Hagen is the 37th largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area - 15 km south of Dortmund.
In this place the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr. The population is 200,000.
Hagen was first mentioned about 1200, the name of a farm at the junctions of Volme and Ennepe. The growth of the city began in the 19th century with the mining of coal and the production of steel in the Ruhr Area. 1928 Hagen became a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the city there is the FernUni Hagen, the only German Open University, with approximately 56,000 students (2004/05), making it the largest university in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Owing to the extensive use of water power along the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe, metal processing played an important role in the region of Hagen in and even before the 15th century.
In the 17th and 18th century, textile and steel industries as well as paper producing followed.
The autobahns A1, A45 and A46 touch Hagen.
Hagen has been an important rail junction for the southeastern Ruhr valley since the first rail line opened in 1848. The shunting yard Hagen-Vorhalle is among Germany's largest, and the central station offers connections to the ICE network of Deutsche Bahn as well as to local and S-Bahn services. Since December 2005, Hagen is also the starting point for a new service into Essen, operated by Abellio Rail.
Local traffic is handled by Hagener Straßenbahn (Hagen Tramways), which, despite its name, offers only bus services as the last tramway in Hagen was put out of service in the 1970s. All local rail and bus services operate under the transport association VRR.
Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia
Hagen | Hagen | Hagen (Westphalie) | Hagen | ჰაგენი | Hagen | Hagen | ハーゲン | Hagen (Moselle) | Hagen | Hagen