Erlangen, city, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. It lies at the junction of the Schwabach and Regnitz rivers, just north of Nürnberg. Founded in the 8th century, Erlangen was transferred from the bishopric of Würzburg to that of Bamberg in 1017 and then was sold to the king of Bohemia in 1361. Chartered in 1398, it passed to the Hohenzollern burgraves of Nürnberg in 1402 and to Bavaria in 1810. It owes the foundations of its prosperity chiefly to the French Protestant (Huguenot) refugees who settled in 1686 in “Christian Erlang,” which united with Erlangen in 1824.
Formerly, dating from the time of the Huguenots, the city was a centre for the production of gloves, hats, and drapery. Modern industry includes the manufacture of electromedical apparatuses and computers, as well as computer software products. The city is also a centre of research, tied to the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (founded in 1742 at Bayreuth and moved to Erlangen in 1743). Erlangen has a port on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.
The city is divided into an Altstadt (“Old Town”) and a Neustadt (“New Town”), Christian Erlang. Notable buildings include the town hall (1731) and the former palace (1700–04) of the margraves of Kulmbach-Bayreuth, now the main building of the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. Pop. (2003 est.) 102,449.