Districts of Prussia

Then part of a modern and highly effective public administration structure, they served as a model for the present-day districts of Germany In the aftermath of World War I, the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy (Belgium) were annexed by Belgium in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.

The provinces were internally divided into up to six Regierungsbezirke and further into the districts on local level, headed by a Landrat administrator.

The districts usually took the name of their capital (Kreisstadt), seat of the administrative office (Landratsamt).

A typical district had a rough diameter of 20 to 40 miles (32 to 64 km), in order to ensure that even the remotest villages could be reached by carriage within a day, though few were circular in shape.

Often these cities also served as the administrative seat responsible for the smaller towns and villages incorporated into the surrounding rural districts, which then were called (Landkreise) for the purpose of differentiation (e.g. Stadtkreis and Landkreis Königsberg).