Germany

Germany is a country in central Europe stretching from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in the north to the Alps in the south. It has nine neighbors, from Denmark and Poland to France, Switzerland and Austria.

Berlin is the capital, Frankfurt the main financial center, and German the official language. The Romans called the land Germania, and in 9 AD Arminius stopped their advance at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire in 800, and in 962 the Kingdom of Germany became the core of the Holy Roman Empire. Johannes Gutenberg brought printing with movable type to Europe, and Martin Luther began the Reformation in 1517 and translated the Bible into German.

After the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815, and Otto von Bismarck led Prussia toward the German Empire, proclaimed in 1871. In 1949 two German states emerged, with the Federal Republic in the west built on the Basic Law as a federal parliamentary republic. It helped found the European Economic Community, and on 3 October 1990 the eastern states joined it in reunification. Germany is made up of 16 states, covers 357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi) and rises to 2,963 m (9,721 ft) on the Zugspitze.

Industry is the backbone of the economy, with Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche in cars and Siemens, Bosch, BASF, SAP and Adidas in other fields. Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven shaped European music, Goethe and Schiller its literature and Immanuel Kant its philosophy, while the Brothers Grimm collected folk tales and Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus. Cologne Cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate and Neuschwanstein Castle are among its landmarks. Beer, brewed under rules from the 16th century, is the national drink, folk festivals include the Oktoberfest, and the men's football team won the World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014.