Historical affiliations of the territory reflect in the coat of arms. They show the symbols of the three of the historical states to which the area of the district belonged. The Bishopric of Würzburg is represented by the red and white field divided by a line with three peaks, which was originally the coat of arms of Franconia. The wheel is the symbol of the Archbishopric of Mainz; the cross is the symbol of the Teutonic Order.[3]
The district originated in 1973 with the merging of the districts of Bad Mergentheim, Tauberbischofsheim and parts of the district of Buchen. At first called the district of Tauber, it took its current name, the district of Main-Tauber, in 1974. The name comes from the two primary rivers in the district, the Main and the Tauber.
Geography
The Main forms the northern border of the district, while its affluent Tauber flows through the district from southeast to north. The north of the district covers part of the Odenwald mountains, while the southern area is called Bauland.
Area
The Main-Tauber Kreis has a total area of 1304.1km², that is distributed as follows:[4]
As of 31 December 2022, 134,745 people live in the district, which corresponds to 1.19% of Baden-Württemberg's total population. Foreign born residents make up 12 percent of the population and people aged 65 or older make up 23 percent.[5]
Infrastructure
Roads
The total length of the road network in the district is about 909 kilometres, of which about half (463 km) are county roads (Kreisstraßen), just over a third (347 km) are state roads (Landesstraßen), and about 10 per cent (99 km) are federal highways (Bundestraßen).[4]
Public transport
Around 110 public transport buses are operated by the VGMT (Verkehrsgesellschaft Main-Tauber) in the district. The VGMT was founded 1997 and serves around 900 to 1000 stations today.[6][7]
International relations
Comparable with the concept of twin towns, the Kreis has partnerships with:[8]