Freiburg im Breisgau ; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as of December 31, 2018), Freiburg is the fourth-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Karlsruhe. The population of the Freiburg metropolitan area was 656,753 in 2018. In the south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg.