Circle of the Rhine

Rheinkreis Pfalz (from 1837)
Regierungsbezirk of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Free State of Bavaria
1816–1946
Coat of arms
Capital	Speyer
Area transferred
• 1920	Saarpfalz-Kreis to Saar Basin
History
• Treaty of Munich	1 May 1816
• Palatine uprising	1 May 1849
• Occupation of the Rhineland	1 December 1918
• Establishment of Territory of the Saar Basin	10 January 1920
• Establishment of Rhineland-Palatinate	30 August 1946
Preceded by Succeeded by Austrian Empire Rhineland-Palatinate Saar Protectorate

The Circle of the Rhine^[1] or Rhine Circle (German: Rheinkreis), sometimes the Bavarian Rheinkreis (Bayerischer Rheinkreis or Baierischer Rheinkreis), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 (later 8) administrative districts of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Before the French revolutionary wars (1792) most of the land had belonged to the Electoral Palatinate. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it was initially promised to the Austrian Empire after having been under a provisional joint Austro-Bavarian administration since 1814. However, in the Treaty of Munich (1816), Austria relinquished the territory to Bavaria.

In 1837, the Circle of the Rhine was renamed the Palatinate (Pfalz).^[2][3] It was also referred to as the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz).^[4] The territory remained Bavarian until 30 August 1946, with the exception of the area detached in 1920, which roughly corresponded to the present day Saarpfalz-Kreis. It then became part of the newly formed federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.