Geography and Environment of Germany

Unified Germany comprises 16 states (Länder in the plural; singular: Land), of which three (Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg) are city-states. Berlin, with a population approaching four million, is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg, with the Brandenburg Land capital at Potsdam, a city that adjoins Berlin on the southwest. Bavaria is Germany’s largest land. Germany’s population exceeds 82 million and, with a total land area of only 137,800 square miles (slightly smaller than the State of Montana), the nation is one of the most densely populated and urbanized in Europe. Germany has five distinct geographical areas and widely varying landscapes. From north to south these are the flat north German lowlands, the hills and the low mountains of the Mittelgebirge,the west and south German plateaus and mountains (including the Black Forest, the Schwarzwald),the south German Alpine foothills and lake country, and the Bavarian Alps with the Zugspitze (Germany's highest mountain, 9,717 ft.) near Garmisch. The most important rivers are the Rhine, the Weser, the Elbe, the Main, the Oder, and the Danube. The first three flow northward, emptying into the North Sea. The Main is a tributary of the Rhine. The Danube, starting as a spring in the beautiful, historic town of Donaueschingen in southwest Germany, flows east 1,725 miles to meet the Black Sea in Romania. Lake Constance (Bodensee), Germany’s largest lake, lies at the border separating Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Detailed geography