Bonn

Bonn
Municipality
Langer Eugen, centre of the UN Campus at the River Rhine in Bonn (view from the Post Tower).
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Bonn
Bonn Show map of Germany Bonn Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 50°44′N 7°6′E / 50.733°N 7.100°E / 50.733; 7.100
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Kreisfreie Stadt
Founded	1st century BC
Government
• Mayor	Katja Dörner (Alliance 90/The Greens)
Area
• Total	141.22 km2 (54.53 sq mi)
Elevation	60 m (200 ft)
Population  (2023-12-31)[1]
• Total	335,789
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	53111–53229
Dialling codes	0228
Vehicle registration	BN
Website	www.bonn.de

Bonn (Latin: Bonna) is a city near Cologne. It is in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Bonn was founded on an old Roman settlement. In 2021 about 327,000 people lived there.

Following World War II Bonn was in the British occupation zone. In 1949 Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany.

Bonn was the choice of Konrad Adenauer, a former Cologne Mayor and the first Chancellor of West Germany after World War II, who came from that area. Frankfurt am Main had most of the needed facilities already, so using Bonn meant spending about 95 Million DM to building new roads and building. However, Frankfurt am Main had been an important city during the war, and choosing Bonn was to symbolise a new start for the new Germany.

Because of its relatively small size for a capital city, Bonn was sometimes jokingly called the Bundesdorf (Federal Village).

Bonn was the capital of West Germany from 1949 until 1990. The Bundestag voted to move to Berlin on 20 June 1991, after a heated debate. The Federal President had already decided to make Schloß Bellevue in Berlin his main official residence. The extra building work needed meant it was 1999 before the government's move was completed.

1. ↑ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2023 – Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes auf Basis des Zensus vom 9. Mai 2011" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 2024-06-20.