Munich is the capital of the region of Bavaria, located in the southern part of Germany. As one of Germany's three largest cities, closely tied in size to Hamburg and Berlin, Munich is home to 1.349 million people (CIA). Situated in close proximity to the Alps and the Isar River, the city today thrives as a tourist destination, financial industry, market and home to the renowned German beer festival known as "Oktoberfest" (Gray, Jeremy). Originally a monastery, dating back to the 8th century, the name of the city of Munich comes from the word München, meaning "monks". In the year 1157 the reigning Duke of Bavaria, Henry III, or Henry of the Lion, modified the functionality of the city. Targeting their location near the Isar River, Henry allowed the monks to build a bridge connecting Munich to the road from Salzburg, Austria (Encyclopedia Britannica). With this connection the monks built a market as the basis of the city. In the following decades, the Imperial Diet of Augsburg proclaimed Munich a city in 1175 (Gray, Jeremy). After the reign of Henry of Leo, the Wittelsbach family took control of Munich in 1255. The Wittelsbach bloodline continued for almost a century. During this period, Louis IV, or Louis the Bavarian, increased the square footage of the city, introducing the salt industry from Salzburg (Encyclopedia Britannica). This provided the city with an outlet for economic growth. The city continued to grow until the Thirty Years' War, a series of wars fought across central Europe, followed by the bubonic plague which dramatically decreased the population by a third. (Gray, Jeremy) The following centuries focused on the transformation of Munich into a cultural center of Germany. At the center of the document... ondence: Ramesh Gupta, ACT Mental Health Service, Phillip Health Centre, Woden, ACT, 2606, Australia-Stanton, Shelby, World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to the Land Forces of the U.S. Army Battalion to Division, 1939-1946 (revised edition, 2006), Stackpole Books p. 69, 80, 129, 135- Noakes, J. & Pridham, G. (2010) [2001]. Nazism 1919-1945: War Foreign Policy and Racial Extermination 2 (2nd ed.) - Sue Kovach Shuman, On a Munich Tour, Confronting a Dark Past, Washington Post, September 24, 2006 - Encyclopedia Britannica. "Munich (Bavaria, Germany)." Encyclopedia BritannicaOnline. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013. Web. 02 December 2013.- CIA. "Central Intelligence Agency." The book of facts about the world. Central Intelligence Agency, October 30, 2013. Web. November 30, 2013.- Gray, Jeremy. "Bavaria." Discover Germany. Np: Lonely Planet, 2007. 285-87. Press.