Mainz summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Mainz.

Mainz , French Mayence, City (pop., 2002 est.: 185,293), west-central Germany. Situated on the Rhine River opposite the mouth of the Main River, it was established as a Roman military camp c. 14 bc on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement. It became an archbishopric in ad 775, a free city in 1244, and the head of the Rhenish League in 1254. It was under French rule from 1797 to 1816 and then passed to Hesse-Darmstadt. It served as a fortress of the German Confederation and later of the German Empire until 1918. Severely damaged during World War II, it was rebuilt. The birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, it is the seat of Johannes Gutenberg University.

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