DUSSELDORF, a government district (Regierungsbezirk) of Rhenish Prussia, Germany. Area 5,676 sq.km. Pop. 4, 076,224. (2) a town, the capital of the district. Pop. 617. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine 24 m. north west (by rail) from Cologne. It was long a place of small im portance until, in 1288, it was raised to the rank of a town by count Adolf of Berg. It suffered severely in the Thirty Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, but recovered its prosperity under the patronage of the elector John William of the Palatinate who dwelt in the castle many years until his death in 1716. In 1795 the town after a violent bombardment was sur rendered to the French; and after the peace of Luneville it was deprived of its fortifications. In 1805 it became the capital of the Napoleonic duchy of Berg; and in 1815 it passed with the duchy into Prussian possession. After 187o, it developed into an important industrial and commercial town. It is the commercial and manufacturing centre of the Wupper and Ruhr areas and is a great centre of the metallurgical, engineering, machinery, glass and chemical industries; other important industries are paper, enamel, weaving, spinning, silk, dyes, furniture and brewing. It is an important railway junction. The extensive quays provide accommodation for large steamers sailing to England, Northern Europe and certain Mediterranean ports. Besides the old ducal palace (restored in 1846) there are many public buildings of im portance. The famous Academy of Painting founded by the elec tor Charles Theodore in 1767 was reorganized by King Frederick William III. in 1822. Among the celebrities of the town are Jo hann Georg and Frederick Henrich Jacobi; Heinrich Heine and Peter von Cornelius.
A little to the north of the town lies the village of Diisselthal, with Count von der Recke-Volmerstein's establishment for home less children in the former Trappist monastery, and in the suburb of Pempelfort is the Jagerho f, the residence at one time of Prince Frederick of Prussia, and afterwards of the prince of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen.
See H. Ferber, Historische Wanderung durch die alte Stadt Dussel dorf (Dusseldorf, 1889-90) ; Wilden, Grundlagen and Triebkrdfte der Wirtschaft in Dusseldorf (1923) ; H. Stolz, Dusseldorf (1925).