Bonn, officially the Federal City of Bonn, is a city on the banks of the Rhine River in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with a population of 309,869 within its administrative limits. The city is the second official residence of the President of Germany, the Chancellor of Germany, the Bundesrat, and the first official seat of six German federal ministries. Bonn is located in the very south of the Rhine-Ruhr region, the largest metropolitan area of Germany, with over 11 million inhabitants.Founded in the first century BC as a Roman settlement, Bonn is one of Germany's oldest cities. From 1597 to 1794, Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne. In 1949, the Parliamentary Council drafted and adopted the German constitution, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn. Whilst Berlin was symbolically named the de jure capital, from 1949 to 1990, Bonn was the de facto capital of West Germany. After the Fall of the Iron Curtain, Bonn remained the seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999. In recognition of this, the former capital holds the one-of-a-kind title of Federal City (Bundesstadt).