Hesse (German: Hessen) is a state of Germany with an area of 21,110 km² and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main. Hesse contibutes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area.---------------Situated in western-central Germany, Hesse borders on (from the north-west and clockwise) the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Its principal cities include Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Gießen, Wetzlar and Limburg in the greater Rhine Main Area, Fulda in the east, as well as Kassel and Marburg an der Lahn in the north. The most important rivers in Hesse are Fulda and Eder river in the north, the Lahn in the central part of Hesse, Main and Rhine in the south. It is a hilly countryside with numerous mountain ranges, like the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus, the Vogelsberg, the Knüll or the Spessart. Most inhabitants live in the southern part of Hesse in the Rhine Main Area. The Rhine borders Hesse on the southwest without running through the state, only one old arm -- the socalled Alt-Rhein -- does. The mountain range between the Main and the Neckar river is called the Odenwald. The plain in between the rivers Main, Rhine and Neckar, and the Odenwald mountains is called the Ried.