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| Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Federal Republic of Germany
|
|
|
Motto: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
"Unity and Justice and Freedom" |
Anthem: third stanza of "Das Lied der Deutschen"
(also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit")
|
|
|
Capital
(and largest city) |
Berlin
 52°31′N, 13°24′E |
| Official languages |
German[1] |
| Ethnic groups |
91% German, 3% Turkish, 6% minority groups |
| Demonym |
German |
| Government |
Federal Parliamentary republic |
| - |
President |
Horst Köhler |
| - |
Chancellor |
Angela Merkel (CDU) |
| Formation |
| - |
Holy Roman Empire |
962 |
| - |
German Empire |
18 January 1871 |
| - |
Federal Republic |
23 May 1949 |
| - |
Reunification |
3 October 1990 |
| EU accession |
25 March 1957 |
| Area |
| - |
Total |
357,021 km² (63rd)
137,847 sq mi |
| - |
Water (%) |
2.416 |
| Population |
| - |
Dec. 31, 2007 estimate |
82,217,800[1] (14th) |
| - |
Density |
230/km² (36th)
596/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) |
2007 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$2.75 trillion (5th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$33,450 (18th) |
| GDP (nominal) |
2007 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$3.29 trillion (3rd) |
| - |
Per capita |
$40,079 (16th) |
| Gini (2000) |
28.3 (low) |
| HDI (2005) |
▲ 0.935 (high) (22nd) |
| Currency |
Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone |
CET (UTC+1) |
| - |
Summer (DST) |
CEST (UTC+2) |
| Internet TLD |
.de |
| Calling code |
+49 |
| 1 |
^ Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany and Frisian are officially recognised and protected by the ECRML. |
Germany [ˈdʒɜːmənɪ] (help·info), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (help·info), IPA: [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant]),[2] is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With over 82 million inhabitants, it comprises the largest population among the member states of the European Union and is home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.[3]
A region named Germania inhabited by several Germanic peoples has been known and documented before 100 AD. Since the 10th century German territories have formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire that lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. After World War II, Germany was divided into two separate states along the lines of allied occupation in 1949.[4] The two states became reunified again in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the borderless Schengen zone and adopted the European currency, the euro, in 1999.
Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states (Länder). The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G4 nations, and signed the Kyoto protocol. It is the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP and the largest exporter of goods in 2007. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the second biggest annual budget of development aid in the world,[5] while its military expenditure ranked sixth.[6] The country has developed a high standard of living and established a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level.[7] Germany is recognized as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.[8]
History
-
The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the Nordic Bronze Age, or at the latest, during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, the tribes began expanding south, east and west in the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their recorded interactions with the Roman Empire, etymological research and archaeological finds.[9]
Under Augustus, the Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus began to invade Germania (a term used by the Romans to define a territory running roughly from the Rhine to the Ural Mountains),
and it was in this period that the Germanic tribes became familiar with
Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their tribal identity. In
AD 9, three Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Modern Germany, as far as the Rhine and the Danube, thus remained outside the Roman Empire. By AD 100, the time of Tacitus' Germania, Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus) , occupying most of the area of modern Germany. The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.[10]
Holy Roman Empire (962–1806)
-
The medieval empire stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on 25 December 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806, its territory stretching from the Eider River in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Often referred to as the Holy Roman Empire
(or the Old Empire) , it was officially called the Holy Roman Empire of
the German Nation ("Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicæ")
starting in 1448, to adjust the title to its then reduced territory.
Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919–1024) , the duchies of Lorraine, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia, and Bavaria were consolidated, and the German king was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of these regions in 962. Under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024–1125) , the Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy, although the emperors lost power through the Investiture Controversy. Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254) , the German princes increased their influence further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs (Ostsiedlung). Northern German towns grew prosperous as members of the
Classical
from 
