Stadt and Amt Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf was founded in the 12th century on the east bank for the Rhine. It received city rights in 1288. The Duke of Berg built a castle there and, in 1386, made it his seat. (I cannot identify a definitive founding date for the Amt, but it was certainly no later than this.) Düsseldorf has served as an administrative capital of one sort or another almost continually since then. The Amt was relatively small in geographic terms (covering only the middle of the modern city), but very important in political and economic terms. Outside of the city itself, it was subdivided into four parishes, which doubled as political entities.