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GERMANY
Country Profile
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Location: Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
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Population: 82,797,408 (July 2000 est.)
Capital: Berlin
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Ethnics Groups: German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Russian, Greek, Polish, Spanish)
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Languages: German
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Religions: Protestant 38%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 1.7%, unaffiliated or other 26.3%
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Country name:
conventional long form: Federal Republic of Germany
conventional short form: Germany
local long form: Bundesrepublik Deutschland
local short form: Deutschland
Government type: federal republic
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Montana
Land boundaries:
total: 3,621 km
Border countries: Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km
Coastline: 2,389 km
Climate: temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm foehn wind
Terrain: lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south
Natural resources: iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land
Natural hazards: flooding
Administrative divisions: 16 states (Laender, singular - Land); Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen
Independence: 18 January 1871 (German Empire unification); divided into four zones of occupation (UK, US, USSR, and later, France) in 1945 following World War II; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) proclaimed 23 May 1949 and included the former UK, US, and French zones; German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) proclaimed 7 October 1949 and included the former USSR zone; unification of West Germany and East Germany took place 3 October 1990; all four powers formally relinquished rights 15 March 1991
National holiday: German Unity Day (Day of Unity), 3 October (1990)
Constitution: 23 May 1949, known as Basic Law; became constitution of the united German people 3 October 1990
Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Proverbs from Germany
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Too clever is stupid. |
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God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them. |
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Begin to weave and God will give the thread. |
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A lean agreement is better than a fat lawsuit. |
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Flatters, like cats, lick and then scratch. |
We live somehere here in BAVARIA (Bayern), the biggest among the 16 federal states of Germany. Our rural district belongs to Munich and our region is situated far-down on the south-eastern part... some 15-kms. away to the boundary between Germany and Austria.
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![[Country map of Germany]](http://mapsandflags.com/maps/gm-map.jpg)
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Deutschland: Bundesländer
Germany's 16 Federal States
Die 16 Bundesländer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Most of Germany's 16 Bundesländer (states) are relatively new creations, formed after 1945. Throughout history the borders of Germany's political divisions have constantly changed, but after World War II, old provinces were rearranged to create new ones. For example, Baden and Württemberg were joined to form a new Bundesland called Baden-Württemberg, one of several "hyphenated" Länder. Only Bavaria, Saxony, and the city-states of Bremen and Hamburg predate the states created in 1945. Even Berlin was soon split in half with the creation of East Germany in 1949. Below you'll find the 16 German states listed alphabetically in German (with English names if different from the German) with their capital cities (Landeshauptstädte) and a brief summary.
Baden-Württemberg
Capital: Stuttgart. Baden-Württemberg is one of Germany's most prosperous states with automakers Daimler Chrysler and Porsche centered around Stuttgart, precision engineering in the Black Forest, oil refining around Karlsruhe, and industry in Mannheim and Heidelberg. There are important universities in Heidelberg (1386) and Freiburg.
Bayern (Bavaria, Freistaat Bayern)
Capital: München (Munich). Bavaria is the largest German state. The "Free State of Bavaria" is also Germany's oldest political entity with a history going back to at least the 6th century. Germany's tallest peak, the Zugspitze, is located in the Bavarian Alps.
Berlin
Capital: Berlin. Long a symbol of Germany's division, Berlin is now the dynamic capital city of reunited Germany. Since reunification, Berlin has once again become Germany's main cultural, artistic, and political center.
Brandenburg
Capital: Potsdam. Brandenburg, one of Germany's most thinly populated states (2.5 million), surrounds Berlin. Because of its small population, there have been proposals to merge Berlin and Brandenburg into one state, with Potsdam as the capital, but a 1996 referendum rejected that idea. However, the two states' broadcast services (SFB/ORB) were merged into Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) in 2003.
Bremen (Freie Hansestaat Bremen)
Capital: Bremen. One of Germany's three city-states (Berlin and Hamburg are the other two), Bremen is the second oldest city republic still in existence (after San Marino) and was first mentioned in 782. In 1358 Bremen became a member of the Hanseatic League (Hanse).
Hamburg (Freie und Hansestaat Hamburg)
Capital: Hamburg. One of Germany's three city-states (Berlin and Bremen are the other two), Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and the country's biggest port.
Hessen (Hesse)
Capital: Wiesbaden. Hesse is home to the Rhein-Main region of business and industry. The state's largest city, Frankfurt am Main, has often been called Germany's "secret capital" because of its banking, transportation industry (Frankfurt, aka "Bankfurt," has one of Europe's busiest airports and is a major rail hub), and general economic power. The state of Hesse was created in 1945/46 by combining parts of two historic political entities, Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Nassau.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
Capital: Schwerin
Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)
Capital: Hannover (Hanover)
Nordhrein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Capital: Düsseldorf
Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Capital: Mainz
Saarland
Capital: Saarbrücken. "Das Saarland" is Germany's smallest and newest state. Named for the Saar River (die Saar), the Saarland was part of France until 1957. Germany's "Rhode Island" has a population of just 1.1 million.
Sachsen (Saxony, Freistaat Sachsen)
Capital: Dresden
Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt)
Capital: Magdeburg
Schleswig-Holstein
Capital: Kiel. The two parts of Germany's northernmost state were first united in 1386, but since the 19th century they have changed hands between Denmark, Austria, and Germany. Schleswig-Holstein has been a Bundesland since 1946. The Kiel Canal (der Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) is an important links for shipping between the Baltic and North Seas. Kiel (pop. 244,000) is home to the annual "Kieler Woche" regatta every summer.
Thüringen (Thuringia, Freistaat Thüringen)
Capital: Erfurt. Until 1945, Thuringia's capital was Weimar, a city closely identified with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and of course the Weimar Republic after World War I. The state became a Freistaat in 1921, but was dissolved in 1952 when East Germany created 15 districts to replace the former five eastern Länder.
BACKGROUND:
As Western Europe's richest and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed the country in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then Germany has expended considerable funds to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries formed a common European currency, the Euro.
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