Bonn

Bonn lies on both banks of the Rhine south of Cologne, where the river leaves the narrow gorge and enters the fertile Cologne lowland. The Ubii established a settlement in the first century BCE, and the Romans later placed it within Germania Inferior. Its river harbor, roads and crossings made it a base for trade and military movement.

A religious settlement grew around the martyr shrine of Saints Cassius and Florentius, later the Bonn Minster. During the Middle Ages the town acquired markets and walls while remaining subordinate to the Archbishop of Cologne. The Rhine connected local wine, grain and crafts with Netherlands and German markets.

From 1597 to 1794 Bonn was the capital and residence of the archbishop-electors of Cologne. Their palaces and gardens shaped the town's baroque form. French revolutionary armies ended electoral rule at the end of the eighteenth century, leaving a compact river city whose importance came from the Rhine, the church and princely administration. Vineyards, gardens and river fisheries supplied a population also sustained by tolls and court expenditure. The archbishop-electors maintained tolls, gardens and a court economy that drew artisans and suppliers from the Rhineland.