Augsburg

Augsburg (UK: /ˈaʊɡzbɜːrɡ/ OWGZ-burg, also US: /ˈɔːɡz-/ AWGZ-; German: [ˈaʊksbʊʁk] ^ⓘ; Swabian German: Ougschburg) is a city in the Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and the regional seat of the Regierungsbezirk Swabia with a well-preserved Altstadt (historical city centre). Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria (after Munich and Nuremberg), with a population of 304,000 and 885,000 in its metropolitan area.

After Neuss, Trier, Worms, Cologne and Xanten, Augsburg is one of Germany's oldest cities, founded in 15 BC by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum and named after the Roman emperor Augustus. It was a Free Imperial City from 1276 to 1803 and the home of the patrician Fugger and Welser families that dominated European banking in the 16th century. According to Behringer, in the sixteenth century it became "the dominant centre of early capitalism", having benefited from being part of the Kaiserliche Reichspost system as "the location of the most important post office within the Holy Roman Empire" and the city's close connection to Maximilian I. The city played a leading role in the Reformation as the site of the 1530 Augsburg Confession and the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. The Fuggerei, the oldest social housing complex in the world, was founded in 1513 by Jakob Fugger.

In 2019, UNESCO recognised the Water Management System of Augsburg as a World Heritage Site because of its unique medieval canals and water towers and its testimony to the development of hydraulic engineering.

Augsburg lies at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach and on the Singold. The oldest part of the city and the southern quarters are on the northern foothills of a high terrace, which has emerged between the steep rim of the hills of Friedberg in the east and the high hills of the west. In the south extends the Lechfeld, an outwash plain of the post ice age between the rivers Lech and Wertach, where rare primeval landscapes were preserved. The Augsburg city forest and the Lech valley heaths today rank among the most species-rich middle European habitats.

Augsburg borders the nature park Augsburg Western Woods, a large forestland. The city itself is also heavily verdant. As a result, in 1997, Augsburg was the first German city to win the Europe-wide contest Entente Florale for Europe's greenest and most livable city.

Augsburg is surrounded by the counties Landkreis Augsburg in the west and Aichach-Friedberg in the east.

The suburbs of Augsburg are Friedberg, Königsbrunn, Stadtbergen, Neusäß, Gersthofen, Diedorf.

Neighbouring municipalities: Rehling, Affing, Kissing, Mering, Merching, Bobingen, Gessertshausen.