Germany

The seventh largest country in area in Europe, with a total area of 356,970 sq km (137,827 sq mi), Germany, is one of the world's leading industrialized countries. The varied terrain that ranges from low-lying coastal flats along the North and Baltic seas, to a central area of undulating hills and river basins, to heavily wooded mountains and snow-covered Alps in the south, makes Germany a thrilling holidaying destination.

In addition, Germans have made abundant remarkable contributions to culture. Among the many marvelous German authors, artists, architects, musicians, and philosophers, the composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven are probably the best known worldwide. German literary greats include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Thomas Mann.

Germany offers an everlasting choice of alluring destinations, a rich variety of landscapes, cuisines, climates, and peoples, with an exceptional cultural heritage. This brilliant country draws millions of visitors ever year.

German history goes back more than thousand years, the state now known as Germany was united as a modern nation-state only in 1871, when the German Empire, dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia, was forged. This was the second German Reich, usually inferred as "empire,” also called "realm.”
During the Old Stone Age, bands of wandering hunters and gatherers occupied Germany. They belonged to the earliest forms of Homo sapiens, who lived about 400,000 years ago.

Bronze Age Peoples
The Bronze Age ruled the region of central Germany, Bohemia, and Austria in about 2500 B.C. with the working of copper and tin deposits by prospectors from the eastern Mediterranean. Around 2300 B.C. Indo-Europeans who migrated from Russia were the ancestors of the Germanic peoples who settled in northern and central Germany, of the Celts in the south and west, and of the Baltic and Slavic peoples in the east

Roman Rule
From the 2nd century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. northern Germanic and Celtic tribes, were in contact with the Romans, who controlled southern and Western Europe. In 101 and 102 B.C. as the Cimbri and the Teutons were about to invade Italy they were defeated by Roman general Gaius Marius.

Re-union of Germany
Germany was reunited in 1990, after the fall of Communism in Europe. Berlin once again was chosen as the capital of Germany. Today, in concert with France, Germany has played a leading role in the European Union. It has been at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defense and security apparatus.
In recent times, the Chancellor has called for a permanent seat for Germany in the UN Security Council.

Geography of Germany

Location
Germany is located in the Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark

Geographic coordinates: 51 00 N, 9 00 E

Area:

Total: 356,910 sq km
Land: 349,520 sq km
Water: 7,390 sq km
Coastline: 2,389 km

Note: includes the formerly separate Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin, following formal unification on 3 October 1990

Capital: Berlin

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel

Major cities and population:
Paris - 8.7 million people, Lyon - 1.2 million, Marseille - 1.2 million, Lille - 950,000 and Bordeaux - 640,000.

Climate
Germany has a moderate climate with winter temperatures varying from west to east, with about freezing temperatures in the west and well below freezing in eastern Germany while summer temperatures are typically in the 70's to low 80's, with more rainfall during the summer.

People & Culture
The history of contemporary German art, music, and literature are so comprehensively rooted in the broader European intellectual traditions that it defies any attempts to separate any specifically German cultural roots.
The Germans have made many noteworthy contributions to culture. Germany was the birthplace of composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann, and Wagner; poets such as Goethe and Schiller as well as Heine;
Because of declining birth rates and the shrinking of family size from the large families, a common practice in the early 20th century to an average size of 3.5 members per household in the late 1990s, the German population has become substantially older on the average since the early 1900s. In addition, the numbers of single parent and one-person households are increasing and the German population is overwhelmingly urban.

Religion
The most widespread religions in Germany are the Protestant and Catholic Churches with approx. 28 million members each. The third largest faith is Muslim with around 3 million members. The vast majority of Muslims are Sunni. Shiites and Alevites form a much smaller group.
Apart from these,other faiths found in Germany are Orthodox Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha’i and Jews. There are more than 160 different religious communities in Germany. The holy days of Muslim, Jewish and other minority religious groups, such as the Islamic Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha or the Jewish Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are not public holidays in Germany.

Language: German is the official language. In addition, several regional dialects exist; the largest group is Sorbian, a Slavic language.

Currency and Banking
The monetary unit of Germany is the single currency of the EU, the euro

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