County of Bentheim (district)

County of Bentheim (German: Grafschaft Bentheim) is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts of Steinfurt and Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Grafschaft Bentheim
District
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
Capital	Nordhorn
Government
• District admin.	Uwe Fietzek
Area
• Total	981 km2 (379 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2023)[1]
• Total	144,212
• Density	150/km2 (380/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	NOH
Website	grafschaft.de

History

The District has roughly the same territory as the County of Bentheim, a state of the Holy Roman Empire that was dissolved in 1803.

Geography

Railway station Bad Bentheim

The district's north-western region named Niedergrafschaft [de] (low county) protrudes into Dutch territory, and borders it to the north, west and south. The Vechte River (Dutch Vecht) traverses the district from south to north and flows into the Netherlands.

Coat of arms

The arms are identical to the arms of the historic County of Bentheim. The origin of these arms is unknown.

Towns and municipalities

Clickable map of towns and municipalities in the district

Towns	Samtgemeinden
Bad Bentheim Nordhorn Free municipalities Wietmarschen	1. Emlichheim Emlichheim1 Hoogstede Laar Ringe 2. Neuenhaus Esche Georgsdorf Lage Neuenhaus1, 2 Osterwald	3. Schüttorf Engden Isterberg Ohne Quendorf Samern Schüttorf1, 2 4. Uelsen Getelo Gölenkamp Halle Itterbeck Uelsen1 Wielen Wilsum
	1seat of the Samtgemeinde; ²town