Germany (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: ''Deutschland'') is a country in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ar ...
, that stretches from the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, across the
North European Plain
The North European Plain (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland – North German Plain; ; pl, Nizina Środkowoeuropejska – Central European Plain; da, Nordeuropæiske Lavland and nl, Noord-Europese Laagvlakte ; French : ''Plaine d'Europe du Nor ...
to the
North Sea and the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. It is the
second-most populous country in Europe after
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
, and is
seventh-largest country by area in the continent. The area of Germany ranked 63rd and covers , consisting of of land and of waters, smaller than
Japan but larger than
Republic of the Congo.
Elevation ranges from the mountains of the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
(highest point: the
Zugspitze at ) in the south to the shores of the
North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
(Ostsee) in the northeast. Between lie the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point:
Neuendorf-Sachsenbande
Neuendorf-Sachsenbande is a municipality in Wilstermarsch, in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town is notable for containing the lowest accessible point in Germany, which is 3.54 m (11.61 ft) below sea l ...
at below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major
rivers such as the
Rhine,
Danube and
Elbe.
Germany has the second-most borders of any European country, after Russia. It shares borders with nine countries:
Denmark in the north,
Poland and the
Czech Republic in the east,
Switzerland (its only non-
EU neighbor) and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
in the south,
France in the southwest and
Belgium,
Luxembourg and the
Netherlands in the west. Germany also shares a
maritime border
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Bo ...
with
Sweden in the north and the
United Kingdom in the northwest.
Area
Germany is in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ar ...
, bordering
Denmark in the north,
Poland and the
Czech Republic in the east,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
and
Switzerland in the south,
France and
Luxembourg in the south-west, and
Belgium and the
Netherlands in the north-west. It lies mostly between latitudes
47° and
55° N (the tip of
Sylt is just north of 55°), and longitudes
5° and
16° E. The territory covers , consisting of of land and of water. It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 63rd largest in the world.
Extreme points
* Northernmost point:
List
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
,
Sylt,
Schleswig-Holstein
* Northernmost point in
mainland Germany:
Rodenäs,
Schleswig-Holstein
* Southernmost point: Haldenwanger Eck,
Oberstdorf
Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns.
At the&nb ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
* Westernmost point: Isenbruch,
Selfkant,
North Rhine-Westphalia
* Easternmost point: Deschka,
Neißeaue
Neißeaue ( hsb, Nysowa łučina) is a municipality in the district Görlitz, Saxony, Germany. It was formed in 1995, uniting Deschka, Emmerichswalde, Groß Krauscha (seat of administration), Kaltwasser, Klein Krauscha, Neu Krauscha, Zentendorf ...
,
Saxony
*Lowest point (man-made):
Tagebau Hambach below sea level,
Niederzier
Niederzier is a municipality in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km north of Düren, and 10 km south-east of Jülich
Jülich (; in old spellings also known as '' ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia,
*Lowest point (natural):
Neuendorf-Sachsenbande
Neuendorf-Sachsenbande is a municipality in Wilstermarsch, in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town is notable for containing the lowest accessible point in Germany, which is 3.54 m (11.61 ft) below sea l ...
,
Wilstermarsch,
Schleswig-Holstein below sea level
*Highest point:
Zugspitze, in the
Bavarian Alps
The Bavarian Alps (german: Bayerische Alpen) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria.
Geography
The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps tha ...
, ,
Garmisch-Partenkirchen /
Grainau
Grainau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the foot of the Zugspitze mountain, the tallest mountain in Germany in the sub-mountain range of the Wetterstein Alps which is a b ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
*Highest settlement:
Feldberg, Baden-Württemberg
Feldberg is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located near the Feldberg, the highest summit in Baden-Württemberg. It comprises the settlements of Altglashütten, Neugla ...
, in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and S ...
,
Maritime claims
*
Continental shelf: depth or to the depth of exploitation.
*
Exclusive economic zone: with . The exact EEZ is due to conventions with neighbouring states.
* Territorial sea:
Physical geography
The northern third of the country lies in the
North European Plain
The North European Plain (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland – North German Plain; ; pl, Nizina Środkowoeuropejska – Central European Plain; da, Nordeuropæiske Lavland and nl, Noord-Europese Laagvlakte ; French : ''Plaine d'Europe du Nor ...
, with flat terrain crossed by northward-flowing watercourses (
Elbe,
Ems,
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Br ...
,
Oder
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows th ...
).
Wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
and marshy conditions are found close to the Dutch border and along the
Frisian coast. Sandy
Mecklenburg in the northeast has many glacier-formed
lakes dating to the
last glacial period.
Moving south, central Germany features rough and somewhat patternless hilly and mountainous countryside, some of it formed by ancient
volcanic activity. The
Rhine valley cuts through the western part of this region. The central uplands continue east and north as far as the
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saal ...
and merge with the
Ore Mountains on the border with the
Czech Republic. Upland regions include the
Eifel,
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...
and
Palatine Forest west of the Rhine, the
Taunus hills north of
Frankfurt, the
Vogelsberg
The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley.
Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest ...
massif, the
Rhön, and the
Thüringer Wald. South of
Berlin, the east-central part of the country is more like the low northern areas, with sandy soil and river wetlands such as the
Spreewald
The Spree Forest (German: ''Spreewald'', ; Lower Sorbian: ''Błota'', i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germ ...
region.
Southern Germany's landforms are defined by various linear hill and mountain ranges like the two adjacent ranges of the
Swabian
Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''")
* Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''")
* Danube S ...
and
Franconian Alb (reaching approximately from the source of the
Danube in the southwest of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, south of
Stuttgart, across
Swabia into
Central Franconia
Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...
and to the valley of the river
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
) and the
Bavarian Forest
The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest
The Bavarian Forest ( German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is c ...
along the border between Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
on the southern border are the highest mountains, but relatively little Alpine terrain lies within Germany (in southeastern Swabia and
Upper Bavaria) compared to Switzerland and Austria. The
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and S ...
, on the
southwestern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
border with France, separates the Rhine from the headwaters of the
Danube on its eastern slopes.
Climate
The north–south difference in Germany, between 55°03"N (at
List
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
on
Sylt) and 47°16"N (around
Oberstdorf
Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns.
At the&nb ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
) equals almost eight degrees of
latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pole ...
(or 889 km), which can be seen especially during the warm season in the differences between the average temperatures. Besides that, there is a strong west–east cline in temperature. This is explained by the North western Germany’s flat and open landscapes and its closeness to the sea, and South's higher terrain, larger distance from the sea, and the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
. These mountains prevent much of the usually warmer
Mediterranean air blowing into southern Germany. To the north of the Alps and the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
, the local climate becomes colder, even at the same latitude and altitude. This is caused by some areas being further away from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
's
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the Unit ...
, known for having a warm current for its latitude, in addition to being closer to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
's and
Siberia's extremely cold winter winds. Even if Siberian winter winds are not dominating, when they do hit Germany, temperatures can in extreme cases fall to -20 C in the mountains and below during the nights, and this has an effect on the average temperatures of November to March. Although rare, when such cold air reaches Germany, the North-Eastern parts become mainly affected, while the Southwest receives few cold days in general. The Gulf Stream results in the coast having the mildest nights in the winter, almost never freezing.
The warmest area in Germany is the area bordering
France, west of the
Schwarzwald
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It ...
hills, roughly between
Karlsruhe to the north and the
Swiss border to the south. The coldest area (except for mountain peaks) is found in the southeastern parts of eastern Germany around
Dresden and
Görlitz up to
Berlin.
Germany's
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
is
temperate and
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military ...
in the West,
humid continental
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezin ...
to the East and
humid subtropical in the Southwest. It features mild winters in the Southwest, cold winters in the East and is mostly overcast from November to February. Summers are mild to warm in the north and hot in the south. The North and Middle of Germany lies fully in the temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. In the northwest and the north, the climate is oceanic. Winters there are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool. In the east, the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Dry periods are often recorded.
In the center and the south, there is a transitional climate which may be predominantly oceanic or continental, according to the general weather situation. Winters are cool and summers warm, though maximum temperatures can exceed for several days in a row during heat waves.
The warmest regions of Germany can be found in the southwest (see
rhine rift
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...
,
German Wine Route
The German Wine RouteScheunemann J., Stewart J., Walker N. and Williams C. (2011), ''Back Roads Germany'', Dorling Kindersley, London. . or Wine Road (german: Deutsche Weinstraße) is the oldest of Germany's tourist wine routes. Located in the ...
and
Palatinate). Here summers are hot with many days up to . Sometimes, minimum temperatures do not drop below , which is relatively rare in other regions, except the North Sea Coast and Western City climates.
The recorded extremes are a maximum of (July 2019, Duisburg-Bearl &
Tönisvorst
Tönisvorst is a town in the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 5 km west of Krefeld.
On 25 July 2019, weather stations in Duisburg-Baerl and Tönisvorst both recorded temperatures of , ...
), and a minimum of (February 1929, in
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm (Central Bavarian: ''Pfahofa an da Uim'') is a municipality in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Pfaffenhofen. It is located on the river Ilm, and had a population of 23,282 in 2004.
As of a press release in Oct ...
).
Examples
Land use of Germany
Germany covers a total of , of which is
irrigated land
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been develo ...
and is covered by water, the largest lakes being
Lake Constance (total area of , with 62% of the shore being German; international
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
s are not defined on the lake itself),
Müritz
The Müritz (; from Slavic "little sea") is a lake in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. Its area is , which makes it the second largest lake in Germany (after Lake Constance) and the largest lake located entirely within German territory ...
() and
Chiemsee
Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The Alz flows i ...
(). The majority of Germany is covered by either
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.'' Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...
(33.95%); permanent crops cover 0.57% of the land.
Germany has a total of of coastline, and borders totaling (clockwise from north:
Denmark ,
Poland ,
Czech Republic ,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
,
Switzerland ,
France ,
Luxembourg ,
Belgium ,
Netherlands ). The German-Austrian border crosses itself near
Jungholz
Jungholz () is a village in the district of Reutte in the Austrian state of Tyrol that is accessible only via Germany. The lack of a road connection to anywhere else in Austria led to Jungholz being included in the German customs area until Austr ...
. The border with Belgium includes 5 German exclaves because the
Vennbahn
The (, "Fen Railway") is a former railway line that was built partly across what was then German territory by the Prussian state railways. It is now entirely in Belgium, because the trackbed of the line, as well as the stations and other instal ...
railway is on Belgian territory crossing in and out of Germany.
Rivers
The main rivers in Germany are:
* The
Rhine (''Rhein'' in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
) with a German section extending (main tributaries including the
Neckar, the
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
and the
Moselle (''Mosel''));
* The
Elbe with a German section of (also drains into the
North Sea); and
* The
Danube (''Donau'') with a German length of .
Further important rivers include the
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saal ...
and the Main in central Germany, the Neckar in the southwest, the
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Br ...
in the North and the Oder at the eastern border.
Caves
Throughout the
Karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ...
rocks many caves were formed especially in the valley of the
Hönne
The Hönne is a left tributary river to the Ruhr, flowing through the northern Sauerland hills in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The spring of the Hönne is located in the west of Neuenrade at 437m above sea level. After 33 km the river ...
. The biggest culture cave of
Europe is located in
Balve
Balve is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in ''Hönnetal'', a narrow valley created by the river Hönne, which is near the Sorpe Dam, formerly part of Balve, and at the north end of the Sa ...
.
Tidal Flats
A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 2,783 km
2 of tidal flats in Germany, making it the 11th ranked country in terms of how much tidal flat occurs there.
Natural resources
*
Iron ore,
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
,
potash,
timber,
lignite,
uranium,
copper,
petroleum,
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...
,
salt,
nickel, and
water.
Environment
;Current issues
*Emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulphur dioxide emissions, is damaging
forests in Germany;
pollution in the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany;
hazardous waste disposal; government (under Chancellor Schröder, SPD) announced intent to end the use of nuclear power for producing electricity; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive. Germany's last glacier is disappearing.
;International agreements
* Party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-
Nitrogen oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic Treaty
The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...
,
Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...
,
Climate Change, Climate Change-
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...
,
Desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused b ...
, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification
The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use ...
, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94
The International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 1983) is an agreement to provide an effective framework for cooperation between tropical timber producers and consumers and to encourage the development of national policies aimed at sustainable ...
, Wetlands, Whaling
* Signed, but not ratified: none
;Natural hazards
*Flooding through rivers after heavy rainfall, such as during the
2002 European floods
In August 2002, a week of intense rainfall produced flooding across a large portion of Europe. It reached the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. The event killed 23 ...
, or
storm surge, such as the
North Sea flood of 1962
The North Sea flood of 1962 was a natural disaster affecting mainly the coastal regions of West Germany and in particular the city of Hamburg in the night from 16 February to 17 February 1962. In total, the homes of about 60,000 people were ...
and the historic floods of
1362
Year 1362 ( MCCCLXII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* January 1 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania switches New Year to January 1, before ...
and
1634
Events
January–March
* January 12– After suspecting that he will be dismissed, Albrecht von Wallenstein, supreme commander of the Holy Roman Empire's Army, demands that his colonels sign a declaration of personal loyalty.
...
that changed the coastline of what is now the west coast of
Schleswig-Holstein.
Flora and fauna
Phytogeographically
Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...
, Germany is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the
Circumboreal Region
The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan.
It is the largest floristic region ...
within the
Boreal Kingdom
The Boreal Kingdom or Holarctic Kingdom (Holarctis) is a floristic kingdom identified by botanist Ronald Good (and later by Armen Takhtajan), which includes the temperate to Arctic portions of North America and Eurasia. Its flora is inherited ...
. The territory of Germany can be subdivided into two
ecoregions: European-Mediterranean montane mixed forests and Northeast-Atlantic shelf marine. The majority of Germany is covered by either
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.'' Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...
(33%) or
forestry and
woodland (31%). Only 15% is covered by permanent pastures.
The plants and animals of Germany are those generally common to central Europe. Beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute one-third of the forests; conifers are increasing as a result of reforestation. Spruce and fir trees predominate in the upper mountains, while pine and larch are found in sandy soil. There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Fish abound in the rivers and the North Sea. Wild animals include deer, wild boar, mouflon, fox, badger, hare, Eurasian lynx, and small numbers of beaver. Extinct/endangered animals include gray wolf, brown bear, and European bison. Various migratory birds cross Germany in the spring and autumn.
The
national parks in Germany include the
Wadden Sea National Parks, the
Jasmund National Park
The Jasmund National Park ( German: ''Nationalpark Jasmund'') is a nature reserve on the Jasmund peninsula, in the northeast of Rügen island in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is famous for containing the largest chalk cliffs in Germany, th ...
, the
, the
Müritz National Park
The Müritz National Park (german: Müritz-Nationalpark) is a national park situated roughly in the middle between Berlin and Rostock, in the south of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It extends over large portions of the Müritz ...
, the
Lower Oder Valley National Park
The Lower Oder Valley International Park is a shared German-Polish nature reserve. It comprises the western banks of the Oder ( pl, Odra) river within the Uckermark district in the German state of Brandenburg as well as the steep eastern banks i ...
, the
Harz National Park
Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...
, the
Saxon Switzerland National Park
Saxon Switzerland National Park (german: Nationalpark Sächsische Schweiz), is a national park in the German Free State of Saxony, near the Saxon capital Dresden. It covers two areas of 93.5 km² (36.1 mi²) in the heart of the German ...
and the
Bavarian Forest National Park
The Bavarian Forest National Park (german: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park in ...
.
Germany is known for its many
zoological garden
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zo ...
s, wildlife parks, aquaria, and bird parks. More than 400 registered zoos and animal parks operate in Germany, which is believed to be the largest number in any single country of the world. The
Zoologischer Garten Berlin
The Berlin Zoological Garden (german: link=no, Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20, ...
is the oldest zoo in Germany and presents the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.
Human geography
Demographics
With an estimated 83.2 million inhabitants in December 2020, Germany is the most populous country in the European Union and ranks as the
19th largest country in the world in terms of population. Its
population density stands at .
The
United Nations Population Fund lists Germany as host to the
second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, around 23% of Germany's population do not hold a German passport or are direct descendants of immigrants. The number of third and subsequent generations of immigrants are not statistically recorded.
Administrative divisions
Germany comprises
sixteen states that are collectively referred to as ''Länder''.
Each state has its own state constitution and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation. Due to differences in size and population the
subdivision of these states varies, especially between
city states
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
(''Stadtstaaten'') and states with larger territories (''Flächenländer''). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22
Government Districts (''Regierungsbezirke''). As of July 2021 Germany is divided into 400
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(''Kreise'') on municipal level, these consist of 294
rural districts
Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...
and 106
urban districts.
Urbanization
Germany has a number of large cities; the most populous are:
Berlin,
Hamburg,
Munich,
Cologne,
Frankfurt, and
Stuttgart. The largest
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cas ...
is the
Rhine-Ruhr region (12 million), including
Düsseldorf (the capital of
North Rhine-Westphalia),
Cologne,
Essen,
Dortmund,
Duisburg, and
Bochum.
See also
*
Administrative divisions of Germany
*
Geography of Europe
Europe is traditionally defined as one of seven continents. Physiographically, it is the northwestern peninsula of the larger landmass known as Eurasia (or the larger Afro-Eurasia); Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass an ...
*
Geology of Germany
The geology of Germany is heavily influenced by several phases of orogeny in the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic, by sedimentation in shelf seas and epicontinental seas and on plains in the Permian and Mesozoic as well as by the Quaternary glaciations ...
*
List of islands of Germany
This is a list of all offshore islands that belong to Germany, which are found in the North and Baltic Seas. In addition, some islands in inland waters are also listed.
Largest islands
72 km² are part of Poland
Islands of the Balti ...
*
List of national parks of Germany
The following are the 16 national parks of Germany, sorted from North to South:
Germany also has 14 Biosphere Reserves, as well as 98 nature parks. Including the national protected areas, about 25% of Germany's area is national parks or nat ...
*
List of nature parks in Germany
Nature parks in Germany (german: Naturparks) have been established under section 22, paragraph 4 of that country's Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG). there were 103 nature parks, comprising about 27 percent of the total land area of Ger ...
*
Natural regions of Germany
Notes
References
External links
Kostenlose Deutschland-Karten* Geoberg.de
Geologie Deutschlands– Fotografien geologischer Objekte aus Deutschland
mineralienatlas.de: Reiches Erz aus dem HarzDeutscher Klimaatlas– Encyclopedia of World Geography
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