Map (1861) and History of the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany

At the beginning of the 19th century, Baden was a margraviate, with an area of barely 1300 sq mi (3,400 km²) and a population of 210,000. Subsequently the grand duchy acquired more territory so that, by 1905, it had 5823 sq mi (15,082 km²)[2] and a population of 2,010,728,[2] of whom 61% were Roman Catholics, 37% Protestants, 1.5% Jews, and the remainder of other religions. Of the population about half at that time were rural, living in communities of less than 2,000, while the density of the rest was about 330 /sq mi (130 /km2).
The country was divided into the following districts:
Mannheim district had the towns Mannheim, and Heidelberg
Karlsruhe district included Karlsruhe and Pforzheim
Freiburg im Breisgau district included Freiburg
Konstanz district had Konstanz
The capital of the duchy was Karlsruhe, and among important towns other than the above, there were Rastatt, Baden-Baden, Bruchsal, Lahr and Offenburg. The population was most thickly clustered in the north and near the Swiss city of Basel. The inhabitants of Baden are of various origins, those to the south of Murg being descended from the Alemanni and those to the north from the Franks, while the Swabian Plateau derives its name from the adjacent German tribe (Schwaben) living in Württemberg.
Geography[edit]

Baden as it stood from 1806 to 1945:
Grand Duchy of Baden
County Palatine of the Rhine (part of Kingdom of Bavaria)
Grand Duchy of Hesse
Hohenzollern (part of Kingdom of Prussia from 1850)
Kingdom of Württemberg
French Empire (Kingdom from 1814–48, etc)
Swiss Confederation
The Grand Duchy had an area of 15,081 km2 (5,823 sq mi)[2] and consisted of a considerable portion of the eastern half of the fertile valley of the Rhine and of the mountains which form its boundary.
The mountainous part was by far the most extensive, forming nearly 80% of the whole area. From Lake Constance in the south to the River Neckar in the north is a portion of the Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald), which is divided by the valley of the Kinzig into two districts of different elevation. To the south of the Kinzig the mean height is 945 m (3,100 ft)), and the highest summit, the Feldberg, reaches about 1,493 m (4,898 ft), while to the north the mean height is only 640 metres (2,100 ft), and the Hornisgrinde, the culminating point of the whole, does not exceed 1,164 metres (3,819 ft). To the north of the Neckar is the Odenwald Range, with a mean of 439 metres (1,440 ft), and in the Katzenbuckel, an extreme of 603 metres (1,978 ft). Lying between the Rhine and the Dreisam is the Kaiserstuhl, an independent volcanic group, nearly 16 km in length and 8 in breadth, the highest point of which is 536 metres (1,759 ft).
The greater part of Baden belongs to the basin of the Rhine, which receives upwards of twenty tributaries from the highlands; the north-eastern portion of the territory is also watered by the Main and the Neckar. A part, however, of the eastern slope of the Black Forest belongs to the basin of the Danube, which there takes its rise in a number of mountain streams. Among the numerous lakes which belonged to the duchy are the Mummelsee, Wildersee, Eichenersee and Schluchsee, but none of them is of any size. Lake Constance (Bodensee) belongs partly to the German federal states (Länder) of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, furthermore to Austria and Switzerland.
Owing to its physical configuration Baden presents great extremes of heat and cold. The Rhine valley is the warmest district in Germany, but the higher elevations of the Black Forest record the greatest degrees of cold experienced in the South. The mean temperature of the Rhine valley is approximately 10°C and that of the high table-land 6°C. July is the hottest and January the coldest month.
The mineral wealth of Baden was not great, but iron, coal, lead and zinc of excellent quality were produced, and silver, copper, gold, cobalt, vitriol and sulfur were obtained in small quantities. Peat was found in abundance, as well as gypsum, china clay, potter’s earth and salt. The mineral springs of Baden are still very numerous and have acquired great celebrity, those of Baden-Baden, Badenweiler, Antogast, Griesbach, Friersbach and Peterthal being the most frequented.

In the valleys the soil is particularly fertile, yielding luxuriant crops of wheat, maize, barley, spelt, rye, beans, potatoes, flax, hemp, hops, beetroot and tobacco; and even in the more mountainous part, rye, wheat and oats are extensively cultivated. There is a considerable extent of pasture-land, and the rearing of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats is extensively practised. Of game, deer, boar, snipe and wild partridges are fairly abundant, while the mountain streams yield trout of excellent quality. Viticulture is increasing, and the wines continue to sell well. The Baden wine region is Germany’s third largest in terms of vineyard surface. The gardens and the orchards supply an abundance of fruit, especially sweet cherrys, plums, apples and walnuts, and bee-keeping is practised throughout the country. A greater proportion of Baden than any other south German state is occupied by forests. In these the predominant trees are European Beech and Silver Fir, but many others, such as Sweet Chestnut, Scots Pine, Norway Spruce and the exotic Coast Douglas-fir, are well represented. A third, at least, of the annual timber production is exported.
Industries[edit]

Around 1910, 56.8% of the region’s land mass was cultivated and 38% was forested. Before 1870, the agricultural sector was responsible for the bulk of the region’s wealth, but this was superseded by industrial production. The chief products were machinery, woollen and cotton goods, silk ribbons, paper, tobacco, china, leather, glass, clocks, jewellery, and chemicals. Beet sugar was also manufactured on a large scale, as were wooden ornaments and toys, music boxes and organs.

There are numerous educational institutions in Baden. All public education is state controlled.There are five universities, one traditionally Protestant in Heidelberg, one traditionally Roman Catholic in Freiburg im Breisgau, one each in Konstanz and Mannheim, and a well-known technical university in Karlsruhe.
The grand-duke was a Protestant; under him, the Evangelical Church was governed by a nominated council and a synod consisting of a “prelate”, 48 elected and 7 nominated lay and clerical members. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Freiburg is Metropolitan of the Upper Rhine.
Grand Dukes of Baden[edit]

1806–1811: Charles Frederick (* 1728; † 1811)
1811–1818: Charles (* 1786; † 1818)
1818–1830: Louis I (* 1763; † 1830)
1830–1852: Leopold (* 1790; † 1852)
1852–1858: Louis II (* 1824; † 1858)
1858–1907: Frederick I (* 1826; † 1907), (since 1852 Regent, since 1856 with the title Grand Duke)
1907–1918: Frederick II (* 1857; † 1928)
Minister of state 1809–1918[edit]

1809–1810: Sigismund von Reitzenstein
1810–1810: Conrad Karl Friedrich von Andlau-Birseck
1810–1812: Christian Heinrich Gayling von Altheim
1812–1817: Karl Christian von Berckheim
1817–1818: Sigismund von Reitzenstein
1818–1831: Wilhelm Ludwig Leopold Reinhard von Berstett
1832–1833: Sigismund von Reitzenstein
1833–1838: Ludwig Georg von Winter
1838–1839: Karl Friedrich Nebenius
1839–1843: Friedrich Landolin Karl von Blittersdorf
1843–1845: Christian Friedrich von Boeckh
1845–1846: Karl Friedrich Nebenius
1846–1848: Johann Baptist Bekk
1848–1849: Karl Georg Hoffmann
1849–1850: Friedrich Adolf Klüber
1850–1856: Ludwig Rüdt von Collenberg-Bödigheim
1856–1860: Franz von Stengel
1861–1866: Anton von Stabel
1866–1868: Karl Mathy
1868–1876: Julius Jolly
1876–1893: Ludwig Karl Friedrich Turban
1893–1901: Franz Wilhelm Nokk
1901–1905: Carl Ludwig Wilhelm Arthur von Brauer
1905–1917: Alexander von Dusch
1917–1918: Heinrich von Bodman