Hohenzollern was a de facto province

Provinces of Prussia

The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...

 of the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

. It was created in 1850 by joining the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

-Noble jurisdictions:Prince Karl Eitel of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and descendants of his nephew Ferdinand ruled over the Kingdom of Romania, as Karl Eitel did not have children...

 and Hohenzollern-Hechingen

Hohenzollern-Hechingen

Hohenzollern-Hechingen was a county and principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to a branch of the senior Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty.-History:...

 after both formerly independently ruling Catholic princely lines of the House of Hohenzollern

House of Hohenzollern

The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...

 had handed over their sovereignty to Prussia, ruled by the Protestant branch of the of Hohenzollern. It used the same coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 as the main coat of arms of the ruling house.

Hohenzollern consisted of a single district, the Regierungsbezirk

Regierungsbezirk

In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...

 Sigmaringen. The last census in 1939 resulted 74,000 inhabitants; the capital was Sigmaringen

Sigmaringen

Sigmaringen is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district....

. While Hohenzollern enjoyed all the rights of a full-fledged province of Prussia, including representation in the Prussian parliament, its military matters were governed by the Rhine Province

Rhine Province

The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...

. The Regierungsbezirk Sigmaringen was further subdivided into seven Oberamtsbezirke, although only four of these remained by 1925, when they were merged and re-divided as two new Kreise.

In 1946, the French military administration made it a part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern

Württemberg-Hohenzollern

Württemberg-Hohenzollern was a historical state of West Germany. It was created in 1945 as part of the French occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen...

. Hohenzollern has been part of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 federal state of Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 since 1952.

After regional reforms in 1973 the Hohenzollern borders were finally eliminated, with the region now belonging to the districts of Sigmaringen

Sigmaringen (district)

Sigmaringen is a district in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Reutlingen, Biberach, Ravensburg, Bodensee, Constance and Zollernalbkreis.-History:...

 and Zollernalbkreis

Zollernalbkreis

The Zollernalbkreis is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The district is located in the Swabian Alb, and contains the second highest elevation of this mountains, the 1011 meter high Oberhohenberg...

, which also contain land that was not previously Hohenzollern territory.