Made by Tamás Sávai

Made by Tamás Sávai

Geography of Germany

Germany is a country in west-central Europe, that streches from the Alps, across the North Europen Plain to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Germany has the second largest population in Europe (after the European part of Russia) and is seventh largest in area. 

Germany shares borders with nine European countries: Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east,Austria and Switzerland in the south, France in the southwest and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the west.

Germany is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 63rd largest in the world.

Between lie the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at 3.54 metres below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's majorrivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.

Danube is classified as an international waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen -which is in the Black Forest of Germany

 The Rhine flows through Germany and eventually empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands.

The Zugspitze, at 2,962 m above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany.

Germany can be divided into three parts. The northern third of the country lies in the North European Plain, with flat terrain crossed by northward-flowing watercourses.

Wetlands 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.

Physical Geography

Moving south, central Germany features rough and somewhat patternless hilly and mountainous countryside, some of it formed by ancient volcanic activity.

Physical Geography

The Rhine valley cuts through the western part of this region. The central uplands continue east and north as far as the Saale and merge with the Ore Mountains on the border with the Czech Republic.

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 region.

Southern Germany's landforms are defined by various linear hill and mountain ranges like the two adjacent ranges of the Swabian and Franconian Alb and the Bavarian Forest along the border between Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

Physical Geography

The Alps 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, on the southwestern border with France, separates the Rhine from the headwaters of the Danube on its eastern slopes.

Physical Geography

Germany's climate is temperate and marine, with cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers and in the south occasional warm föhn wind.

A foehn or föhn wind is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs in the lee of a mountain range.

Climate

The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. In the northwest and the north the climate is extremely oceanic and rain falls all the year round.

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.

Climate

Germany covers a total of 357,021 km², of which 4,750 km² is irrigated land and 7,798 km² is covered by water. The majority of Germany is covered by either arable land (33%) or forestry and woodland (31%). Only 15% is covered by permanent pastures.

Land use

Germany is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The territory of Germany can be subdivided into two ecoregions: European-Mediterranean montane mixed forests and Northeast-Atlantic shelf marine.

The national parks in Germany include the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Lower Oder Valley National Park, the Harz National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park and the Bavarian Forest National Park.

Demographics

With estimated 81.8 million inhabitants in January 2010, Germany is the most populous country in the European Union and ranks as the 15th largest country in the world in terms of population.  

Its population density stands at 229.4 inhabitants per square kilometer.

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 (Stadtstaaten) and states with larger territories (Flächenländer)

Germany has a number of large cities; the most populous are: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart. The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (12 million), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, and Bochum.

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