Germany
|conventional_long_name=Federal Republic of Germany |common_name=Germany |national_anthem=
The third stanza of Das Lied der Deutschen |image_flag=Flag of Germany.svg |image_coat=Coat of Arms of Germany.svg |image_map=EU-Germany.svg |map_caption=
– on the European continent(green & dark grey)
– in the European Union(green) — [Legend]
|official_languages=German http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany#endnote_1 |demonym=German |ethnic_groups= 91.5% German, 2.4% Turkish, 6.1% other[1] |capital=Berlin |latd=52|latm=31|latNS=N|longd=13|longm=23|longEW=E |largest_city=capital |government_type=Federal parliamentary republic |leader_title1=President (Head of State) |leader_name1=Christian Wulff (CDU) |leader_title2=Chancellor (Head of Government) |leader_name2=Angela Merkel (CDU) |leader_title3=President of the Bundestag |leader_name3=Norbert Lammert (CDU) |leader_title4=President of the Bundesrat |leader_name4=Hannelore Kraft (SPD) |sovereignty_type=Formation |sovereignty_note= |established_event1=Holy Roman Empire |established_date1=2 February 962 |established_event2=Unification |established_date2=18 January 1871 |established_event3=Federal Republic |established_date3=23 May 1949 |established_event4=Reunification |established_date4=3 October 1990 |accessionEUdate=25 March 1957 |EUseats=99 |area_km2=357,021 |area_sq_mi=137,847 |area_rank=63rd |area_magnitude=1 E11 |percent_water=2.416 |population_estimate = 81,757,600 |population_estimate_year = 2010 |population_estimate_rank = 15th |population_census = 81,642,000 |population_census_year = 1995 |population_estimate_year = Jan. 1, 2010 |population_estimate_rank = 15th |population_density_km2 = 229 |population_density_sq_mi = 593 |population_density_rank = 55th |GDP_PPP_year = 2009 |GDP_PPP = $2.806 trillion[2] |GDP_PPP_rank= |GDP_PPP_per_capita=$34,212[2] |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank= |GDP_nominal=$3.352 trillion[2] |GDP_nominal_rank= |GDP_nominal_year=2009 |GDP_nominal_per_capita=$40,874[2] |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank= |HDI_year=2010 |HDI= 0.885[3] |HDI_rank=10th |HDI_category=very high |Gini=27 [dated info] |Gini_year=2006 |Gini_category=low |currency=Euro (€)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany#endnote_2(2002-Present) |currency_code=EUR |time_zone=CET |utc_offset=+1 |time_zone_DST=CEST |utc_offset_DST=+2 |drives_on=right |cctld= .de http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany#endnote_3 |calling_code=49 |ISO_3166-1_alpha2=DE |ISO_3166-1_alpha3=DEU |ISO_3166-1_numeric=? |alt_sport_code=GER |vehicle_code=D |aircraft_code=D |footnote1=^ Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian are officially recognised and protected by the ECRML. |footnote2= ^ Before 2002: Deutsche Mark (DEM). |footnote3=^ Also .eu, shared with other European Union member states. }}
Germany (), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, ),[4] is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state of the European Union,[5] and home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.[6]
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the inception of the German Empire in 1871. After World War II, in 1949, Germany was divided into the states of East Germany and West Germany, along the lines of Allied occupation. Germany was reunified in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the EU in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area and adopted the euro in 1999.[7][8][9]
Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states. The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, the OECD and assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term. It is a major power with the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the third biggest annual development aid budget in the world,[10] while its military expenditure ranked seventh.[11] The country has developed a very high standard of living and a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level.[12] Germany is recognised as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.[13]
History
Etymology
The English word "Germany" derives from the Latin word Germania. The name "Germania" came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it from a Gallic term for the peoples east of the Rhine that could possibly have meant "neighbour", or "men of forests", or even "men with spears".[14][15][16]
Germanic tribes 750BC-260
The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the Nordic Bronze Age, or at the latest during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, the tribes began expanding south, east and west in the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their recorded interactions with the Roman Empire, etymological research and archaeological finds.[17]
Under Augustus, the Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus began to invade Germania (a term used by the Romans to define a territory running roughly from the Rhine to the Ural Mountains), and it was in this period that the Germanic tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their tribal identity. In AD 9, three Roman legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Modern Germany, as far as the Rhine and the Danube, thus remained outside the Roman Empire. By AD 100, the time of Tacitus' Germania, Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus) , occupying most of the area of modern Germany; Austria, southern Bavaria and the western Rhineland, however, were Roman provinces. The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.[18]