The Palatinate (; Palatine German: Palz), or the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), is a historical region of Germany. Prior to World War 2, it was known as Rhenish Bavaria; as a state of the Holy Roman Empire, it was known as the Lower Palatinate (Unterpfalz), which designated only the western part of the Electorate of the Palatinate (Kurfürstentum Pfalz), as opposed to the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz). It occupies roughly the southernmost quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), covering an area of with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines (Pfälzer). Geography The Palatinate borders Saarland in the west, historically also comprising the state's Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with the Rhineland region. The eastern border with Hesse and the Baden region runs along the Upper Rhine river, while the left bank, with Mainz and Worms as well as the Selz basin around Alzey, belong to the Rhenish Hesse region. In the south, the German-French border separates the Palatinate from Alsace. One-third of the region is covered by the Palatinate Forest (Pfälzerwald), including the Palatinate Forest Nature Park popular with hikers. With about , it is Germany's largest contiguous forested area, and is part of the Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve. The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. Its highest mountain is the Donnersberg with a height of , situated in the North Palatine Uplands near Kirchheimbolanden. Most of the major Palatinate towns (Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt) lie in the lower eastern part of the Upper Rhine Plain down to the River Rhine. Here the German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstraße) passes through the Palatinate wine region. It is one of the greatest wine-producing regions in Germany, and in the last two decades has become well known for its numerous prizewinning white and reds of highest quality produced by a number of talented young winemakers. Major rivers include the Upper Rhine tributaries Lauter, Queich and Speyerbach, as well as Schwarzbach and Glan in the west. Historically the Electoral Palatinate and several other territories were part of the Palatinate, but today belong to other German territories. Subdivision The Palatinate is divided into four non-administrative sub-regions, comprising the following rural districts and independent towns and cities: North Palatinate (Nordpfalz), i.e. the sparsely inhabited North Palatine Uplands, made up of Donnersbergkreis (KIB), including the small