The Interesting Facts About Germany

Germany has always held a reputation of being a rich and progressive nation. Contributing much in terms of human progress and industrial/financial revolution. Germany has given birth to many people and ideologies that have helped to shape the world as we know it.

The official name of Germany is The Federal Republic of Germany. It is located in West Europe. The Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Denmark surround Germany on the north. It is flanked on the east by the Czech Republic and Poland. Flanked on the west by France, Belgium, and Luxembourg and Netherlands. The southern borders are Austria and Switzerland.

Germany is a member of the European Union (EU). Germany has Europe's largest economy and is Europe's second largest populous nation. The total area of Germany is 357,021 sq. km. The total land area is 349,223 sq. km. The total covered by water being 7,798 sq. km. The capital of The Federal Republic of Germany is Berlin. Other major cities are Munich, Hanover, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Bremen. Germany is a federal republic with a parliamentary democracy.

The ethnicity of Germany's population is 91.5% German, 2.4% Turkish, 6.1% others such as Greeks, Italians, Polish, Russians, Serb-Croatians, Spanish. The main religions in Germany are Protestant (Evangelisch) 38%, Roman Catholic (Katholisch) 34%, Muslim 1.7%, and others make up 26.3%. Classical music has been dominated by German speaking composers. A few of the famous ones born on German ground include Beethoven, Schumann, Bach, Brahms, Handel, Mendelssohn, Wagner and R. Strauss. Some of the worlds wisest philosophers were German: Nietzsche, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Heidegger.

Germany boasts around 700 zoological gardens, aquariums, bird parks, wildlife parks, animal reserves, or safari parks, not to mention 414 registered zoos. Berlin's Zoologischer Garten is the worlds largest zoo, number of species (1,500) and animal population (14,000). The Fairy Grottoes (Feengrotten) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, are the worlds most colorful caves, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Since 2003, Germany is the worlds largest exporter of goods with $1.016 trillion exported in 2005. 10.1% of the worlds exports come from Germany. Germany is the worlds second largest producer of cars (after Japan) and motor vehicle in general(after the United States). The German based company BASF (Badische Anilin- und Soda- Fabrik) is the second largest chemical company in the world, employing about 87,000 people in 160 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 41 countries.

The biggest train station in Europe is located in Berlin. The European Central Bank is in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. Frankfurt International Airport claims the world record in the most international destinations served. The Lufthansa, based in Frankfurt, is the worlds largest airline in terms of international passengers carried, and Europe's largest in terms of passenger-kilometers flown, freight tonne-kilometers flown and fleet size. The largest department store in continental Europe is the KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) in Berlin, with over 60,000 square meters covered.

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