsum, Spellen and Ork. These quarters are, however, not localities in the sense of art. 39 of the North-Rhine Westphalian Municipal Code (GO NW).

[edit] History

Voerde owes its name to a ford crossing a branch of the River Rhine, which existed there during Roman and Frankish times (the old spelling for Furt was "Fuerdt"). In 1244 the town was mentioned in records for the first time as a fiefdom and castle of the abbey of Werden.