In the meantime they have become closely knit and Rhineland-Palatinate has acquired its own identity. Initially one of the poorer regions, it is today the state with the largest export quota and headquarters of Europe's biggest chemical corporation, BASF in Ludwigshafen, and the country's most extensive TV and radio network, Channel II, based in Mainz. Every year seven million visitors to Rhineland-Palatinate seek recreation or curative treatment in such spas as Bad Neuenahr, Bad Ems or Bad Bertrich. Many of the region's mineral-waters gush from springs in the volcanic rocks of the Central Uplands. The vineyards on the Rhine, the Ahr and the Mosel yield two thirds of the country's wine.
Extensive forests are a major source of employment.
Yesterday and today. The Rhineland was settled by Celts, Romans, Burgundians and Franks. In Speyer, Worms and Mainz, all on the Rhine, are to be found the great imperial cathedrals of the Middle Ages. The elector of Mainz was arch chancellor of the 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation'. It was in Worms too, at the imperial diet of 1521, that the reformer Martin Luther refused to recant his theses.