Editing Lower Franconia (section)

==History==
After the founding of the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]] the state was totally reorganised and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative government regions (German: {{lang|de|Regierungsbezirke}}, singular {{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk]]}}), in Bavaria called {{lang|de|Kreise}} (singular: {{lang|de|Kreis}}). They were created in the fashion of the French [[departement]]s, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers. 

In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of [[German Tyrol|Tyrol]], addition of the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]]), the number of Kreise was reduced to 8. One of these was the [[Untermainkreis]] (Lower Main District). In 1837 king [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]] renamed the Kreise after historical territorial names and tribes of the area. This also involved some border changes or territorial swaps. Thus the name Untermainkreis changed to [[Lower Franconia]] and [[Aschaffenburg (district)|Aschaffenburg]], but the city name was dropped in the middle of the 20th century, leaving just Lower Franconia.

From 1933, the regional Nazi ''[[Gauleiter]]'', [[Otto Hellmuth]], (who had renamed his party Gau ''"Mainfranken"'') insisted on renaming the government district {{lang|de|Mainfranken}} as well. He encountered resistance from Bavarian state authorities but finally succeeded in having the name of the district changed, effective 1 June 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Mainfranken|title=Mainfranken – Historisches Lexikon Bayerns|website=www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de|language=de}}</ref> After 1945 the name {{lang|de|Unterfranken}} was restored.

The municipal reform ({{lang|de|Kreisreform}}) of June 1972 consolidated the 22 country districts of Lower Franconia into nine.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! New district || Former district(s)
|-
| Aschaffenburg || Aschaffenburg, [[Alzenau]]
|-
| Bad Kissingen || Bad Kissingen, Bad Brückenau, [[Hammelburg]]
|-
| Haßberge || [[Ebern]], [[Haßfurt]], [[Hofheim, Bavaria|Hofheim in Unterfranken]], part of Gerolzhofen
|-
| Kitzingen || Kitzingen, part of Gerolzhofen
|-
| Main-Spessart || Gemünden, [[Karlstadt am Main|Karlstadt]], [[Lohr am Main|Lohr]], part of [[Marktheidenfeld]]
|-
| Miltenberg || Miltenberg, [[Obernburg]], part of Marktheidenfeld
|-
| Rhön-Grabfeld || [[Bad Neustadt an der Saale]], [[Bad Königshofen|Königshofen]], [[Mellrichstadt]]
|-
| Schweinfurt || Schweinfurt, part of Gerolzhofen
|-
| Würzburg || Würzburg, Ochsenfurt, part of Gerolzhofen, part of Marktheidenfeld
|}


Unterfranken is the north-west part of Franconia and consists of three district-free cities ({{lang|de|Kreisfreie Städte}}) and nine country districts ({{lang|de|Landkreise}}).

The major portion of the [[Franconia (wine region)|Franconian wine region]] is situated in Lower Franconia.