A History of Munich

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Munich, is the capital of the region of Bavaria, located in the southern part of Germany. As one of the top three largest cities in Germany, closely linked to Hamburg and Berlin in size, Munich is home to 1.349 million people (CIA). Located in close proximity to the Alps and Isar River, the city today thrives as a tourist destination, financial industry, marketplace and home to the renowned German beer festival known as “Oktoberfest” (Gray, Jeremy).
Originally a monastery, dating back to the 8th century, the city of Munich’s name is derived from the word München, meaning ‘monks’. In the year 1157, the reigning Duke of Bavaria, Henry III, or Henry of Lion, changed the functionality of the city. Targeting their location near the Isar River, Henry allowed the monks to construct a bridge connecting Munich to the road from Salzburg, Austria (Encyclopedia Britannica). With this connection, the monks constructed a market as the basis of the city. Within the next few decades, the Imperial Diet of Augsburg pronounced Munich as a city in 1175 (Gray, Jeremy).
Succeeding the reign of Henry of Lion, resulted in the Wittelsbach family taking control of Munich in 1255. The Wittelsbach blood line continued for almost a century. Within this time period, Louis IV, or Louis the Bavarian, increased the square footage of the city, while introducing the salt industry from Salzburg (Encyclopedia Britannica). This provided the city with an outlet for economic growth. The city continued growing until the Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought throughout central Europe, followed by the bubonic plague drastically declining the population by one third. (Gray, Jeremy)
The next few centuries focused on building Munich into a cultural center of Germany. In t...

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...ondence: Ramesh Gupta, ACT Mental Health Service, Phillip Health Centre, Woden, ACT, 2606, Australia

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