The Duchy of Lower Bavaria was created for the first time with the
First Bavarian Partition in 1255 under
Duke Henry, though the Duchy was not identical in extent to the current territory. After the reunification in 1340, Bavaria was divided again in 1349. In 1353
Bavaria-Straubing and
Bavaria-Landshut were created in Lower Bavaria. In 1505 Bavaria was permanently reunited. For administrative purposes, Bavaria was split into (plural of ''''). Lower Bavaria consisted of the Rentamt Landshut and Rentamt Straubing. Control of Lower Bavaria was one of the issues involved in the
War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778-9. After the founding of the
Kingdom of Bavaria following the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire in 1805, the state was totally reorganized. In 1808 it was divided into 15 administrative districts (, singular
Regierungsbezirk), in Bavaria called (singular
Kreis). They were created in the same fashion as the French
departements, being fairly similar to each other in size and population, and named after their main rivers. In the following years, territorial changes (such as the loss of
Tyrol [to
Italy and
Austria] and the addition of the
Palatinate) reduced the number of districts to eight. One of these was the
Unterdonaukreis (Lower Danube District). In 1837, King
Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical territorial names and tribes. This also involved border changes and territorial exchanges. Thus the Unterdonaukreis became Lower Bavaria. The district capital was moved from
Passau to
Landshut which was added from
Isarkreis. Lower Bavaria and
Upper Palatinate were consolidated in 1932 into one administrative district. In 1954 the two separate districts were restored. In 1972 Lower Bavaria was reshaped when the rural districts it included were also reshaped. ==References==