Geography
Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau, in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm and Nagold and the rivers Nagold and Enz. Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" (Drei-Taeler Stadt) or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" (Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia). The early settlement (in fact much earlier than the current centers Stuttgart and Karlsruhe) by the Romans, who constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway, is also due to this extraordinary geography. Due to this location, Pforzheim later on became a center for the timber-rafting trade which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and then the Neckar and Rhine to, among other destinations, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding and the construction of Amsterdam on poles in a swamp.
Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz), Eisingen, Engelsbrand, Friolzheim, Heimsheim, Ispringen, Kämpfelbach, Keltern, Kieselbronn, Königsbach-Stein, Mönsheim, Neuenbürg, Neuhausen, Neulingen, Niefern-Öschelbronn, Ölbronn-Dürrn, Remchingen, Straubenhardt, Tiefenbronn, Wiernsheim, Wimsheim and Wurmberg.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)