AN OVERVIEW ABOUT GERMANY

http://www.indianholidays.org

The Celts are believed to have been the first inhabitants of Germany. They were followed by German tribes at the end of the 2nd century B.C. German invasions destroyed the declining Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. One of the tribes, the Franks, attained supremacy in Western Europe under Charlemagne, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), Charlemagne's lands east of the Rhine were ceded to the German Prince Louis. Additional territory acquired by the Treaty of Mersen (870) gave Germany approximately the area it maintained throughout the middle Ages. For several centuries after Otto the Great was crowned king in 936, German rulers were also usually heads of the Holy Roman Empire.

As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continents economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany 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, which became the EU, 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 introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.

GEOGRAPHY

Located in central Europe, Germany is made up of the North German Plain, the Central German Uplands (Mittelgebirge), and the Southern German Highlands. The Bavarian plateau in the southwest averages 1,600 ft (488 m) above sea level, but it reaches 9,721 ft (2,962 m) in the Zugspitze Mountains, the highest point in the country. Germany's major rivers are the Danube, the Elbe, the Oder, the Weser, and the Rhine. Germany is about the size of Montana.

Location:	Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark
Coordinates:	51 00 N, 9 00 E
Area:	total: 357,021 sq km water: 7,798 sq km land: 349,223 sq km
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
Maritime claims:	continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
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
Elevation extremes:	lowest point: Neuendorf bei Wilster -3.54 m highest point: Zugspitze 2,963 m
Natural resources:	iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land
Natural hazards:	flooding
Environment current issues:	emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany; hazardous waste disposal; government established a mechanism for ending the use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; government working to meet EU commitment to identify nature preservation areas in line with the EU's Flora, Fauna, and Habitat directive
Geography - note:	strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea

ECONOMY

Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world - has become one of the slowest growing economies in the euro zone. A quick turnaround is not in the offing in the foreseeable future. Growth in 2001-03 fell short of 1%, rising to 1.7% in 2004 before falling back to 0.9% in 2005. The modernization and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a costly long-term process, with annual transfers from west to east amounting to roughly $70 billion. Germany's aging population, combined with high unemployment, has pushed social security outlays to a level exceeding contributions from workers. Structural rigidities in the labor market - including strict regulations on laying off workers and the setting of wages on a national basis - have made unemployment a chronic problem.

GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $2.454 trillion; per capita $29,800. Real growth rate: 0.9%. Inflation: 2%. Unemployment: 11.6%. Arable land: 34%. Agriculture: potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry. Labor force: 43.32 million; industry 33.4%, agriculture 2.8%, services 63.8% (1999). Industries: among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages, shipbuilding, textiles. Natural resources: iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel, arable land. Exports: $1.016 trillion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles. Imports: $801 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals. Major trading partners: France, U.S., UK, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Spain, China (2004).

http://www.indianholidays.org