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The valleys include Araku Valley, which is rich in biodiversity and Gandikota gorge. Gandikota gorge is a canyon formed between the Erramala range of hills, through which the Penna (Pennar) river flows. Borra Caves, created millions of years ago by water activity and the country's second-longest cave system, the Belum Caves are in the state. The state has several beaches in its coastal districts, such as Rushikonda, Mypadu, Suryalanka.
Flora and fauna.
The total forest cover of the state is , amounting to 18.28% of the total area. The Eastern ghats region is home to dense tropical forests, while the vegetation becomes sparse as the ghats give way to the peneplains, where shrub vegetation is more common. The vegetation found in the state is largely of dry deciduous types, with a mixture of teak, and genera of "Terminalia", "Dalbergia", "Pterocarpus", etc. The state possesses some rare and endemic plants like "Cycas beddomei", "Pterocarpus santalinus", "Terminalia pallida", "Syzygium alternifolium", "Shorea tumburgia" etc.
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The state has 3 national parks and 13 wildlife sanctuaries . The diversity of fauna includes tigers, leopards, cheetals, sambars, sea turtles, and several birds and reptiles. The estuaries of the Godavari and Krishna rivers support rich mangrove forests with fishing cats and otters as keystone species. Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary is an example of mangrove forests and salt-tolerant forest ecosystems near the sea. The area of these forests is , accounting for about 9% of the local forest area of the state. Other sanctuaries include Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Kolleru Bird Sanctuary, and Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary. Neem (Azadirachta indica) is the state tree, jasmine is the state flower, rose ringed parakeet is the state bird, and blackbuck is the state mammal.
Mineral resources.
The state, with its varied geological formations, contains a variety of industrial minerals and building stones. Major minerals found in significant quantities in the state include beach sand, bauxite, limestone, granite, and diamonds. Minor minerals include barytes, calcite, and mica. The largest reserves of uranium are in Tummalapalli village of YSR district. The state also has reserves of oil and natural gas.
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Climate.
The climate varies considerably, depending on the geographical region. Summers last from March to June. In the coastal plain, the summer temperatures are generally higher than in the rest of the state, with temperatures exceeding . The minimum temperature during summer is about in the far southwest. July to September is the season for tropical rains from the southwest monsoon. The winter season is from October to February. Low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal along with the northeast monsoon during October to December, bringing rains to the southern and coastal regions of the state. The range of winter temperatures is generally except in the northeast where it could fall below . Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam district is nicknamed the "Kashmir of Andhra Pradesh" as its temperature ranges from . The normal rainfall for the state is .
Demographics.
Based on the 2011 Census of India, the population of Andhra Pradesh is 49,577,103, with a density of . The rural population accounts for 70.53%, while the urban population accounts for 29.47%. The state has 17.08% scheduled caste (SC) and 5.53% scheduled tribe (ST) population. Children in the age group of 0–6 years number 5,222,384, constituting 10.6% of the total population. The state has a sex ratio of 997 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. The literacy rate in the state stands at 67.35%. Erstwhile West Godavari district has the highest literacy rate of 74.32%, and erstwhile Vizianagaram district has the lowest with 58.89%.
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Human Development Index (HDI) of the state for the year 2022 is 0.642. , there are 39,984,868 voters including 3,924 third-gender voters. Kurnool district has the maximum number of voters at 1,942,233, while Alluri Sitharama Raju district has the minimum at 729,085.
Telugu is the first official language, and Urdu is the second official language of the state. Telugu is the mother tongue of nearly 90% of the population. Tamil, Kannada, and Odia are spoken in the border areas. Lambadi and several other languages are spoken by the scheduled tribes of the state. 19% of the population aged 12+ years can read and understand English, as per the Indian readership survey for Q4 2019.
Religion.
According to the 2011 census, the major religious groups in the state are Hindus (90.89%), Muslims (7.30%), and Christians (1.38%). Some of the popular Hindu religious pilgrim destinations include Tirumala Venkateswara temple at Tirupati, Mallikarjuna temple at Srisailam, Kanaka Durga Temple at Vijayawada, and Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple at Simhachalam. Buddhist sites at Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda are also popular.
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Sub categorisaton.
For the state of Andhra Pradesh, there are 59 entries in the SC category, 34 entries in the ST category, and 104 entries in Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Komati, Brahmin, Kamma, Kapu, Raju, Reddy, and Velama communities constitute the Forward castes.
Culture.
Andhra Pradesh has 32 museums featuring a varied collection of ancient sculptures, paintings, idols, weapons, cutlery, inscriptions, and religious artefacts. The Amaravathi archaeological museum has a display of art traditions of Amaravathi and images of Buddha. Bapu museum in Vijayawada has historical galleries, stone cut writings, coins, swords, body armour, shields, arms, and ornamentation. "Telugu Samskruthika Niketanam" in Visakhapatnam displays historical artefacts of the pre-independence era. The Archaeological Survey of India identified 135 centrally protected monuments in the state of Andhra Pradesh. These include the reconstructed monuments at Anupu and Nagarjunakonda. The state has 17 geographical indication (GI) registrations in the categories of agriculture, handicrafts, foodstuffs, and textiles as per the "Geographical indications of goods (Registration and protection) act, 1999".
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Clothing.
The men's traditional wear consists of "Panche", a long, white rectangular piece of non-stitched cloth often bordered in brightly coloured stripes. Women traditionally wear a "sari", a garment that consists of a drape varying from in length and in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff, as according to Indian philosophy, the navel is considered as the source of life and creativity. Women wear colourful silk saris on special occasions such as marriages. The traditional wear of young girls is a half-saree with blouse. The shift to wearing western clothing of pant and shirt has become common for boys and men, while women also wear "salwar kameez" in addition to saris. Dharmavaram textiles, Machilipatnam, and Srikalahasti Kalamkari handicrafts are few examples in clothes category with GI status.
Cuisine.
Andhra meals are combinations of spicy, tangy, and sweet flavours. The use of chillies, tamarind, and "gongura" (leaves of roselle) is common in Andhra food. Curry leaves are used copiously in most preparations of curries and chutneys. Various types of "Pappu" are made using lentils in combination with tomatoes, spinach, gongura, ridge gourd, etc. Apart from curries, "pulusu", a stew made using tamarind juice in combination with vegetables, seafood, chicken, mutton, etc., is popular. "Pachchadi", a paste usually made with a combination of groundnuts, fried vegetables, and chillies, is a must in a meal. Pickles made using mangoes, gooseberries, lemons, etc. are enjoyed in combination with "Pappu". Buttermilk and yoghurt mixed with rice eaten towards the end of the meal soothe the body, especially after eating spicy food items earlier.
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A tamarind-rich dish popularly known as "Pulihora" is made with a thick sauce of tamarind, chillies, salt and asafoetida. It is tempered with mustard, curry leaves, peanuts and mixed with rice. It is offered even to the gods and then served as a "prasadam" (divine offering) in the temples to the devotees. Popular vegetarian curries include "Dondakaya koora" (ivy gourd cooked with coconut and green chilli) and "Guttivankaya koora"(stuffed brinjal curry). "Thalakaya koora" (lamb head gravy), "Royyala koora" (prawns cooked in tamarind), and "Natukodi koora" (freehold chicken curry with chillies) are popular non-vegetarian dishes across Guntur and surrounding regions. "Yeta mamsam kobbari" biryani (mutton cooked with coconut), "Seema kodi" (Rayalaseema-style chicken), "Chennuru dum biryani", and "Gongura mamsam" (mutton cooked in sorrel gravy) are popular non-vegetarian dishes in Rayalaseema. Among fish preparations, "Pulasa pulusu", thick aromatic and tangy gravy made from a single fish of the Godavari Pulasa variety is most desired in Konaseema. "Ariselu", "Burelu", "Laddu", and "Pootharekulu" are some of the sweets made for special festivals and occasions. "Pootharekulu", a preparation of sugar and rice flour and "Taandri", a mango-flavoured sun-dried fruit jelly are popular sweets originating from Athreyapuram in Konaseema. Kakinada "Khaaja" layered flour deep fried and dipped in sugar is another popular sweetmeat. "Bandar laddu", "Tirupati Laddu" are some of the food products with GI status.
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Literature.
Nannayya, Tikkana, and Yerrapragada form the trinity who translated the Sanskrit epic "Mahabharata" into Telugu during 11–14 centuries. Nannayya wrote the first treatise on Telugu grammar, called "Andhra Shabda Chintamani" in Sanskrit. Pothana translated "Bhagavatam" into Telugu. Vemana was an Indian philosopher who wrote Telugu poems using simple language and native idioms on a variety of subjects including yoga, wisdom, and morality. Potuluri Veerabrahmendhra swami, a clairvoyant and social reformer of 17th century, wrote Kalagnanam, a book of predictions.
Telugu literature after Kandukuri Veeresalingam is termed "Adhunika Telugu Sahityam" (modern Telugu literature). He was the author of the first Telugu social novel "Rajasekhara Charitram", published in 1880. The use of colloquial idiom rather than "grandhik" (classical) in literature, championed by Gurajada Apparao and Gidugu Ramamurthy Panthulu led to increased literacy. Various forms of literature such as poetry, novel, short story were vibrant as indicated by the responses to national and international developments in various spheres of human life.
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Various forms of literature such as poetry, novel, short story were vibrant as indicated by the responses to national and international developments in various spheres of human life. The modern Telugu poetry, which began around 1900 developed into three forms – "Bhava kavitvam" (lyrical poetry), "Abhyudaya kavitvam" (progressive poetry), and new experimental poetry, including "Viplava kavitvam" (revolutionary poetry). Gurajada Apparao, Rayaprolu Subbarao, Gurram Jashuva, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Devulapalli Krishnasastri, and Sri Sri were some of the modern Telugu poets. Palagummi Padmaraju's short story "Galivaana" won second prize in World Short Story competition in 1952. Rachakonda Viswanadha Sastry initiated a new trend by focussing on the downtrodden in his novel Raju-Mahishi. Women writers such as Malati Chandur and Ranganayakamma dominated novels in the 1950s and 1960s. However, in the late 1970s, Yandamuri Veerendranath started writing popular novels with a focus on sex, suspense and violence, which were serialised in magazines.
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However, in the late 1970s, Yandamuri Veerendranath started writing popular novels with a focus on sex, suspense and violence, which were serialised in magazines. Viswanatha Satyanarayana was conferred the first Jnanpith Award for Telugu literature in 1970. Telugu film song as literature took shape in the 1930s. Some of the famous lyric writers include Samudrala Senior, Arudra, Athreya, Daasarathi, and C. Narayana Reddy.
Architecture.
Traditional temple architecture is influenced by Dravidian and Vijayanagara styles. In Dravidian architecture for which Tirumala temple is an example, the temples consisted of porches or "mantapas" preceding the door leading to the sanctum, gate-pyramids or "gopurams" in quadrangular enclosures that surround the temple, and "pillared halls" used for many purposes. Besides these, the temple usually has a tank called the "Kalyani" or "pushkarni". The gopuram is a monumental tower, usually ornate at the entrance of the temple forms a prominent feature. They are topped by the "kalasam", a bulbous stone finial. "Vimanam" are similar structures built over the "garbhagriha" or inner sanctum of the temple but are usually smaller than the gopurams. In the Vijayanagar style for which Lepakshi Veerabhadra temple is an example, the main temple is laid out in three parts, these are: The assembly hall known as the "mukha" mantapa; "arda" mantapa or "antarala" (ante chamber); and the "garbhagriha" or the sanctum sanctorum. Sri Venkateswara institute of traditional sculpture and architecture, run by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams offers diploma courses. Civic architecture which mainly featured courtyard structure to support joint family system and simple round houses is giving way to modern apartments.
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Arts.
Kondapalli Toys, the soft limestone idol carvings of Durgi and Etikoppaka lacquered wooden toys are few handicrafts with GI status. Kuchipudi, the cultural dance recognised as the official dance form of the state of Andhra Pradesh, originated in the village of Kuchipudi in Krishna district. Several renowned composers of Carnatic music like Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, Tyagaraja, and Bhadrachala Ramadas hailed from the state. "Sannai" and "Dolu" are common musical instruments of marriages, household, and temple functions in the state. "Harikathaa Kalakshepam (or Harikatha)" involves the narration of a story, intermingled with various songs relating to the story. "Burra katha" is an oral storytelling technique in which the topic is either a Hindu mythological story or a contemporary social issue. "Drama" is an Indian theatre art form that is still popular. Gurajada Apparao wrote the play Kanyasulkam in spoken dialect for the first time. It was first presented in 1892. It is considered the greatest play in the Telugu language.
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The Telugu film industry (known as "Tollywood") is primarily based in Hyderabad, though several films are shot in Vizag, Tirupati, Rajamahendravaram. About 300 films are produced annually, C. Pullaiah is cited as the father of the Telugu cinema. Film producer D. Ramanaidu holds a Guinness record for the most films produced by a person. Music composers and playback singers of the state include Ghantasala, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela, S. Janaki, and P. B. Sreenivas. "Naatu Naatu" from the film "RRR" became the first song from an Asian film to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2023. Efforts are on to make Vizag as the hub of film industry by offering incentives.
Festivals.
"Sankranti" is the major harvest festival celebrated across the state. It is celebrated for four days in the second week of January. The first day of the Telugu new year "Ugadi" which occurs during March/April is also a special festival with the preparation and sharing of pickles ("pachhadi") made from raw mangoes, neem flowers, pepper powder, jaggery and tamarind. Tasting this pickle which is a mix of different tastes teaches the importance of taking positive/negative life experiences in one's stride. Celebrations end with the recitation of the coming year's astrological predictions called "Panchanga sravanam". Vijaya Dasami known commonly as Dussera and Deepavali, the festival of lights are other major Hindu festivals. Shivaratri is celebrated at Kotappakonda, with people from nearby villages preparing 80–100 ft height frames called "prabhalu" and taking it in a procession to the shine. Eid is celebrated with special prayers. "Rottela Panduga" is celebrated at Bara Shaheed Dargah in Nellore with participation across religious lines. Christians celebrate their religious festivals Good Friday, Easter and Christmas with processions and prayers.
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Government and administration.
There are a total of 175 assembly constituencies in the state legislative assembly. The legislative council is the upper house with 58 members. In the Indian parliament, the state has 25 seats in the "Lok Sabha" and 11 seats in the "Rajya Sabha". In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's "de jure" head and appoints the chief minister who has the "de facto" executive authority.
Reddy, Kamma and Kapu communities cornered a share of 66% of seats in the 2019 election results. In the 2024 assembly elections, Reddy, Kamma and Kapu communities among the forward classes got more allocation than OBC in the unreserved category by major political parties or alliances. TDP-led National Democratic Alliance with Jana Sena Party and Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious defeating the incumbent YSRCP led by Jagan. It won 164 seats, while YSRCP got 11, a big drop from 151 it held. N. Chandrababu Naidu became the chief minister of the state for the fourth time. According to an opinion by Ayesha Minhaz in The Hindu daily, several factors including the prevailing anti-incumbency against the previous government and the alliance's promise of "Welfare with wealth generation" contributed to the success of TDP-led alliance.
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Andhra Pradesh police are structured in district, subdivision, circle, and police station hierarchy. In 2022, crimes against women and children saw a rise of 43.66% with a case count of 25,503 cases in Andhra Pradesh as per the National crime records bureau (NCRB) data. The state stood fifth in the country with 2,341 cybercrime cases. Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amaravati is headed by Chief justice with 37 judges. District judiciary is organised in a three-tier system with district courts at the top, civil (senior) and assistant sessions courts in the middle and civil (junior) and judicial first-class magistrate courts at the lower level. Apart from these, there are special courts such as family, CBI, ACB, Land reforms appellate tribunals, and industrial tribunals.
Andhra Pradesh comprises two regions, namely Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema from a historical perspective. The northern part of Coastal Andhra is sometimes mentioned separately as North Andhra, to raise voice against underdevelopment. The state is further divided into 26 districts. These districts are made up of 76 revenue divisions, 679 mandals and 13,324 village panchayats as part of the administrative organisation.
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Cities and towns.
There are 123 urban local bodies, comprising 17 municipal corporations, 79 municipalities, and 27 nagar panchayats, in the state. The urban population is 14.9 million (1.49 crores) as per the 2011 census. There are two cities with more than one million inhabitants, namely Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.
Government revenue and expenditure.
For 2021–22, total receipts of the Andhra Pradesh government were , inclusive of of loans. States' tax revenue was . The top three sources of tax revenue are statedcrores goods and services tax (GST) (₹23,809 crore), sales tax/value added tax (VAT) (₹20,808 crores), and state excise (₹14,703 crores). The government earned a revenue of ₹7,345 crore from 2.574 million transactions for registration services. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Tirupati are the top contributors to the revenue.
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Economy.
Gross state domestic product (GSDP/GDP) at current prices for the year 2022–23 is estimated at (advanced estimates). The share of agriculture's contribution to the GSDP is at 36.19%, while industry is at 23.36%, and services are at 40.45%. The state posted a record growth of 7.02% at constant prices (2011–12) against the country's growth of 7%. GDP per capita is estimated at . The sectoral growth rates at constant 2011–12 prices were for agriculture at 4.54%; industry at 5.66 and services at 10.05%. Poverty rate is reduced to 4.2% in 2023 from 11.77% in 2015–16 as per "Niti Ayog" report. The methodology, based on the global multidimensional poverty index uses 10 indicators, covering three areas health, education, and standard of living and additionally maternal health and bank accounts. Unemployment rate of people with graduation in Andhra Pradesh is estimated at 24% as per periodic labour force survey of July 2022 to June 2023, the third highest in the country. The number for the whole of India is at 13.4%.
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Agriculture.
The agricultural economy comprises agriculture, livestock, poultry farming, and fisheries. Four important rivers in India, the Godavari, Krishna, Penna, and Tungabhadra, flow through the state and provide irrigation. The population engaged in agriculture and related activities as per 2020–21 fiscal data is 62.17%. Rice is the state's major food crop and staple food. Besides rice, farmers grow jowar, bajra, maize, many varieties of pulses, sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, fruits, and vegetables. The state contributed to 30% of fish production of India and it had a share of 35% in total sea food exports of India in 2022–23. The state has three agricultural export zones: the undivided Chittoor district for mango pulp and vegetables, the undivided Krishna district for mangoes, and the undivided Guntur district for chillies. Banaganapalle mangoes produced in the state were accorded GI status in 2017.
"Rythu Seva Kendras" (RSK) or farmer facilitation centres are initiated by the government in 2020 to serve as a hassle-free, one-stop solution for the requirements of farmers from seed-to-sale. Banking services through banking correspondent are also integrated. 10,778 RSKs are functioning. AP land titling act 2023 was brought in to change from presumptive land ownership system based on possession, registration or inheritance documents to conclusive land ownership system, with government standing as surety for the ownership. Lands in 6000 villages were surveyed with drones and land title certificates were issued to owners, with georeferencing of their land parcels. The benefits of the act include a reduction in land disputes and easier acquisition of lands for public requirements. The newly formed TDP led NDA alliance government decided to repeal the act citing the scope for misuse of authority and deviation from the centre's draft bill.
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The Commission on Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Development of Andhra Pradesh, chaired by Prof. R. Radhakrishna, estimated the number of tenant farmers at 24.25 lakh in 2014. This consists of 6.29 lakh landless tenants and the rest owning some land. Out of 60.73 lakh hectares under cultivation, 27.15 lakh hectares or 44% was cultivated by tenants. Departmental estimates for 2021 put the number of tenant farmers at about 16 lakh. To identify and serve the needs of tenants, the Crop Cultivator Rights Act (CCRA) of 2019 was brought out. Only 26% of tenants obtained the CCRA or loan eligibility cards as per 2022 data.
Industries.
As per the annual survey of industries 2019–20, the number of factories was 12,582 with 681,224 employees. The top four employment providers are food products (25.48%), non-metallic minerals (11.26%), textiles (9.35%), and pharmaceuticals (8.68%). Gross value added (GVA) contributed by the industrial sector is , of which food products (18.95%), pharmaceuticals (17.01%), and non-metallic minerals (16.25%) are the top three contributors. From a district perspective, the top three districts were undivided Visakhapatnam, Chittoor, and Krishna.
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The defence administered Hindustan Shipyard Limitedwerecondensate built the first ship in India in 1948. The state has 36 big auto players, such as Ashok Leyland, Hero Motors, Isuzu Motors India, and Kia Motors, The mining sector contributed in revenue to the state during 2021–22. Nearly 225 million barrels of crude oil was produced from Ravva block, in the shallow offshore area of the Krishna Godavari basin during 1994–2011. The state accounted for 0.6% of had and codensate production, and 2.9% of natural gas production of India in 2020–21.
there are 190 science and technology organisations in Andhra Pradesh, including 12 central labs and research institutions. Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), known as Sriharikota range (SHAR), on the barrier island of Sriharikota in Tirupati district, is the primary satellite launching station operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Services.
Trade, hotels & restaurants registered the highest growth rate of 16.64%, while public administration, the lowest growth rate of 4.24% for the year 2022–23 at constant 2011–12 prices among the services category. The state is ranked third in domestic tourist footfalls for the year 2021, with 93.2 million domestic tourists, which amounts to 13.8% of all domestic tourists in India. A major share of the tourists visit temples in Tirupati, Vijayawada, and Srisailam. The value of information technology exports from the state in 2021–22 was , which is 0.14% of the IT exports from India. Exports have remained below 0.2% in the past five years.
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Infrastructure.
Transport.
Roads.
the state has a total major road network of . This comprises of national highways, of state highways, and of major district roads. In the category of national highways, NH 16, with a highway network of around in the state, is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral project. Vehicles on the register consist of 1.828 million transport vehicles and 13.7 million non-transport vehicles. In the transport category, goods carriages constitute 53.61%, auto rickshaws 36.21%, and stage carriages 1.14% constitute the top 3 categories. In the non-transport category, motorcycles constitute 89.5%, four-wheelers 7.29%, and cabs 5.96% occupy the top 3 ranks. The state government-owned Andhra Pradesh state road transport organisation is the public bus transport provider. It is split into 129 depots across four zones. It has a fleet strength of 11,098 buses and a staff count of 49,544. It operates 1.11 billion kilometres and serves 3.68 million passengers daily as per the socio-economic survey of 2023.
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Railways.
Renigunta was the first among major stations to appear on the railway map of Andhra Pradesh when Madras railway connected it to Madras in 1862. Rajahmundry-Vijag and Viajayawad-Kovvur sections were opened in 1893. Vijayawada-Madras section was started in 1899. It was extended to Howrah in 1900. The state has a total broad-gauge railway route of with rail density at 24.36 km per 1000 square kilometres. The railway network in Andhra Pradesh is under the South Central railway, East Coast railway, and South Western railway zones. During 2014–2022, 350 km of new lines were constructed at a rate of 44 km per year in Andhra Pradesh under the South Central railway division. The rate of construction was only 2 km per year in the preceding five years. The Nadikudi–Srikalahasti line of 308.70 km sanctioned at a budget of in 2011–12 as a joint project of the centre and state is progressing slowly, with only phase one of 46 km between New Piduguralla station and Savalyapuram completed in 2021–22. There are three A1 and 23 A-category railway stations in the state, as per the assessment in 2017. was declared the cleanest railway station in the country, as per the assessment in 2018. The railway station in Shimiliguda is the second broad gauge railway station at high altitude in the country next to Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir. A new railway zone South Coast railway (SCoR), with headquarters in Visakhapatnam, was announced in 2019, but is yet to be implemented.
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Airports.
Tirupati Airport was established in 1976. Visakhapatnam became a part of civil aviation in 1981. Daily flights to Vijayawada were started in 2003. Apart from these three which are international airports, the state has three domestic airports, namely Rajahmundry, Kadapa, and Kurnool. A privately owned airport for emergency flights and chartered flights is at Puttaparthi. Bhogapuram international airport is being constructed with a budget of ₹4,750 crore on an area of 2,300 acres near Visakhapatnam. It is expected to be completed by 2025. Andhra Pradesh saw a 60% increase in domestic air passenger traffic, with 24.74 lakh visitors at its five airports during the 2021–22 fiscal year (up to January 2022), compared to 15.48 lakh in the same period the previous fiscal year.
Sea ports.
The state has one major port at Visakhapatnam under the administrative control of the central government and 15 notified ports, including three captive ports, under the control of the state government. Visakhapatnam port was the earliest port to be commissioned in 1933. Gangavaram port is a deep seaport that can accommodate ocean liners up to 200,000–250,000 DWT. Cargo of 189.21 million tonnes was handled by Gangavaram, Kakinada deepwater, Krishnapatnam, Ravva, Kakinada anchorage, and Visakhapatnam during 2023–34, with a growth of 7.9% over the previous year. New sea ports are under construction at Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam, Mulapeta, and Kakinada.
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Communication.
As per socio-economic survey released in January 2023, Andhra Pradesh has post offices. Bharat sanchar nigam limited (BSNL) operates telephone exchanges with 20.6 million landline connections and also has 5.4 million wireless subscribers. Airtel, Jio, Vodaphone Idea, and BSNL provide mobile services in the state. the number of mobile phone users reached 82 million, while the number of internet subscribers reached 67.1 million in Andhra Pradesh. Mobile network services are available in 15,322 out of 17,328 villages. 5G network connectivity is provided by 16,714 base transfer stations. Several providers including state government owned Andhra Pradesh state fibre net limited operate wireline services supporting internet connectivity, telephony, and Internet Protocol television.<ref name="trai-54/2024"></ref> The AP statewide area network connects 2,164 offices of state administration at 668 locations down to the level of mandal headquarters. The network supports both data and video communications. BSNL and the National Knowledge Network multi-purposeCricket link district headquarters with state headquarters with a bandwidth of 34 Mbit/s. Mandal headquarters are connected with a bandwidth of 8 Mbit/s.
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Water.
The state has 40 major and medium rivers and 40,000 minor irrigation sources. Godavari, Krishna, and Penna are major rivers. The total cultivable area is 19.904 million acres. Major, medium, and minor irrigation projects irrigate 10.172 million acres or 51.1% . Several water projects in the state are facing issues. The Polavaram Project is a multi purpose terminal reservoir project located 42 km upstream of Davaleswaram barrage. It is a national project as per the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014. It has a reservoir capacity of 194.6 TMC and is expected to utilise 322.73 TMC of water in a year. The under-construction project suffered setbacks with damage to its diaphragm wall during the 2022 floods. The Veligonda Project, taken up to serve needs of Prakasam, Nellore, and Madala districts is progressing slowly. The Annamayya project, washed away in the 2021 floods, is set to be redesigned for 787 crores. Following the bifurcation, disputes with Telangana regarding the allocation of Krishna and Godavari waters continue to dog the state.
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Power.
Thermal, hydel and renewable power plants supply power to the state. The installed capacity share of the state in the public sector generating stations was 7,245 MW. The private sector installed capacity was 9,370 MW, which includes an independent power producer capacity of 1,961 MW. The total installed capacity was 16,615 MW. Peak power demand for the state in 2021–22 was 12,032 MW and per capita consumption was 1,285 kilowatt hours. The energy consumed was 68,972 million units. Energy consumption increased from 54,555 MU in 2018–19 to 69,113 MU in 2023–24, at a growth rate of 4.8% which is among the lowest in the country. The per capita electricity consumption of AP. Increased by only 123 kWh in the same period when there was an increase of 146 kWh at the national level. The reasons were because of steep tariff increases and re-imposing power cuts as there was a delay in commissioning of the Polavaram hydro-electric power project (960 MW), Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah thermal power station (Krishnapatnam) stage-II unit-3 (800 MW) and Dr. Narla Tata Rao thermal power station stage-V unit-8 (800 MW) stations.
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Healthcare.
The health infrastructure consists of 13 district hospitals, 28 sub-district hospitals, and urban and rural health centres as of 2019–20. Doorstep healthcare support services are provided through Accredited social health activist(ASHA) workers as of July 2019. The 108 service provides fast emergency management services by shifting patients to a nearby healthcare facility. The 104 service provides health care services at the doorstep of villages through mobile medical units that visit at least once a month. All the poor families are covered by the free state health insurance scheme up to a limit of . The scheme serves 42.5 million people. The services are provided in government and private hospitals under the network. During 2014–2018, though the nominal mean claim amount of beneficiaries went up significantly, it decreased after accounting for inflation. Mortality rates have significantly decreased, which indicates better outcomes are being achieved at a lower cost. Out of 2,700 private hospitals registered under the state health insurance scheme, 540 (20%) are speciality hospitals. The number of patients treated under the state health insurance scheme increased from 1.2 million in 2022–23 to 1.39 million in 2023–24. whereas the budget remained constant at ₹3,350 crore. The National family health survey-5 conducted in 2019–21 data provided an insight into the economic and health status of households. Housing, electricity, clean fuel, access to toilets, mobile phone usage, and bank account access were available for more than 85% of households. Piped water facilities were available for only 22% of households. The state health insurance scheme, the employee health scheme, the "Rashtriya swasthya bima yojana", the Employees' state insurance scheme, and the Central government health scheme covered 70% of households with at least one member covered.
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Banking.
there are 33 private sector banks, 12 public sector banks, three rural banks, three small finance banks, three payment banks, one cooperative bank, and one state financial corporation operating in the state. The total number of branches is 7,881. Banks have deposits amounting to and extended credit amounting to , with credit deposit ratio of 144% against Reserve Bank of India norm of 60%. Primary sector advances amounted to 60.13% of total bank credit. Till March 2011, the microfinance industry flourished in united Andhra Pradesh with a share of 65% of pan India gross loans. Due to state regulation enacted in 2010, the loan portfolio shrank to 0.8% in Andhra Pradesh as of 31 March 2023. With the court deciding against state regulation, the industry is likely to pick up again.
Education.
Primary and secondary school education is imparted by government and private schools, regulated by the school education department of the state. The government decided to stop financial aid to aided schools with history dating to 1870s, forcing them to handover the schools with the aided staff to government or become private in 2021. As per Unified district information system for education plus (UDISE+) report of 2021–22, there were a total of students enrolled in schools. Performance of rural students on reading, arithmetic skills in grades 1–8 declined during 2018–2022 partly attributed to Covid outbreak. As an example, for the reading assessment in Class VIII students, it nosedived 67% in 2022 from over 78% in 2018. However, the student enrolment at government schools improved from 63.2% to 71%. In the March 2024 secondary school certificate (SSC) exam students appeared in the regular stream. Parvathipuram-Manyam district achieved the highest pass percentage of 96.37 among districts. The overall pass percentage was 86.69%, an increase of 14.43% over the previous year, with 100% in 2,803 schools.
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In intermediate (higher secondary) examinations held in March 2024, 393,757 students appeared. The pass percentage was 78%, which is an increase of 7% over the previous year.
The state initiated education reforms in 2020 by creating six types of schools: satellite foundation schools (pre-primary), foundational schools (pre-primary – class II), foundational school plus (pre-primary – class V), pre-high school (class III – class VII/VIII), high school (class III – class X), and high school plus (class III – class XII). The transition to English-medium education in all government schools was started in the academic year 2020–2021. It is expected to reach completion by 2024–25. Affiliation of 1,000 government schools to the Central Board of Secondary Education in 2022–23 was done as an initial step. The state government went ahead with the English medium based on the parents survey despite protests and court cases. The state initiative is being funded in part by a loan from the World Bank to the tune of $250 million over 2021–2026 through the "Supporting Andhra's learning transformation" project to improve the learning outcomes of children up to class II level.
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there are 169 government-aided degree colleges and 55 private-aided degree colleges in the state. National assessment and accreditation council grades were awarded to 66 government colleges and 48 private-aided colleges. There are 85 government-aided and 175 private polytechnic colleges with a sanctioned strength of 75,906 students. In the category of technical education, there are 685 institutions offering diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate Visakhapatnamthe courses, with an intake of 299,608. The AP state council of higher education organises various entrance tests for different streams and conducts counselling for admissions. The AP state skill development corporation is set up to support skill development and placement for the educated. there are a total of 36 universities: three central universities, 23 state public universities, six state private universities, and four deemed universities. Andhra University is the oldest of the universities in the state, established in 1926. The government established Rajiv Gandhi university of knowledge technologies in 2008 to cater to the education needs of the rural youth of the state.
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Andhra University is the oldest of the universities in the state, established in 1926. The government established Rajiv Gandhi university of knowledge technologies in 2008 to cater to the education needs of the rural youth of the state. NTR University of health sciences oversees medical education in 348 affiliated colleges spanning the entire range from traditional medicine to modern medicine. The public universities, including the legacy universities such as Andhra, Sri Venkateswara, and Nagarjuna, are suffering from a severe fund crunch and staff shortage, managing with only 20% of sanctioned full-time staff. Koneru Lakshmaiah education foundation university bagged the 50th rank, while Andhra university bagged the 76th rank in the overall category of India rankings for 2023 as per the national institute ranking framework of the union ministry of education in which 2,478 institutions, including 242 institutions from the state, participated.
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There were 510 industrial training institutes (ITI) in 2020–21 in Andhra Pradesh, with 82 under government management and 417 under private management. The total available seats in 2021 were 93,280, out of which 48.90% were filled. In 2020, 10,053 students completed ITI. The state has 2,510 public libraries, including four regional libraries and 13 district central libraries under government management. Saraswata Niketanam at Vetapalem in Bapatla district, one of the oldest libraries established under private management in 1918, is losing its attraction as the Internet spreads. The government is planning to develop digital libraries at the village panchayat level.
Media.
The total number of registered newspapers and periodicals in the state for the years 2020–21 was 5,798. There were 1,645 dailies, 817 weeklies, 2,431 monthlies, and 623 fortnightlies. Telugu dailies number 787 with a circulation of 9,911,005, while English dailies account for 103 with a circulation of 1,646,453. Eenadu, Sakshi, and Andhra Jyothi are the top three Telugu daily newspapers in terms of circulation in India and are also the top three Telugu news sites. BBC Telugu news was launched on 2 October 2017. Several privately owned news media outlets are considered biased towards specific political parties in the state.
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There were 23 news channels, 10 general entertainment channels, two health channels, six religious channels, two other channels, and two cable distribution channels, for a total of 45 channels empanelled by the Andhra Pradesh information and public relations department. Akashvani previously known as All India Radio, operates 3 MW, 17 FM transmitters from 14 locations in the state. It reaches 99% of the area and 99.5% of the population. Akashvani's FM coverage alone reaches 36% of the area and 45% of the population. Five private operators run 13 FM stations, with Red FM operating from five locations.
Sports.
Traditional games played during childhood include "Dagudu Mootalu" (Hide and seek), "Tokkudu Billa", "Yedu Penkulata", "Vamanaguntalu", "Chadarangam" (Chess), "Puli Joodam", "Ashta Chamma", "Vaikuntapali" (Snakes and ladders), "Nalugu Stambalata", and "Nalugu ralla aata". "Karrasamu" (stick fight) is a traditional martial art form of the state. It is a form of self-defence to prevent thefts and robbery in villages. It is a discipline in the national sports, though it is not recognised for the sports quota category of reservations in Andhra Pradesh. Kodi Rammurthy Naidu was an strongman, bodybuilder, and wrestler of the state. He was renowned for his strength and physical prowess and for feats performed in 1911 such as stopping two cars using his muscle power and taking an elephant on his chest.
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Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh is the governing body that looks after the infrastructure development, coaching, and administration of sports promotion schemes. Sports authority of India (SAI) operates three SAI Training centres in Andhra Pradesh . Dr. YSR Sports School, Putlampalli, Kadapa district was selected for upgradation as "Khelo" India centre of excellence in 2021. Andhra Cricket Visakhapatnam District Association cricket Association (ACA-VDCA) stadium in Visakhapatnam is known for hosting international cricket matches.
Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Indian to win after Prakash Padukone. P. V. Sindhu is one of India's most successful athletes, having won medals in major tournaments like the Olympics and the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships. She is the first Indian to become a badminton world champion and only the second to win two consecutive Olympic medals. Karnam Malleswari is the first female Indian to win an Olympic medal. She won bronze medal in 69 kg weightlifting event at 2000 Olympics games. Srikanth Kidambi, a badminton player, is the first Indian to reach the world championships final in 2021 in the men's singles and win a silver medal. The state secured 16 medals at the 36th national games held in 2022. It was ranked 21st in the competition. The state sportpersons won 11 medals in Tennis, Archery, Badminton, Athletics, Chess and Cricket disciplines in the 19th Asian games held in China in 2022. The state was ranked at 13th spot in the sixth edition of Khelo India youth games-2023, by winning 27 medals.
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Accelerated Graphics Port
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a parallel expansion card standard, designed for attaching a video card to a computer system to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. It was originally designed as a successor to PCI-type connections for video cards. Since 2004, AGP was progressively phased out in favor of PCI Express (PCIe), which is serial, as opposed to parallel; by mid-2008, PCI Express cards dominated the market and only a few AGP models were available, with GPU manufacturers and add-in board partners eventually dropping support for the interface in favor of PCI Express.
Advantages over PCI.
AGP is a superset of the PCI standard, designed to overcome PCI's limitations in serving the requirements of the era's high-performance graphics cards.
The primary advantage of AGP is that it doesn't share the PCI bus, providing a dedicated, point-to-point pathway between the expansion slot(s) and the motherboard chipset. The direct connection also allows higher clock speeds.
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The second major change is the use of split transactions, wherein the address and data phases are separated. The card may send many address phases, so the host can process them in order, avoiding any long delays caused by the bus being idle during read operations.
Third, PCI bus handshaking is simplified. Unlike PCI bus transactions, whose length is negotiated on a cycle-by-cycle basis using the FRAME# and STOP# signals, AGP transfers are always a multiple of 8 bytes long, with the total length included in the request. Further, rather than using the IRDY# and TRDY# signals for each word, data is transferred in blocks of 4 clock cycles (32 words at AGP 8× speed), and pauses are allowed only between blocks.
Finally, AGP allows (mandatory only in AGP 3.0) "sideband addressing", meaning that the address and data buses are separated, so the address phase does not use the main address/data (AD) lines at all. This is done by adding an extra 8-bit "SideBand Address" bus, over which the graphics controller can issue new AGP requests while other AGP data is flowing over the main 32 address/data (AD) lines. This results in improved overall AGP data throughput.
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This great improvement in memory read performance makes it practical for an AGP card to read textures directly from system RAM, while a PCI graphics card must copy it from system RAM to the card's video memory. System memory is made available using the graphics address remapping table (GART), which apportions main memory as needed for texture storage. The maximum amount of system memory available to AGP is defined as the "AGP aperture".
History.
The AGP slot first appeared on x86-compatible system boards based on Socket 7 Intel P5 Pentium and Slot 1 P6 Pentium II processors. Intel introduced AGP support with the i440LX Slot 1 chipset on August 26, 1997, and a flood of products followed from all the major system board vendors.
The first Socket 7 chipsets to support AGP were the VIA Apollo VP3, SiS 5591/5592, and the ALI Aladdin V. Intel never released an AGP-equipped Socket 7 chipset. FIC demonstrated the first Socket 7 AGP system board in November 1997 as the "FIC PA-2012" based on the VIA Apollo VP3 chipset, followed very quickly by the "EPoX P55-VP3" also based on the VIA VP3 chipset which was first to market.
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Early video chipsets featuring AGP support included the Rendition Vérité V2200, 3dfx Voodoo Banshee, Nvidia RIVA 128, 3Dlabs PERMEDIA 2, Intel i740, ATI Rage series, Matrox Millennium II, and S3 ViRGE GX/2. Some early AGP boards used graphics processors built around PCI and were simply bridged to AGP. This resulted in the cards benefiting little from the new bus, with the only improvement used being the 66 MHz bus clock, with its resulting doubled bandwidth over PCI, and bus exclusivity. Intel's i740 was explicitly designed to exploit the new AGP feature set; in fact it was designed to texture only from AGP memory, making PCI versions of the board difficult to implement (local board RAM had to emulate AGP memory), though this was eventually accomplished much later in the form of AGP-to-PCI bridges.
Microsoft first introduced AGP support into Windows via the USB Supplement patch for OSR2 of Windows 95 in 1997, also known as OSR2.1. The first Windows NT-based operating system to receive AGP support was Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3, also in 1997. Linux support for AGP-enhanced fast data transfers was first added in 1999 with the implementation of the AGPgart kernel module.
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Later use.
With the increasing adoption of PCIe, graphics cards manufacturers continued to produce AGP cards as the standard became obsolete. As GPUs began to be designed to connect to PCIe, an additional PCIe-to-AGP bridge-chip was required to create an AGP-compatible graphics card. The inclusion of a bridge, and the need for a separate AGP card design, incurred additional board costs.
The GeForce 6600 and ATI Radeon X800 XL, released during 2004–2005, were the first bridged cards. In 2009 AGP cards from Nvidia had a ceiling of the GeForce 7 series. In 2011 DirectX 10-capable AGP cards from AMD vendors (Club 3D, HIS, Sapphire, Jaton, Visiontek, Diamond, etc.) included the Radeon HD 2400, 3450, 3650, 3850, 4350, 4650, and 4670. The HD 5000 AGP series mentioned in the AMD Catalyst software was never available. There were many problems with the AMD Catalyst 11.2 - 11.6 AGP hotfix drivers under Windows 7 with the HD 4000 series AGP video cards; use of 10.12 or 11.1 AGP hotfix drivers is a possible workaround. Several of the vendors listed above make available past versions of the AGP drivers.
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By 2010, no new motherboard chipsets supported AGP and few new motherboards had AGP slots, however some continued to be produced with older AGP-supporting chipsets.
In 2016, Windows 10 version 1607 dropped support for AGP. Possible future removal of support for AGP from open-source Linux kernel drivers was considered in 2020.
Versions.
Intel released "AGP specification 1.0" in 1997. It specified 3.3 V signals and 1× and 2× speeds. Specification 2.0 documented 1.5 V signaling, which could be used at 1×, 2× and the additional 4× speed and 3.0 added 0.8 V signaling, which could be operated at 4× and 8× speeds. (1× and 2× speeds are physically possible, but were not specified.)
Available versions are listed in the adjacent table.
AGP version 3.5 is only publicly mentioned by Microsoft under "Universal Accelerated Graphics Port (UAGP)", which specifies mandatory supports of extra registers once marked optional under AGP 3.0. Upgraded registers include PCISTS, CAPPTR, NCAPID, AGPSTAT, AGPCMD, NISTAT, NICMD. New required registers include APBASELO, APBASEHI, AGPCTRL, APSIZE, NEPG, GARTLO, GARTHI.
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There are various physical interfaces (connectors); see the Compatibility section.
Official extensions.
AGP Pro.
An official extension for cards that required more electrical power, with a longer slot with additional pins for that purpose. AGP Pro cards were usually workstation-class cards used to accelerate professional computer-aided design applications employed in the fields of architecture, machining, engineering, simulations, and similar fields.
64-bit AGP.
A 64-bit channel was once proposed as an optional standard for AGP 3.0 in draft documents, but it was dropped in the final version of the standard.
The standard allows 64-bit transfer for AGP8× reads, writes, and fast writes; 32-bit transfer for PCI operations.
Unofficial variations.
A number of non-standard variations of the AGP interface have been produced by manufacturers.
Compatibility.
AGP cards are backward and forward compatible within limits. 1.5 V-only keyed cards will not go into 3.3 V slots and vice versa, though "Universal" cards exist which will fit into either type of slot. There are also unkeyed "Universal" slots that will accept either type of card. When an AGP Universal card is plugged-into an AGP Universal slot, only the 1.5 V portion of the card is used. Some cards, like Nvidia's GeForce 6 series (except the 6200) or ATI's Radeon X800 series, only have keys for 1.5 V to prevent them from being installed in older mainboards without 1.5 V support. Some of the last modern cards with 3.3 V support were:
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Some cards incorrectly have dual notches, and some motherboards incorrectly have fully open slots, allowing a card to be plugged into a slot that does not support the correct signaling voltage, which may damage card or motherboard. Some incorrectly designed older 3.3 V cards have the 1.5 V key.
AGP Pro cards will not fit into standard slots, but standard AGP cards will work in a Pro slot. Motherboards equipped with a Universal AGP Pro slot will accept a 1.5 V or 3.3 V card in either the AGP Pro or standard AGP configuration, a Universal AGP card, or a Universal AGP Pro card.
There are some proprietary systems incompatible with standard AGP; for example, Apple Power Macintosh computers with the Apple Display Connector (ADC) have an extra connector which delivers power to the attached display. Some cards designed to work with a specific CPU architecture (e.g., PC, Apple) may not work with others due to firmware issues.
Mark Allen of Playtools.com has made the following comments regarding practical AGP compatibility for AGP 3.0 and AGP 2.0:
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Power consumption.
Actual power supplied by an AGP slot depends upon the card used. The maximum current drawn from the various rails is given in the specifications for the various versions. For example, if maximum current is drawn from all supplies and all voltages are at their specified upper limits, an AGP 3.0 slot can supply up to 48.25 watts; this figure can be used to specify a power supply conservatively, but in practice a card is unlikely ever to draw more than 40 W from the slot, with many using less. AGP Pro provides additional power up to 110 W. Many AGP cards had additional power connectors to supply them with more power than the slot could provide.
Protocol.
An AGP bus is a superset of a 66 MHz conventional PCI bus and, immediately after reset, follows the same protocol. The card must act as a PCI target, and optionally may act as a PCI master. (AGP 2.0 added a "fast writes" extension which allows PCI writes from the motherboard to the card to transfer data at higher speed.)
After the card is initialized using PCI transactions, AGP transactions are permitted. For these, the card is always the AGP master and the motherboard is always the AGP target. The card queues multiple requests which correspond to the PCI address phase, and the motherboard schedules the corresponding data phases later. An important part of initialization is telling the card the maximum number of outstanding AGP requests which may be queued at a given time.
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AGP requests are similar to PCI memory read and write requests, but use a different encoding on command lines C/BE[3:0] and are always 8-byte aligned; their starting address and length are always multiples of 8 bytes (64 bits). The three low-order bits of the address are used instead to communicate the length of the request.
Whenever the PCI GNT# signal is asserted, granting the bus to the card, three additional status bits ST[2:0] indicate the type of transfer to be performed next. If the bits are codice_1, a previously queued AGP transaction's data is to be transferred; if the three bits are codice_2, the card may begin a PCI transaction or (if sideband addressing is not in use) queue a request in-band using PIPE#.
AGP command codes.
Like PCI, each AGP transaction begins with an address phase, communicating an address and 4-bit command code. The possible commands are different from PCI, however:
AGP 3.0 dropped high-priority requests and the long read commands, as they were little used. It also mandated side-band addressing, thus dropping the dual address cycle, leaving only four request types: low-priority read (0000), low-priority write (0100), flush (1010) and fence (1100).
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In-band AGP requests using PIPE#.
To queue a request in-band, the card must request the bus using the standard PCI REQ# signal, and receive GNT# plus bus status ST[2:0] equal to codice_2. Then, instead of asserting FRAME# to begin a PCI transaction, the card asserts the PIPE# signal while driving the AGP command, address, and length on the C/BE[3:0], AD[31:3] and AD[2:0] lines, respectively. (If the address is 64 bits, a dual address cycle similar to PCI is used.) For every cycle that PIPE# is asserted, the card sends another request without waiting for acknowledgement from the motherboard, up to the configured maximum queue depth. The last cycle is marked by deasserting REQ#, and PIPE# is deasserted on the following idle cycle.
Side-band AGP requests using SBA[7:0].
If side-band addressing is supported and configured, the PIPE# signal is not used. (And the signal is re-used for another purpose in the AGP 3.0 protocol, which requires side-band addressing.) Instead, requests are broken into 16-bit pieces which are sent as two bytes across the SBA bus. There is no need for the card to ask permission from the motherboard; a new request may be sent at any time as long as the number of outstanding requests is within the configured maximum queue depth. The possible values are:
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Sideband address bytes are sent at the same rate as data transfers, up to 8× the 66 MHz basic bus clock. Sideband addressing has the advantage that it mostly eliminates the need for turnaround cycles on the AD bus between transfers, in the usual case when read operations greatly outnumber writes.
AGP responses.
While asserting GNT#, the motherboard may instead indicate via the ST bits that a data phase for a queued request will be performed next. There are four queues: two priorities (low- and high-priority) for each of reads and writes, and each is processed in order. Obviously, the motherboard will attempt to complete high-priority requests first, but there is no limit on the number of low-priority responses which may be delivered while the high-priority request is processed.
For each cycle when the GNT# is asserted and the status bits have the value codice_13, a read response of the indicated priority is scheduled to be returned. At the next available opportunity (typically the next clock cycle), the motherboard will assert TRDY# (target ready) and begin transferring the response to the oldest request in the indicated read queue. (Other PCI bus signals like FRAME#, DEVSEL# and IRDY# remain deasserted.) Up to four clock cycles worth of data (16 bytes at AGP 1× or 128 bytes at AGP 8×) are transferred without waiting for acknowledgement from the card. If the response is longer than that, both the card and motherboard must indicate their ability to continue on the third cycle by asserting IRDY# (initiator ready) and TRDY#, respectively. If either one does not, wait states will be inserted until two cycles after they both do. (The value of IRDY# and TRDY# at other times is irrelevant and they are usually deasserted.)
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The C/BE# byte enable lines may be ignored during read responses, but are held asserted (all bytes valid) by the motherboard.
The card may also assert the RBF# (read buffer full) signal to indicate that it is temporarily unable to receive more low-priority read responses. The motherboard will refrain from scheduling any more low-priority read responses. The card must still be able to receive the end of the current response, and the first four-cycle block of the following one if scheduled, plus any high-priority responses it has requested.
For each cycle when GNT# is asserted and the status bits have the value codice_14, write data is scheduled to be sent across the bus. At the next available opportunity (typically the next clock cycle), the card will assert IRDY# (initiator ready) and begin transferring the data portion of the oldest request in the indicated write queue. If the data is longer than four clock cycles, the motherboard will indicate its ability to continue by asserting TRDY# on the third cycle. Unlike reads, there is no provision for the card to delay the write; if it didn't have the data ready to send, it shouldn't have queued the request.
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The C/BE# lines "are" used with write data, and may be used by the card to select which bytes should be written to memory.
The multiplier in AGP 2×, 4× and 8× indicates the number of data transfers across the bus during each 66 MHz clock cycle. Such transfers use source synchronous clocking with a "strobe" signal (AD_STB[0], AD_STB[1], and SB_STB) generated by the data source. AGP 4× adds complementary strobe signals.
Because AGP transactions may be as short as two transfers, at AGP 4× and 8× speeds it is possible for a request to complete in the middle of a clock cycle. In such a case, the cycle is padded with dummy data transfers (with the C/BE# byte enable lines held deasserted).
Connector pinout.
The AGP connector contains almost all PCI signals, plus several additions. The connector has 66 contacts on each side, although 4 are removed for each keying notch. Pin 1 is closest to the I/O bracket, and the B and A sides are as in the table, looking down at the motherboard connector.
Contacts are spaced at 1 mm intervals, however they are arranged in two staggered vertical rows so that there is 2 mm space between pins in each row. Odd-numbered A-side contacts, and even-numbered B-side contacts are in the lower row (1.0 to 3.5 mm from the card edge). The others are in the upper row (3.7 to 6.0 mm from the card edge).
PCI signals omitted are:
Signals added are:
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Andreas Aagesen
Andreas Aagesen (5 August 1826 – 26 October 1879) was a Danish jurist.
Biography.
Aagesen was educated for the law at Christianshavn and Copenhagen, and interrupted his studies in 1848 to take part in the First Schleswig War, in which he served as the leader of a reserve battalion.
In 1855 Aagesen became a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Copenhagen. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the commission for drawing up a maritime and commercial code, and the navigation law of 1882 is mainly his work. In 1879 he was elected a member of the Landsting (one of two chambers of the Danish Parliament, the Rigsdagen); but it is as a teacher at the university that he won his reputation. Aagesen was Carl Christian Hall's successor as lecturer on Roman law at the university, and in this department his research was epoch-making.
Bibliography.
Among his numerous juridical works may be mentioned:
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Aalen
Aalen () is a town located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is also the largest town in the Ostwürttemberg region. Since 1956, Aalen has had the status of Große Kreisstadt (major district town). It is noted for its many half-timbered houses constructed from the 16th century through the 18th century.
With an area of 146.63 km2, Aalen is ranked 7th in Baden-Württemberg and 2nd within the Government Region of Stuttgart, after Stuttgart. With a population of about 66,000, Aalen is the 15th most-populated settlement in Baden-Württemberg.
Geography.
Situation.
Aalen is situated on the upper reaches of the river Kocher, at the foot of the Swabian Jura which lies to the south and south-east, and close to the hilly landscapes of the Ellwangen Hills to the north and the "Welland" to the north-west.
The west of Aalen's territory is on the foreland of the eastern Swabian Jura, and the north and north-west is on the Swabian-Franconian Forest, both being part of the Swabian Keuper-Lias Plains. The south-west is part of the Albuch, the east is part of the Härtsfeld, these two both being parts of the Swabian Jura.
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The Kocher enters the town's territory from Oberkochen to the south, crosses the district of Unterkochen, then enters the town centre, where the "Aal" flows into it. The "Aal" is a small river located only within the town's territory. Next, the Kocher crosses the district of Wasseralfingen, then leaves the town for Hüttlingen. Rivers originating near Aalen are the Rems (near Essingen, west of Aalen) and the Jagst (near Unterschneidheim, east of Aalen), both being tributaries of the Neckar, just like the Kocher.
The elevation in the centre of the market square is relative to Normalhöhennull. The territory's lowest point is at the Lein river near Rodamsdörfle, the highest point is the Grünberg's peak near Unterkochen at .
Geology.
Aalen's territory ranges over all lithostratigraphic groups of the South German Jurassic: Aalen's south and the "Flexner" massif are on top of the White Jurassic, the town centre is on the Brown Jurassic, and a part of Wasseralfingen is on the Black Jurassic. As a result, the town advertises itself as a "Geologist's Mecca".
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Most parts of the territory are on the "Opalinuston-Formation" (Opalinum Clay Formation) of the Aalenian subdivision of the Jurassic Period, which is named after Aalen. On the "Sandberg", the "Schnaitberg" and the "Schradenberg" hills, all in the west of Aalen, the "Eisensandstein" (Iron Sandstone) formation emerges to the surface. On the other hills of the city, sands "(Goldshöfer Sande)", gravel and residual rubble prevail.
The historic centre of Aalen and the other areas in the Kocher valley are founded completely on holocenic floodplain loam "(Auelehm)" and riverbed gravel that have filled in the valley.
Most parts of Dewangen and Fachsenfeld are founded on formations of "Jurensismergel" (Jurensis Marl), "Posidonienschiefer" (cf. Posidonia Shale), "Amaltheenton" (Amalthean Clay), "Numismalismergel" (Numismalis Marl) and "Obtususton" (Obtusus Clay, named after Asteroceras obtusum ammonites) moving from south to north, all belonging to the Jurassic and being rich in fossils. They are at last followed by the "Trossingen Formation" already belonging to the Late Triassic.
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Until 1939 iron ore was mined on the "Braunenberg" hill. (see Tiefer Stollen section).
Extent of the borough.
The maximum extent of the town's territory amounts to in a north–south dimension and in an east–west dimension. The area is , which includes 42.2% agriculturally used area and 37.7% of forest. 11.5% are built up or vacant, 6.4% is used by traffic infrastructure. Sporting and recreation grounds and parks comprise 1% , other areas 1.1% .
Boroughs.
Aalen's territory consists of the town centre "(Kernstadt)" and the municipalities
merged from between 1938 (Unterrombach) and 1975 (Wasseralfingen, see mergings section).
The municipalities merged in the course of the latest municipal reform of the 1970s are also called "Stadtbezirke" (quarters or districts), and are "Ortschaften" ("settlements") in terms of Baden-Württemberg's "Gemeindeordnung" (municipal code), which means, each of them has its own council elected by its respective residents "(Ortschaftsrat)" and is presided by a spokesperson "(Ortsvorsteher)".
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The town centre itself and the merged former municipalities consist of numerous villages "(Teilorte)", mostly separated by open ground from each other and having their own independent and long-standing history. Some however have been created as planned communities, which were given proper names, but no well-defined borders.
List of villages:
Spatial planning.
Aalen forms a "Mittelzentrum" ("medium-level centre") within the Ostwürttemberg region. Its designated catchment area includes the following municipalities of the central and eastern Ostalbkreis district: Abtsgmünd, Bopfingen, Essingen, Hüttlingen, Kirchheim am Ries, Lauchheim, Neresheim, Oberkochen, Riesbürg and Westhausen, and is interwoven with the catchment area of Nördlingen, situated in Bavaria, east of Aalen.
Climate.
As Aalen's territory sprawls on escarpments of the Swabian Jura, on the Albuch and the Härtsfeld landscapes, and its elevation has a range of , the climate varies from district to district.
The weather station the following data originate from is located between the town centre and Wasseralfingen at about and has been in operation since 1991.
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The sunshine duration is about 1800 hours per year, which averages 4.93 hours per day. So Aalen is above the German average of 1550 hours per year. However, with 167 days of precipitation, Aalen's region also ranks above the German average of 138. The annual rainfall is , about the average within Baden-Württemberg.
The annual mean temperature is . Here Aalen ranks above the German average of and the Baden-Württemberg average of .
History.
Civic history.
First settlements.
Numerous remains of early civilization have been found in the area. Tools made of flint and traces of Mesolithic human settlement dated between the 8th and 5th millennium BC were found on several sites on the margins of the Kocher and Jagst valleys. On the "Schloßbaufeld" plateau (appr. ), situated behind "Kocherburg" castle near Unterkochen, a hill-top settlement was found, with the core being dated to the Bronze Age. In the "Appenwang" forest near Wasseralfingen, in Goldshöfe, and in Ebnat, tumuli of the Hallstatt culture were found. In Aalen and Wasseralfingen, gold and silver coins left by the Celts were found. The Celts were responsible for the fortifications in the Schloßbaufeld settlement consisting of sectional embankments and a stone wall. Also, Near Heisenberg (Wasseralfingen), a Celtic nemeton has been identified; however, it is no longer readily apparent.
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Roman era.
After abandoning the Alb Limes (a "limes" generally following the ridgeline of the Swabian Jura) around 150 AD, Aalen's territory became part of the Roman Empire, in direct vicinity of the then newly erected Rhaetian Limes. The Romans erected a castrum to house the cavalry unit "Ala II Flavia milliaria"; its remains are known today as "Kastell Aalen" ("Aalen Roman fort"). The site is west of today's town centre at the bottom of the "Schillerhöhe" hill. With about 1,000 horsemen and nearly as many grooms, it was the largest fort of auxiliaries along the Rhaetian Limes. There were Civilian settlements adjacent along the south and the east. Around 260 AD, the Romans gave up the fort as they withdrew their presence in unoccupied Germania back to the Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Alamanni took over the region. Based on 3rd- and 4th-century coins found, the civilian settlement continued to exist for the time being. However, there is no evidence of continued civilization between the Roman era and the Middle Ages.
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Foundation.
Based on discovery of alamannic graves, archaeologists have established the 7th century as the origination of Aalen. In the northern and western walls of St. John's church, which is located directly adjacent to the eastern gate of the Roman fort, Roman stones were incorporated. The building that exists today probably dates to the 9th century.
The first mention of Aalen was in 839, when emperor Louis the Pious reportedly permitted the Fulda monastery to exchange land with the Hammerstadt village, then known as "Hamarstat".
Aalen itself was first mentioned in an inventory list of Ellwangen Abbey, dated ca. 1136, as the village "Alon", along with a lower nobleman named Conrad of Aalen. This nobleman probably had his ancestral castle at a site south of today's town centre and was subject first to Ellwangen abbey, later to the House of Hohenstaufen, and eventually to the House of Oettingen. 1426 was the last time a member of that house was mentioned in connection with Aalen.
Documents, from the Middle Ages, indicate that the town of Aalen was founded by the Hohenstaufen some time between 1241 and 1246, but at a different location than the earlier village, which was supposedly destroyed in 1388 during the war between the Alliance of Swabian Cities and the Dukes of Bavaria.
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Later, it is documented that the counts of Oettingen ruled the town in 1340. They are reported to have pawned the town to Count Eberhard II and subsequently to the House of Württemberg in 1358 or 1359 in exchange for an amount of money.
Imperial City.
During the war against Württemberg, Emperor Charles IV took the town without a fight after a siege. On 3 December 1360, he declared Aalen an Imperial City, that is, a city or town responsible only to the emperor, a status that made it a quasi-sovereign city-state and that it kept until 1803. In 1377, Aalen joined the Alliance of Swabian Cities, and in 1385, the term "civitas" appears in the town's seal for the first time. In 1398, Aalen was granted the right to hold markets, and in 1401 Aalen obtained proper jurisdiction.
The oldest artistic representation of Aalen was made in 1528. It was made as the basis of a lawsuit between the town and the Counts of Oettingen at the Reichskammergericht in Speyer. It shows Aalen surrounded by walls, towers, and double moats. The layout of the moats, which had an embankment built between them, is recognizable by the present streets named "Nördlicher, Östlicher, Südlicher" and "Westlicher Stadtgraben" (Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Moat respectively). The wall was about tall, 1518 single paces () long and enclosed an area of . During its early years, the town had two town gates: The "Upper" or "Ellwangen Gate" in the east, and St. Martin's gate in the south; however due to frequent floods, St. Martin's gate was bricked up in the 14th century and replaced by the "Lower" or "Gmünd Gate" built in the west before 1400. Later, several minor side gates were added. The central street market took place on the "Wettegasse" (today called "Marktplatz", "market square") and the "Reichsstädter Straße". So the market district stretched from one gate to the other, however in Aalen it was not straight, but with a 90-degree curve between southern (St. Martin's) gate and eastern (Ellwangen) gate.
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Around 1500, the civic graveyard was relocated from the town church to St. John's Church, and in 1514, the "Vierundzwanziger" ("Group of 24") was the first assembly constituted by the citizens.
Reformation.
Delegated by Württemberg's Duke Louis III, on 28 June 1575, nearly 30 years after Martin Luther's death, Jakob Andreae, professor and chancellor of the University of Tübingen, arrived in Aalen. The sermon he gave the following day convinced the mayor, the council, and the citizens to adopt the Reformation in the town. Andreae stayed in Aalen for four weeks to help with the change. This brought along enormous changes, as the council forbade the Roman Catholic priests to celebrate masses and give sermons. However, after victories of the imperial armies at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the Prince-Provostry of Ellwangen, which still held the right of patronage in Aalen, were able to temporarily bring Catholicism back to Aalen; however after the military successes of the Protestant Union, Protestant church practices were instituted again.
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Fire of 1634.
On the night of 5 September 1634, two ensigns of the army of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar who were fighting with the Swedes and retreating after the Battle of Nördlingen set fire to two powder carriages, to prevent the war material to fall into Croatian hands and to prevent their advance. The result was a conflagration, that some say destroyed portions of the town. There are differing stories regarding this fire. According to 17th-century accounts, the church and all the buildings, except of the "Schwörturm" tower, were casualties of the fire, and only nine families survived. 19th century research by Hermann Bauer, Lutheran pastor and local historian, discovered that the 17th-century account is exaggerated, but he does agree that the town church and buildings in a "rather large" semicircle around it were destroyed. The fire also destroyed the town archive housed in an addition to the church, with all of its documents. After the fire, soldiers of both armies went through the town looting. It took nearly 100 years for the town to reach its population of 2,000.
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French troops marched through Aalen in 1688 during the Nine Years' War; however, unlike other places, they left without leaving severe damages. The French came through again in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession and in 1741 during the War of the Austrian Succession, the latter also caused imperial troops to move through in 1743.
The town church's tower collapsed in 1765, presumably because proper building techniques were not utilized during the reconstruction after the fire of 1634. The collapsing tower struck two children of the tower watchman who died of their injuries, and destroyed the nave, leaving only the altar cross intact. The remaining walls had to be knocked down due to the damage. Reconstruction began the same year, creating the building that exists today.
On 22 November 1749, the so-called "Aalen protocol" regulating the cohabitation of Lutherans and Roman Catholics in the jointly ruled territory of Oberkochen was signed in Aalen by the Duchy of Württemberg and the Prince-Provostry of Ellwangen. Aalen had been chosen because of its neutral status as a Free Imperial City.
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Napoleonic era and end of the Imperial City of Aalen.
During the War of the First Coalition (1796), Aalen was looted. The War of the Second Coalition concluded in 1801 with the signing of the Treaty of Lunéville, which led to the German Mediatisation of 1803 that assigned most Imperial Cities to the neighbouring principalities. Aalen was assigned to the Electorate of Württemberg, which later became the Kingdom of Württemberg, and became seat of the District ("Oberamt") of Aalen. During the War of the Third Coalition, on 6 October 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Aalen, with an army of 40,000. This event, along with Bavarian and Austrian troops moving in some days later, caused miseries that according to the town clerk "no feather could describe".
In 1811, the municipality of Unterrombach was formed out of some villages previously belonging to Aalen, some to the Barons of Wöllwarth, and the eastern villages were assigned to the municipality of Unterkochen.
In the age of the Napoleonic wars, the town walls were no longer of use, and in the 18th century, with the maintenance of walls, gates and towers becoming more neglected Finally, due to the fact that the funds were lacking, starting in 1800, most towers were demolished, the other buildings followed soon.
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Industrial Revolution.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Aalen's economy was shaped by its rural setting. Many citizens were pursuing farming besides their craft, such as tanning. In the mid 19th century, there were twelve tanneries in Aalen, due to the proximity of Ulm, an important sales market. Other crafts that added to the economy were weaving mills, which produced linen and woolen goods, and baking of sweet pastry and gingerbread.
In Aalen, industrialisation was a slow process. The first major increase was in the 1840s, when three factories for nails and some other factories emerged. It was the link with the railway network, by the opening of the Rems Railway from Cannstatt to Wasseralfingen in 1861, that brought more industry to Aalen, along with the royal steel mill (later "Schwäbische Hüttenwerke") in Wasseralfingen. The Rems Railway's extension to Nördlingen in 1863, the opening of the Brenz Railway in 1864 and of the Upper Jagst Railway in 1866 turned Aalen into a railway hub. Furthermore, between 1901 and its shutdown in 1972, the Härtsfeld Railway connected Aalen with Dillingen an der Donau via Neresheim. Part of becoming a rail hub entailed more jobs based on the rail industry. These included, a maintenance facility, a roundhouse, an administrative office, two track maintenance shops, and a freight station with an industrial branch line. This helped shape Aalen into what today's historians call a "railwayman's town". Starting in 1866, the utilities in town all began to be upgraded. Starting with the Aalen gasworks which were opened and gas lighting was introduced. Then in 1870, a modern water supply system was started and in 1912 the mains electricity. Finally, in 1935, the first electrically powered streetlights were installed.
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To fight housing shortage during and immediately after World War I, the town set up barracks settlement areas at the "Schlauch" and "Alter Turnplatz" grounds. In spite of the industry being crippled by the Great Depression of 1929, the public baths at the Hirschbach creek where modernized, extended and re-opened in 1931.
Nazi era.
In the federal election of 1932, the Nazi Party performed below average in Aalen with 25.8% of votes compared to 33.1% on the national level, thus finishing second to the Centre Party which had 26.6% (11.9% nationwide) of the votes, and ahead of the Social Democratic Party of Germany with 19.8% (20.4%). However, the March 1933 federal elections showed that the sentiment had changed as the Nazi Party received 34.1% (still below German average 43.9% nationwide), but by far the leading vote-getter in Aalen, followed by the Centre party at 26.6% (11.3% nationwide) and the Social Democrats 18.6% (18.3% nationwide).
The democratically elected mayor Friedrich Schwarz remained in office until the Nazis removed him from office, in 1934, and replaced him by chairman of the Nazi Party town council head and brewery owner Karl Barth. Karl Barth was a provisional mayor until the more permanent solution of Karl Schübel. In August 1934, the Nazi consumer fair Braune Messe ("brown fair") was held in Aalen.
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During Nazi rule in Germany, there were many military offices constructed in Aalen, starting with, in 1936, a military district riding and driving school for Wehrkreis V. The Nazis also built an army replenishment office "(Heeresverpflegungsamt)", a branch arsenal office "(Heeresnebenzeugamt)" and a branch army ammunitions institute "(Heeresnebenmunitionsanstalt)".
Starting in 1935, mergers of neighbouring towns began. In 1938, the Oberamt was transformed into the Landkreis of Aalen and the municipality of Unterrombach was disbanded. Its territory was mostly added to Aalen, with the exception of Hammerstadt, which was added to the municipality of Dewangen. Forst, Rauental and Vogelsang were added to Essingen (in 1952 the entire former municipality of Unterrombach was merged into Aalen, with the exception of Forst, which is part of Essingen until present).
In September 1944, the "Wiesendorf" concentration camp, a subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof, was constructed nearby. It was designated for between 200 and 300 prisoners who were utilized for forced labor in industrial businesses nearby. Until the camp's dissolution in February 1945, 60 prisoners died. Between 1946 and 1957, the camp buildings were torn down; however, its foundations are still in place in house "Moltkestraße 44/46". Also, there were several other labour camps which existed where prisoners of war along with women and men from occupied countries occupied by Germany were pooled. The prisoners at these other camps had to work for the arms industry in major businesses like "Schwäbische Hüttenwerke" and the "Alfing Keßler" machine factory.
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In the civic hospital, the deaconesses on duty were gradually replaced by National Socialist People's Welfare nurses. Nazi eugenics led to compulsory sterilization of some 200 persons there.
Fortunately, Aalen avoided most of the combat activity during World War II. It was only during the last weeks of the war that Aalen became a target of air warfare, which led to the destruction and severe damage of parts of the town, the train station, and other railway installations. A series of air attacks lasting for more than three weeks reached its peak on 17 April 1945, when United States Army Air Forces planes bombed the branch arsenal office and the train station. During this raid, 59 people were killed, more than half of them buried by debris, and more than 500 lost their homes. Also, 33 residential buildings, 12 other buildings and 2 bridges were destroyed, and 163 buildings, including 2 churches, were damaged. Five days later, the Nazi rulers of Aalen were unseated by the US forces.
Post-war era.
Aalen became part of the State of Baden-Württemberg, upon its creation in 1952. Then, with the Baden-Württemberg territorial reform of 1973, the District of Aalen was merged into the Ostalbkreis district. Subsequently, Aalen became seat of that district, and in 1975, the town's borough attained its present size (see below).
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The population of Aalen exceeded the limit of 20,000, which was the requirement for to gain the status of Große Kreisstadt ("major district town") in 1946. On 1 August 1947, Aalen was declared "Unmittelbare Kreisstadt" ("immediate district town"), and with the creation of the Gemeindeordnung (municipal code) of Baden-Württemberg on 1 April 1956, it was declared "Große Kreisstadt".
Religions.
On 31 December 2008, 51.1 percent of Aalen were members of the Catholic Church, 23.9 percent were members of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church. About 25 percent belong to other or no religious community or gave no information. The district of Waldhausen was the district with the highest percentage of Roman Catholic inhabitants at 75.6 percent, and the central district was the one with the highest percentage of Evangelical-Lutheran inhabitants at 25.6 percent, as well as those claiming no religious preference at 32.5 percent.
Protestantism.
Aalen's population originally was subject to the jus patronatus of Ellwangen Abbey, and thus subject to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg.
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With the assistance of the Duke of Württemberg, in 1575, the reformation was implemented in Aalen. Subsequently, Aalen has been a predominantly Protestant town for centuries, with the exception of the years from 1628 until 1632 (see reformation section). Being an Imperial City, Aalen could govern its clerical matters on its own, so Clerics, organists and choir masters were direct subjects to the council, which thus exerted bishop-like power. There was even a proper hymn book for Aalen. After the transition to Württemberg, in 1803, Aalen became seat of a deanery, with the dean church being the Town Church (with the building constructed from 1765 to 1767 and existing until present). Georg Pfäfflin was dean in Aalen (1952–1967). He carried out the parish service with great commitment, built community centers and renovated churches. When he said goodbye to Aalen, the newspaper Schwäbische Post paid tribute to him: "A distinguished personality in intellectual life is leaving Aalen".
Another notable church in Aalen is St. John's Church, located on the cemetery and refurbished in 1561.
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As Aalen's population grew in the 20th century, more parishes were founded: St. Mark's parish with its church building of 1967 and St. Martin's parish with its church of 1974. In the borough of Unterrombach, Aalen had implemented the reformation as well, but the community remained a chapel-of-ease of Aalen. A proper church, the Christ Church, was erected in 1912 and a proper parish was established in 1947. In Fachsenfeld, the ruling family of Woellwarth resp. of Leinroden implemented the reformation. A parish church was built in 1591, however with an influx of Catholics in the 18th century, a Catholic majority was established. The other districts of present-day Aalen remained mostly catholic after the reformation, however Wasseralfingen established a Lutheran parish in 1891 and a church, St. Magdalene's Church, in 1893. In Unterkochen, after World War II, a parish was established and a church was built in 1960. All four parishes belong to the deanery of Aalen within the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg. Furthermore, in Aalen there are Old Pietistic communities.
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Catholicism.
The few Catholics of today's central district were covered by the parish of Unterkochen until the 19th century, a situation which continued for some years even after completion of St. Mary's Church in 1868, which was constructed by Georg Morlok. However, in 1872 Aalen got its proper parish again, and in 1913, a second Catholic church, Salvator's Church, was completed, and in 1969 the Holy Cross Church was also finished. In 1963, a second parish was set up, and in 1972 it got a new Church, the new St. Mary's Church, which has been erected in place of the old St. Mary's church, which had been torn down in 1968. Another church of the second parish was St. Augustine's Church, which was completed in 1970. Finally, in 1976 and 1988, St. Elizabeth's Church and St. Thomas' Church were completed. Furthermore, in 1963, the St. Michael pastoral care office was built.
Hofherrnweiler has its own Catholic church, St. Boniface's, since 1904. The villages of Dewangen, Ebnat, Hofen, Waldhausen and Wasseralfingen had remained Catholic after reformation, so old parishes and churches persist there. The "Assumption of Mary" Church in Dewangen has an early Gothic tower and a newly built nave (1875). Mary's Immaculate Conception Church in Ebnat was constructed in 1723; however the church was first mentioned in 1298.
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Hofen's Saint George's Church is a fortified church, whose current nave was built between 1762 and 1775. Alongside the church, the Late Gothic St. Odile's Chapel is standing, whose entrance has the year 1462 engraved upon it. Foundations of prior buildings have been dated to the 11th and 13th century.
St. Mary's Church of Unterkochen was first mentioned in 1248, and has served the Catholics of Aalen for a long time. Waldhausen's parish church of St. Nicholas was built between 1699 and 1716. Wasseralfingen at first was a chapel of ease for Hofen, but has since had its own chapel, St. Stephen, built. It was presumably built in 1353 and remodeled in 1832. In 1834, a proper parish was established, which built a new St. Stephen's Church. This new building utilized the Romanesque Revival architecture style and was built between 1881 and 1883, and has since remained the parish's landmark. Also, Fachsenfeld received its own church, named Sacred Heart in 1895. All Catholic parishes within Aalen are today incorporated into four pastoral care units within the "Ostalb" Deanery of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart; however these units also comprise some parishes outside of Aalen. Pastoral Care Unit two comprises the parishes of Essingen, Dewangen and Fachsenfeld, unit four comprises Hofen and Wasseralfingen, unit five comprises both parishes of Aalen's centre and Hofherrnweiler, unit five comprises Waldhausen, Ebnat, Oberkochen and Unterkochen.
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Other Christian communities.
In addition to the two major religions within Aalen, there are also free churches and other communities, including the United Methodist Church, the Baptists, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the New Apostolic Church.
Other religions.
Until the late 19th century, no Jews were documented within Aalen. In 1886 there were four Jews were living in Aalen, a number that rose to ten in 1900, fell to seven in 1905, and remained so until 1925. Upon the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, seven Jews, including two children, lived in Aalen. During the Kristallnacht in 1938, the vitrines of the three Jewish shops in the town were smashed and their proprietors imprisoned for several weeks. After their release, most Aalen Jews emigrated. The last Jews of Aalen, Fanny Kahn, was forcibly resettled to Oberdorf am Ipf, which had a large Jewish community. Today, a street of Aalen is named after her. The Jew Max Pfeffer returned from Brussels to Aalen in 1948 to continue his shop, but emigrated to Italy in 1967.
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In Aalen, there is an Islamic Ditib community, which maintains the "D.I.T.I.B. Mosque of Aalen (Central Mosque)" located at Ulmer Straße. The mosque's construction started on 30 August 2008. The Islamist Millî Görüş organisation maintains the Fatih Mosque, as well at Ulmer Straße.
Mergings.
The present-day make up of Aalen was created on 21 June 1975 by the unification of the cities of Aalen and Wasseralfingen, with the initial name of "Aalen-Wasseralfingen". This annexation made Aalen's territory one third larger than its prior size. On 1 July 1975, the name "Aalen" was revived. Prior to this merger, the town of Aalen had already annexed the following municipalities:
Population's progression and structure.
During the Middle Ages and the early modern period, Aalen was just a small town with a few hundred inhabitants. The population grew slowly due to numerous wars, famines and epidemics. It was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century where Aalen's growth accelerated. Whereas in 1803, only 1,932 people inhabited the town, in 1905 it had already increased to 10,442. The number continued to rise and reached 15,890 in 1939.
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The influx of refugees and ethnic Germans from Germany's former eastern territories after World War II pushed the population to 31,814 in 1961. The merger with Wasseralfingen on 21 June 1975 added 14,597 persons and resulted in a total population of 65,165 people. On 30 June 2005, the population, which was officially determined by the Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg, was 67,125.
The following overview shows how the population figures of the borough were ascertained. Until 1823, the figures are mostly estimates, thereafter census results or official updates by the state statistical office. Starting in 1871, the figures were determined by non-uniform method of tabulation using extrapolation.
On 31 December 2008, Aalen had precisely 66,058 inhabitants, of which 33,579 were female and 32,479 were male. The average age of Aalen's inhabitants rose from 40.5 years in 2000 to 42.4 in 2008. Within the borough, 6,312 foreigners resided, which is 9.56 percent. Of them, the largest percentage are from Turkey (38 percent of all foreigners), the second largest group are from Italy (13 percent), followed by Croatians (6 percent) and Serbs (5 percent).
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The number of married residents fell from 32,948 in 1996 to 31,357 in 2007, while the number of divorced residents rose in the same period from 2,625 to 3,859. The number of single residents slightly increased between 1996 and 2004 from 25,902 to 26,268 and fell slightly until 2007 to 26,147. The number of widowed residents fell from 5,036 in 1996 to 4,783 in 2007.
Politics.
Aalen has arranged a municipal association with Essingen and Hüttlingen.
Council.
Since the local election of 25 May 2014, the town council consists of 51 representatives having a term of five years. The seats are distributed as follows on parties and groups (changes refer to the second last election of 2004):
Mayors.
Since 1374, the mayor and the council maintain the government of the town. In the 16th century, the town had two, sometimes three mayors, and in 1552, the council had 13 members. Later, the head of the administration was reorganized several times. In the Württemberg era, the mayor's title was initially called "Bürgermeister", then from 1819 it was Schultheiß, and since 1947 it is "Oberbürgermeister". The mayor is elected for a term of eight years, and he is chairman and a voting member of the council. He has one deputy with the official title of "Erster Bürgermeister" ("first mayor") and one with the official title of "Bürgermeister" ("mayor").
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Heads of town in Aalen since 1802
Coat of arms and flag.
Aalen's coat of arms depicts a black eagle with a red tongue on golden background, having a red shield on its breast with a bent silver eel on it. Eagle and eel were first acknowledged as Aalen's heraldic animals in the seal of 1385, with the eagle representing the town's imperial immediacy. After the territorial reform, it was bestowed again by the Administrative District of Stuttgart on 16 November 1976.
The coat of arms' blazon reads: "In gold, the black imperial eagle, with a red breast shield applied to it, therein a bent silver eel" "(In Gold der schwarze Reichsadler, belegt mit einem roten Brustschild, darin ein gekrümmter silberner Aal)".
Aalen's flag is striped in red and white and contains the coat of arms.
The origin of the town's name is uncertain. Matthäus Merian (1593–1650) presumed the name to originate from its location at the Kocher river, where "frequently eels are caught", while "Aal" is German for "eel". Other explanations point to Aalen as the garrison of an ala during the Roman empire, respectively to an abridgement of the Roman name "Aquileia" as a potential name of the Roman fort, a name that nearby Heidenheim an der Brenz bore as well. Another interpretation points to a Celtic word aa meaning "water".
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Godparenthood.
On the occasion of the 1980 "Reichsstädter Tage", Aalen took over godparenthood for the more than 3000 ethnic Germans displaced from the Wischau linguistic enclave. 972 of them settled in Aalen in 1946. The "Wischau Linguistic Enclave Society" "(Gemeinschaft Wischauer Sprachinsel)" regularly organises commemorative meetings in Aalen. Their traditional costumes are stored in the Old Town Hall.
Municipal finances.
According to the 2007 municipal poll by the Baden-Württemberg chapter of the German Taxpayers Federation, municipal tax revenues totalling to 54,755 million Euros (2006) resp. 62,148 million Euros (2007) face the following debts:
Twin towns – sister cities.
Aalen is twinned with:
The "Twin Towns Society of Aalen" "(Städtepartnerschaftsverein Aalen e. V.)" promotes friendly relations between Aalen and its twin towns, which comprises mutual exchanges of sports and cultural clubs, schools and other civic institutions. On the occasion of the Reichsstädter Tage, from 11 until 13 September 2009 the first conference of twin towns was held.
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Culture and sights.
Theatre.
The "Theater der Stadt Aalen" theatre was founded in 1991 and stages 400 to 500 performances a year.
Schubart Literary Award.
The town endowed the "Schubart Literary Award" "(Schubart-Literaturpreis)" in 1955 in tribute to Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, who spent his childhood and youth in Aalen. It is one of the earliest literary awards in Baden-Württemberg and is awarded biennially to German-language writers whose work coincide with Schubart's "liberal and enlightened reasoning". It is compensated with 12,000 Euros.
Music.
Founded in 1958, the "Music School of the Town of Aalen" today has about 1,500 students taught by 27 music instructors in 30 subjects. In 1977, a symphony orchestra was founded in Aalen, which today is called "Aalener Sinfonieorchester", and consists mostly of instructors and students of the music school. It performs three public concerts annually: The "New Year's Concert" in January, the "Symphony Concert" in July and a "Christmas Concert" in December. Beyond that, music festivals regularly take place in Aalen, like the Aalen Jazzfest.
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The Aalen volunteer fire department has had a marching band since 1952, whose roots date back to 1883. In 1959, the band received its first glockenspiel from TV host Peter Frankenfeld on the occasion of a TV appearance.
A famous German rapper, designer and singer, that goes under the name of Cro, was born in Aalen and lived his early years here.
Arts.
The "Kunstverein Aalen" was founded in 1983 as a non-profit art association and today is located in the Old Town Hall.
The institution with more than 400 members focuses on solo and group exhibitions by international artists. It belongs to the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kunstvereine" (ADKV), an umbrella organization for non-profit art associations.
Museums and memorial sites.
Museums.
In the central district of Aalen, there are two museums: The "Aalen Limes Museum" "(Limesmuseum Aalen)" is located at the place of the largest Roman cavalry fort north of the Alps until about 200 AD. It opened in 1964. The museum exhibits numerous objects from the Roman era. The ruins of the cavalry fort located beside the museum is open to museum visitors. Every other year, a Roman festival is held in the area of the museum (see below).
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In the Geological-Paleontological Museum located in the historic town hall, there are more than 1500 fossils from the Swabian Jura, including ammonites, ichthyosaurs and corals, displayed.
In the Waldhausen district the "Heimatstüble" museum of local history has an exhibition on agriculture and rural living.
In the Wasseralfingen district, there are two more museums: The "Museum Wasseralfingen" comprises a local history exhibition and an art gallery including works of Hermann Plock, Helmut Schuster and Sieger Köder. Also, the stove plate collection of the "Schwäbische Hüttenwerke" steel mill is exhibited, with artists, modellers and the production sequence of a cast plate from design to final product being presented.
Memorial sites.
There is memorial stone at the "Schillerlinde" tree above Wasseralfingen's ore pit dedicated to four prisoners of the subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp killed there. Also in Wasseralfingen, in the cemetery a memorial with the Polish inscription "To the victims of Hitler" which commemorates the deceased forced labourers buried there.
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In 1954, on the "Schillerhöhe" hill the town erected a bell tower as a memorial to Aalen's victims of both world wars and to the displacement of ethnic Germans. The tower was planned by Emil Leo, the bell was endowed by Carl Schneider. The tower is open on request. Every evening at 18:45 (before 2003: at 19:45), the memorial's bell rings.
Buildings.
Churches.
The town centre is dominated by the Evangelical-Lutheran St. Nicholas' Church in the heart of the pedestrian area. The church, in its present shape being built between 1765 and 1767, is the only major Late Baroque building in Aalen and is the main church of the Evangelical-Lutheran parish of Aalen.
"St. John's Church" is located inside of St. John's cemetery in the western centre. The building presumably is from the 9th century and thus is one of Württemberg's oldest existing churches. The interior features frescos from the early 13th century.
For other churches in Aalen, see the Religions section.
Historic Town Hall with "Spy".
The Historic Town Hall was originally built in the 14th century. After the fire of 1634, it was re-constructed in 1636. This building received a clock from Lauterburg, and the Imperial City of Nuremberg donated a Carillon. It features a figurine of the "Spy of Aalen" and historically displayed other figurines, however the latter ones were lost by a fire in 1884. Since then, the Spy resides inside the reconstructed tower and has become a symbol of the town. The building was used as the town hall until 1907. Since 1977, the Geological-Paleontological Museum resides in the Historic Town Hall.
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According to legend, the citizens of Aalen owe the "Spy of Aalen" "(Spion von Aalen)" their town having been spared from destruction by the emperor's army:
The Imperial City of Aalen was once in quarrel with the emperor, and his army was shortly before the gates to take the town. The people of Aalen got scared and thus dispatched their "most cunning" one out into the enemy's camp to spy out the strength of their troops. Without any digression, he went straight into the middle of the enemy camp, which inescapably led to him being seized and presented to the emperor. When the emperor asked him what he had lost here, he answered in Swabian German: "Don't frighten, high lords, I just want to peek how many cannons and other war things you've got, since I am the spy of Aalen". The emperor laughed upon such a blatancy and "acted" naïvety, steered him all through the camp and then sent him back home. Soon the emperor withdrew with his army as he thought a town such "wise guys" reside in deserved being spared.
Old Town Hall.
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The earliest record of the Old Town Hall was in 1575. Its outside wall features the oldest known coat of arms, which is of 1664. Until 1851, the building also housed the "Krone-Post" hotel, which coincided with being a station of the Thurn und Taxis postal company. It has housed many notable persons. Thus the so-called "Napoleon Window" with its "N" painted on reminds of the stay of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805. According to legend, he rammed his head so hard it bled on this window, when he was startled by the noise of his soldiers ridiculing the "Spy of Aalen". The building was used as Aalen's town hall from 1907 until 1975. Today it houses a cabaret café and the stage of the Theatre of the Town of Aalen. The town has adopted the "Wischau Linguistic Enclave Society" due to their godparenthood and stores their traditional costumes in the building.
Bürgerspital.
The "Bürgerspital" ("Civic Asylum") is a timber-frame house erected on "Spritzenhausplatz" ("Fire Engine House Square") in 1702. Until 1873, it was used as civic hospital, then, later as a retirement home. After a comprehensive renovation in 1980 it was turned into a senior citizen's community centre.
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Limes-Thermen.
On a slope of the "Langert" mountain, south of the town, the "Limes-Thermen" ("Limes Thermae") hot springs are located. They were built in ancient Roman style and opened in 1985. The health spa is supplied with water about .
Market square.
The market square is the historic hub of Aalen and runs along about from the town hall in the south to the Historic Town Hall and the Old Town Hall in the north, where it empties into "Radgasse" alley. Since 1809, it is site of the weekly market on Wednesday and Saturday. About in front of the "Reichsstädter Brunnen" fountain at the town hall, the coats of arms of Aalen, its twinned cities and of the Wischau linguistic enclave are paved into the street as mosaic.
Market fountain.
In 1705, for the water supply of Aalen a well casing was erected at the northern point of the market square, in front of the Historic Town Hall. It was a present of duke Eberhard Louis. The fountain bore a statue of emperor Joseph I., who was enthroned in 1705 and in 1707 renewed Aalen's Imperial City privileges. The fountain was supplied via a wooden pipe. Excessive water was dissipated through ditches branched from Kocher river. When in the early 1870s Aalen's water network was constructed, the fountain was replaced by a smaller fountain about distant. In 1975, the old market fountain was re-erected in baroque style. It bears a replica of the emperor's statue, with the original statue exhibited in the new town hall's lobby. The cast iron casing plates depict the 1718 coat of arms of the Duchy of Württemberg and the coats of arms of Aalen and of the merged municipalities.
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Reichsstädter Brunnen.
The "Reichsstädter Brunnen" fountain ("Imperial Civic Fountain") is located in front of the town hall at the southern point of the market square. It was created by sculptor Fritz Nuss in 1977 to commemorate Aalen's time as an Imperial City (1360–1803). On its circumference is a frieze showing bronze figurines illustrating the town's history.
Radgasse.
The "Radgasse" ("Wheel Alley") features Aalen's oldest façade. Originally a small pond was on its side. The buildings were erected between 1659 and 1662 for peasants with citizenry privileges and renovated in the mid-1980s. The namesake for the alley was the "Wheel" tavern, which was to be found at the site of today's address "Radgasse 15".
Tiefer Stollen.
The former iron ore pit "Wilhelm" at Braunenberg hill was converted into the "Tiefer Stollen" tourist mine in order to remind of the old-day miners' efforts and to maintain it as a memorial of early industrialisation in the Aalen area. It has a mining museum open for visitors, and a mine railway takes visitors deep into the mountain. The Town of Aalen, a sponsorship association, and many citizens volunteered several thousand hours of labour to put the mine into its current state. As far as possible, things were left in the original state. In 1989, a sanitary gallery was established where respiratory diseases are treated within rest cures. Thus the Aalen village of Röthard, where the gallery is located, was awarded the title of "Place with sanitary gallery service" in 2004.
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Observatory.
The Aalen Observatory was built in 1969 as school observatory for the Schubart Gymnasium. In 2001, it was converted to a public observatory. Since then, it has been managed by the "Astronomische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Aalen" ("Aalen Astronomical Society"). It is located on Schillerhöhe hill and features two refractive telescopes. They were manufactured by Carl Zeiss AG which has its headquarters in nearby Oberkochen and operates a manufacturing works in Aalen (see below). In the observatory, guided tours and lectures are held regularly.
Windpark Waldhausen.
The "Windpark Waldhausen" wind farm began operations in early 2007. It consists of seven REpower MM92 wind turbines with a nameplate capacity of 2 MW each. The hub height of each wind turbine is , with a rotor diameter of .
Aalbäumle observation tower.
The tall "Aalbäumle" observation tower is built atop "Langert" mountain. This popular hiking destination was built in 1898 and was remodelled in 1992. It features a good view over Aalen and the Welland region, up to the Rosenstein mountain and Ellwangen. Beneath the tower, an adventure playground and a cabin is located. A flag on the tower signals whether the cabin's restaurant is open.
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Natural monuments.
The Baden-Württemberg State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Natural Conservation has laid out six protected landscapes in Aalen (the "Swabian Jura escarpment between Lautern and Aalen with adjacent territories", the "Swabian Jura escarpment between Unterkochen and Baiershofen", the "Hilllands around Hofen", the "Kugeltal and Ebnater Tal valleys with parts of Heiligental valley and adjacent territories", "Laubachtal valley" and "Lower Lein Valley with side valleys"), two sanctuary forests ("Glashütte" and "Kocher Origin"), 65 extensive natural monuments, 30 individual natural monuments and the following two protected areas:
The large "Dellenhäule" protected area between Aalen's Waldhausen district and Neresheim's Elchingen district, created in 1969, is a sheep pasture with juniper and wood pasture of old willow oaks.
The large "Goldshöfer Sande" protected area was established in 2000 and is situated between Aalen's Hofen district and Hüttlingen. The sands on the hill originated from the Early Pleistocene are of geological importance, and the various grove structures offer habitat to severely endangered bird species.
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Sports.
The football team, VfR Aalen, was founded in 1921 and played in the 2nd German League between 2012 and 2015, after which they were relegated to 3. Liga. Its playing venue is the Scholz-Arena situated in the west of the town, which bore the name "Städtisches Waldstadion Aalen" ("Civic Forest Stadium of Aalen") until 2008. From 1939 until 1945, the VfR played in the Gauliga Württemberg, then one of several parallel top-ranking soccer leagues of Germany.
The KSV Aalen wrestles in the Wrestling Federal League. It was German champion in team wrestling in 2010. Its predecessor, the "KSV Germania Aalen" disbanded in 2005, was German champion eight times and runner-up five times since 1976. Another Aalen club, the TSV Dewangen, wrestled in the Federal League until 2009.
Two American sports, American Football and Baseball, are pursued by the "MTV Aalen". Volleyball has been gaining in popularity in Aalen for years. The first men's team of "DJK Aalen" accomplished qualification for regional league in the season of 2008/09.
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The "Ostalb" ski lifts are located south of the town centre, at the northern slope of the Swabian Jura. The skiing area comprises two platter lifts that have a vertical rise of , with two runs with lengths of and a beginners' run.
Regular events.
Reichsstädter Tage.
Since 1975, "Reichsstädter Tage" ("Imperial City days") festival is held annually in the town centre on the second weekend in September. It is deemed the largest festival of the Ostwürttemberg region, and is associated with a shopping Sunday in accordance with the code. The festival is also attended by delegations from the twinned cities. On the town hall square, on Sunday an ecumenical service is held.
Roman Festival.
The international Roman Festival "(Römertage)" are held biannially on the site of the former Roman fort and the modern Limes museum. The festival's ninth event in 2008 was attended by around 11,000 people.
Aalen Jazz Festival.
Annually during the second week of November, the Aalen Jazz Festival brings known and unknown artists to Aalen. It has already featured musicians like Miles Davis, B. B. King, Ray Charles, David Murray, McCoy Tyner, Al Jarreau, Esbjörn Svensson and Albert Mangelsdorff. The festival is complemented by individual concerts in spring and summer, and, including the individual concerts, comprises around 25 concerts with a total of about 13,000 visitors.
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Economy and infrastructure.
In 2008 there were 30,008 employees liable to social insurance living in Aalen. 13,946 (46.5 percent) were employed in the manufacturing sector, 4,715 (15.7 percent) in commerce, catering, hotels and transport, and 11,306 (37.7 percent) in other services. Annually 16,000 employees commute to work, with about 9,000 living in the town and commuting out.
Altogether in Aalen there are about 4,700 business enterprises, 1,100 of them being registered in the trade register. The others comprise 2,865 small enterprises and 701 craft enterprises.
In Aalen, metalworking is the predominant industry, along with machine-building. Other industries include optics, paper, information technology, chemicals, textiles, medical instruments, pharmaceuticals, and food.
Notable enterprises include "SHW Automotive" (originating from the former "Schwäbische Hüttenwerke" steel mills and a mill of 1671 in Wasseralfingen), the "Alfing Kessler" engineering works, the precision tools manufacturer "MAPAL Dr. Kress", the snow chain manufacturer "RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz" and its subsidiary "Erlau", the "Gesenkschmiede Schneider" forging die smithery, the "SDZ Druck und Medien" media company, the "Papierfabrik Palm" paper mill, the alarm system manufacturer "Telenot", the laser show provider "LOBO electronic" and the textile finisher "Lindenfarb", which all have their seat in Aalen. A branch in Aalen is maintained by optical systems manufacturer Carl Zeiss headquartered in nearby Oberkochen.
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Transport.
Rail.
Aalen station is a regional railway hub on the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt–Nördlingen railway from Stuttgart and , the Aalen–Ulm railway from Ulm and the Goldshöfe–Crailsheim railway to Crailsheim. Until 1972, the Härtsfeld Railway connected Aalen with Dillingen an der Donau via Neresheim. Other railway stations within the town limits are "Hofen (b Aalen)", "Unterkochen", "Wasseralfingen" and Goldshöfe station. The "Aalen-Erlau" stop situated in the south is no longer operational.
Aalen station is served at two-hour intervals by trains of Intercity line 61 Karlsruhe–Stuttgart–Aalen–Nuremberg. For regional rail travel, Aalen is served by various lines of the Interregio-Express, Regional-Express and Regionalbahn categories. Since the beginning of 2019, the British company Go-Ahead took over the regional railway business of DB Regio in the region surrounding Aalen. The town also operates the Aalen industrial railway "(Industriebahn Aalen)", which carries about 250 carloads per year.
Bus.
Aalen also is a regional hub in the bus network of OstalbMobil, the transport network of the district Aalen is in. The bus lines are operated and serviced by regional companies like OVA and RBS RegioBus Stuttgart.
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Street.
The junctions of "Aalen/Westhausen" and "Aalen/Oberkochen" connect Aalen with the Autobahn A7 (Würzburg–Füssen). Federal roads ("Bundesstraßen") connecting with Aalen are B 19 (Würzburg–Ulm), B 29 (Waiblingen–Nördlingen) and B 290 (Tauberbischofsheim–Westhausen). The Schwäbische Dichterstraße ("Swabian Poets' Route") tourist route established in 1977/78 leads through Aalen.
Several bus lines operate within the borough. The "Omnibus-Verkehr Aalen" company is one of the few in Germany that use double-decker buses, it has done so since 1966. A district-wide fare system, "OstalbMobil", has been in effect since 2007.
Air transport.
Stuttgart Airport, offering international connections, is about away, the travel time by train is about 100 Minutes. At Aalen-Heidenheim Airport, located south-east of Aalen, small aircraft are permitted. Gliding airfields nearby are in Heubach and Bartholomä.
Bicycle.
Bicycle routes stretching through Aalen are the "Deutscher Limes-Radweg" ("German Limes Bicycle Route") and the "Kocher-Jagst" Bicycle Route.
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Public facilities.
Aalen houses an Amtsgericht (local district court), chambers of the Stuttgart Labour Court, a notary's office, a tax office and an employment agency. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district office, of the Aalen Deanery of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church and of the "Ostalb" deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.
The Stuttgart administrative court, the Stuttgart Labour Court and the Ulm Social Welfare Court are in charge for Aalen.
Aalen had a civic hospital, which resided in the "Bürgerspital" building until 1873, then in a building at "Alte Heidenheimer Straße". In 1942, the hospital was taken over by the district. The district hospital at the present site of "Kälblesrain", known today as "Ostalb-Klinikum", was opened in 1955.
Media.
The first local newspaper, "Der Bote von Aalen" ("The Herald of Aalen"), has been published on Wednesdays and Saturdays since 1837.
Currently, local newspapers published in Aalen are the "Schwäbische Post", which obtains its supra-regional pages from the Ulm-based Südwestpresse, and the "Aalener Nachrichten" (erstwhile "Aalener Volkszeitung"), a local edition of Schwäbische Zeitung in Leutkirch im Allgäu.
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Two of Germany's biggest Lesezirkels (magazine rental services) are headquartered in Aalen: "Brabandt LZ Plus Media" and "Lesezirkel Portal".
Regional event magazines are "Xaver", "åla", "ålakultur".
The commercial broadcasters "Radio Ton" and "Radio 7" have studios in Aalen.
Education.
A Latin school was first recorded in Aalen in 1447; it was remodeled in 1616 and also later in various buildings that were all situated near the town church, and continued up through the 19th century. In the course of the reformation, a "German school" was established in tandem, being a predecessor of the latter Volksschule school type. In 1860, the "Ritterschule" was built as a "Volksschule" for girls; the building today houses the "Pestalozzischule". In 1866, a new building was erected for the Latin school and for the Realschule established in 1840. This building, later known as the "Alte Gewerbeschule", was torn down in 1975 to free up land for the new town hall. In 1912, the "Parkschule" building was opened. It was designed by Paul Bonatz and today houses the "Schubart-Gymnasium".
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The biggest educational institution in the town is the "Hochschule Aalen", which was founded in 1962 and focuses on engineering and economics. It is attended by 5000 students on five campuses and employs 129 professors and 130 other lecturers.
The town provides three Gymnasiums, four Realschulen, two "Förderschulen" (special schools), six combined Grundschulen and Hauptschulen and eight standalone Grundschulen. The Ostalbkreis district provides three vocational schools and three additional special schools. Finally, six non-state schools of various types exist.
The German Esperanto Library (German: "Deutsche Esperanto-Bibliothek", Esperanto: "Germana Esperanto-Biblioteko") has been located in the building of the town library since 1989.
TV and radio transmission tower.
The Südwestrundfunk broadcasting company operates the Aalen transmission tower on the "Braunenberg" hill. The tower was erected in 1956, it is tall and made of reinforced concrete.
Things named after Aalen.
The following vehicles are named "Aalen":
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Alois Alzheimer
Alois Alzheimer ( , , ; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist, neuropathologist and colleague of Emil Kraepelin. He is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin later identified as Alzheimer's disease.
Early life and education.
Alzheimer was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria, on 14 June 1864, the son of Anna Johanna Barbara Sabina and Eduard Román Alzheimer. His father served in the office of notary public in the family's hometown. The family was devoutly Catholic.
The Alzheimers moved to Aschaffenburg when Alois was still young in order to give their children an opportunity to attend the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium. After graduating with Abitur in 1883, Alzheimer studied medicine at University of Berlin, University of Tübingen, and University of Würzburg. In his final year at university, he was a member of a fencing fraternity, and even received a fine for disturbing the peace while out with his team. In 1887, Alzheimer graduated from Würzburg as Doctor of Medicine.
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Career.
In 1888, Alzheimer spent five months assisting mentally ill women before he took an office in the city mental asylum in Frankfurt, the Städtische Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische (Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics). , a noted psychiatrist, was the dean of the asylum. Another neurologist, Franz Nissl, began to work in the same asylum with Alzheimer. Together, they conducted research on the pathology of the nervous system, specifically the normal and pathological anatomy of the cerebral cortex. Alzheimer was the co-founder and co-publisher of the journal "Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie", though he never wrote a book that he could call his own.
While at the Frankfurt asylum, Alzheimer also met Emil Kraepelin, one of the best-known German psychiatrists of the time. Kraepelin became a mentor to Alzheimer, and the two worked very closely for the next several years. When Kraepelin moved to Munich to work at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital in 1903, he invited Alzheimer to join him.
At the time, Kraepelin was doing clinical research on psychosis in senile patients; Alzheimer, on the other hand, was more interested in the lab work of senile illnesses. They faced many challenges involving the politics of the psychiatric community. For example, formal and informal arrangements were made among psychiatrists at asylums and universities to receive cadavers.
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In 1904, Alzheimer completed his habilitation at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he was appointed as a professor in 1908. Afterward, he left Munich for the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University in Breslau in 1912, where he accepted a post as professor of psychiatry and director of the Neurologic and Psychiatric Institute. His health deteriorated shortly after his arrival so that he was hospitalized. He died three years later.
Alzheimer is known for having a variety of medical interests including vascular diseases of the brain, early dementia, brain tumors, forensic psychiatry and epilepsy.
Auguste Deter.
In 1901, Alzheimer observed a patient at the Frankfurt asylum named Auguste Deter. The 51-year-old patient had strange behavioral symptoms, including a loss of short-term memory; she became his obsession over the coming years. Auguste Deter was a victim of the politics of the time in the psychiatric community; the Frankfurt asylum was too expensive for her husband. Herr Deter made several requests to have his wife moved to a less expensive facility, but Alzheimer intervened in these requests. Auguste D., as she was known, remained at the Frankfurt asylum, where Alzheimer had made a deal to receive her records and brain upon her death, paying for the remainder of her stay in return.
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On 8 April 1906, Auguste Deter died, and Alzheimer had her medical records and brain brought to Munich where he was working in Kraepelin's laboratory. With two Italian physicians, he used the newly developed Bielschowsky stain to identify amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. These brain anomalies became identifiers of what is now known as Alzheimer's disease.
On 3November 1906, Alzheimer discussed his findings on the brain pathology and symptoms of presenile dementia publicly, at the Tübingen meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists. The attendees at this lecture seemed uninterested in what he had to say. The lecturer that followed Alzheimer was to speak on the topic of "compulsive masturbation", which the audience of 88 individuals was so eagerly awaiting that they sent Alzheimer away without any questions or comments on his discovery of the pathology of a peculiar case of early-onset dementia.
Following his presentation, Alzheimer published a short paper summarizing his presentation; in 1907 he wrote a longer paper detailing the disease and his findings. It became known as Alzheimer's disease in 1910, when Kraepelin named it so in the chapter on "Presenile and Senile Dementia" in the 8th edition of his "Handbook of Psychiatry". By 1911, his description of the disease was being used by European physicians to diagnose patients in the US.
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Additional case descriptions by Alzheimer and his colleagues continued in the following years, including older patients than the early-onset dementia of Auguste Deter. Alzheimer eventually conceived "his" disease as mainly characterized clinically by a severe dementia with instrumental symptoms, and pathologically by extended neurofibrillary tangles. He debated fiercely with Oskar Fischer, a German-speaking pathologist from Prague, who instead emphasized on the importance of neuritic plaques and of presbyophrenia as the phenotype. Finally, it must be highlighted that Fischer–Alzheimer's nosological considerations had less impact than Kraepelin's 1910 Textbook of Psychiatry, which distinguished between "Alzheimer's disease" and senile dementia, including presbyophrenia. This textbook had a strong influence on early 20th century research on senile dementia and played a significant role in the classification of dementia in the following decades.
Personal life and death.
In 1894, Alzheimer married Cecilie Simonette Nathalie Geisenheimer, with whom he had three children. She died in 1901.
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In August 1912, Alzheimer fell ill on the train on his way to the University of Breslau, where he had been appointed professor of psychiatry in July 1912. Most probably a streptococcal infection and subsequent rheumatic fever led to valvular heart disease, heart failure and kidney failure. He died of heart failure on 19 December 1915 at age 51, in Breslau, Silesia (present-day Wrocław, Poland). His body was buried four days later, next to Cecilie's at the Frankfurt Main Cemetery.
Contemporaries.
American Solomon Carter Fuller gave a report similar to that of Alzheimer at a lecture five months before Alzheimer. Oskar Fischer was a fellow German psychiatrist, twelve years Alzheimer's junior, who reported twelve cases of senile dementia in 1907 around the time that Alzheimer published his short paper summarizing his presentation.
Alzheimer and Fischer had different interpretations of the disease, but owing to Alzheimer's short life, they never had the opportunity to meet and discuss their ideas.
Critics and rediscovery.
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