Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in the context of Provinces of Prussia

The Rhine Province (German: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia (Rheinpreußen) or synonymous with the Rhineland (Rheinland), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its capital was Koblenz, with the provincial assembly meeting in Düsseldorf. In 1939 it had 8 million inhabitants. The Province of Hohenzollern was militarily associated with the Oberpräsident of the Rhine Province. Also, for a short period of time, the Province of Hohenzollern was indirectly and de facto controlled by the Rhine Province.

The Rhine Province was bounded on the north by the Netherlands, on the east by the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau, and the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, on the southeast by the Palatinate (a district of the Kingdom of Bavaria), on the south and southwest by Lorraine, and on the west by Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire between 1521 and 1614, formed from the personal union of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves and Berg.

The name was resurrected after the Congress of Vienna for the province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg of the Kingdom of Prussia between 1815 and 1822. Its territory is today split between the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch province of Gelderland.

Cologne is one of the five administrative districts (Regierungsbezirk) of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the south-west of the state and covers the hills of the Eifel as well as the Bergisches Land.

It was created on 30 April 1815, as district of the province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, when Prussia reorganised its internal administration. In 1972 the Aachen district was incorporated.