Essay on Country - Germany

Germany

Germany is a very diverse country. It is home to many different people and their cultures. They all came together to become Germans on January 18, 1871. As we know of today a region named Germania was inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Germany has many different regions. These regions attract many different tourists every year. The Bavaria region is known for its pristine lakes, dense forests and the famous Alps. Another region known as the Black Forest, which is surrounded by the Rhine Valley and by cities, is known for their handicrafts. Their best known is the cuckoo clock. East Germany is known for their underdevelopment and communist dominance and their architectural marvels. Cities like Bradenburg and Thuringia are known for their lakes, mountain cliffs and Gothic Architecture (Regions). The Rhine Valley is a very popular destination for holidays because of its castles, cathedrals, woods, vineyards and hiking trails. On the other hand Ruhr Valley is more industrial and is known for coal mining and steel production. Since Germany is located near the ocean the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are very useful and contribute to Germany's geographic feature. Its beaches are beautiful and have jagged cliffs adorned by its coastal towns (Regions).

Germany also has something called the "big five," which are the five most important regions. They are Hamburg, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich. These cities form clusters in areas such as business activity, human capital, information and technology exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and the seventh largest city in the European Union. 1.8 million people populate it. The port of Hamburg is the third-largest port in Europe and the ninth largest in the world. This city is a major transportation hub in Northern Germany and is one of the most affluent cities in north Europe. Berlin is the capital of Germany and its population is 3.4 million people. Berlin is the largest city, which is located in northeastern Germany. Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one thirds of the city's territory is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. Dusseldorf is an important international business and known for its fashion and trade affairs. Since its location is by the River Rhine, Dusseldorf is a stronghold for Rhenish carnival celebrations. Frankfurt is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth largest city in Germany. Since it is located on the Main River, Frankfort is the financial and transportation centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe. Lastly, Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar and is the third largest city in Germany. Approximately 1.35 million people live in this city (Regions).

Germany's terrain differs from one part of the country to another. The northern third of the country lies in the North European Plain, with flat terrain crossed by northward-flowing watercourses known as the Elbe, Ems, Weser, and Oder. Wetlands and marshy conditions are found close to the Dutch border and along the Frisian coast. Mecklenburg in the northeast has many glacier-formed lakes dating to the last glacial period. Central Germany has more rough features and somewhat hilly and mountainous. The Rhine valley cuts though the western part of this region. South of Berlin, is more low northern areas with sandy soil and river wetlands. Southern Germany's landforms are defined by hills and mountain ranges. The Alps are on the southern border and they are the highest mountains but mostly there is little Alpine terrain in Germany. The Black Forest separated the Rhine from the headwaters of the Danube (Wikipedia).

Germany's climate is temperate and marine with cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers in the south occasional warm fohn wind. For the most part Germany is cool/temperate and sometimes the humid westerly winds are predominate. In the northwest and the north the climate is extremely oceanic and rain falls all year round. Winters in Germany are mild and summers are cool. In the east winters can be very cold for long periods of time and the summers can be very warm. The warmest region of Germany is the southwest. The summer days there can be hot with a high number of days exceeding eight-six degrees (Wikipedia).

Germany's religion is divided up into two huge groups, which are Christianity and Islam. Christianity in Germany is 67% with about 54,765,265 people who practice it. Christianity is divided into two different strands, which are Roman Catholic and Protestant. Roman Catholicism traces its origins to the eighth-century missionary work of Saint Boniface. In the next centuries, Roman Catholicism made more converts and spread eastward. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Knights of the Teutonic Order spread German and Roman Catholic influence by force arms along the southern Baltic Coast and into Russia. In 1517 Martin Luther challenged papal authority and what he saw as the commercialization of his faith. Luther changed the course of European and world history and established the second major faith in Germany- Protestantism (Wikipedia).

Because of the conflict of the Thirty-Years' War and the Protestant Reformation divided Germany into distinct regions of religious practice. Roman Catholicism remained the faith in the southern and western German states while Protestantism became firmly established in the northeastern and central regions. Prior to Word War II, two-thirds of German population was Protestant and the remainder Roman Catholic (County Guide). During Hitler's regime since he was raised Roman Catholic he only respected the power and organization of the Roman Catholic Church. In July 1933, when Nazi came to power they made a concordat with the Vatican, regulating church-state relations. Which meant that Roman Catholic clergy would refrain from political activity and that the government would have a say in the choice of bishops and that changes in diocesan boundaries would be subject to government approval. However, the Nazis soon violated the concordat's terms and by the late 190s almost all denominational schools had been abolished. Toward the end of 1933 an opposition group of Lutheran pastors formed the "Confessing Church." Members of this church opposed the takeover of the Lutheran Church by Nazis. Many of its members were eventually arrested and some were executed (County Guide).

The second largest religion in Germany today is Islam with only 4.3 million Muslims following and about four percent of the German population. Islam is the largest minority religion in the country. The large majority of Muslims in Germany