Duisburg

Duisburg (düs`brk), city (1994 pop. 536,800), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. Located in the Ruhr district, it is the largest inland port in the world and a center for iron and steel production. Other manufactures include shipbuilding, brewing, heavy machinery, textiles, chemicals, and metal and wood products. The city is home to one of the world's longest span truss bridges, the Duisburg-Neuenkamp Bridge, which stretches 1,148 feet (350 m) across the Rhine. Duisburg was a port in Roman times. It passed to the duchy of Cleves in 1290, and in 1614 was acquired, with Cleves, by Brandenburg. Its growth as an industrial center dates from c.1850. As a center of the German armaments industry, the city was heavily bombed during World War II. The Gothic Salvator Church is the burial place of the geographer and cartographer G. Mercator. Wilhelm Lehmbruck, the sculptor, was born in Duisburg, and his works are displayed there in a museum. The annexation in 1975 of four surrounding cities greatly enlarged Duisburg.

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Duisburg

City (pop., 2002 est.: 478,600), North Rhine–Westphalia state, western Germany. It lies at the junction of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers and is connected with the North Sea ports by the Rhine-Herne Canal. Known to the Romans as Castrum Deutonis, it was mentioned in AD 740 as Diuspargum, a seat of the Frankish kings. It passed to Cleves in 1290 and, with Cleves, to Brandenburg in 1614. After suffering heavily in the Thirty Years' War, it revived as the seat of a Protestant university from 1655 to 1818. With increasing industrialization after 1880, it is now one of the world's largest inland ports.

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Duisburg

an industrial city in NW Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia at the confluence of the Rivers Rhine and Ruhr: one of the world's largest and busiest inland ports; university (1972). Pop.: 506 496 (2003 est.)