Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hesse in Germany. It is located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Metropolitan Area. It is also one the few cities (as opposed to smaller towns) in Germany which do not lie close to a river or coast.
The city of Darmstadt was founded by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen in 1330, though settlement in the area is known to have been as early as the late 11th century. Later it is historically dominated by administration (being the seat of the former Landgraves of Hessen-Darmstadt), with industry (especially chemicals) as well as large science and tertiary education sectors becoming important from the early 20th century onwards. The element Darmstadtium (atomic number 110) is named after Darmstadt, having been synthetisized in a research facility nearby.
