History
Early settlements existed in the 13th century, but the town was officially founded in 1856.
The word “Bergisch” in the name does not originate from its location in the earldom of Berg and was not added to distinguish it from Mönchengladbach as believed by many people, but from the earls who gave their name to the region. At the start of the 12th century the earls of "Berg" settled in the area and it became the grand duchy of "Berg". This is where the first part of the name (Bergisch) comes from.
The second part of the name is a lot harder to explain in English, as it originates from Low German (Bergisches Platt). "Gladbach" evolved from the stream "Strunde", which received an artificial river bed in early medieval times. Basically the river was "laid" which means "gelaat" in "Bergisch Platt", the slang/dialect of the region. During the centuries the word "gelaat" evolved and was rounded by the people to "glad". The second part of the word, "bach" stands for stream, meant is the "Strunde". Basically "Gladbach" means stream with an artificially laid river bed.
In 1975 the city incorporated the neighbouring Bensberg and when it reached a population of 100,000 in 1977 it received the rank of a city.
Read more about this topic: Bergisch Gladbach
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