| Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| by Nicole Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Although there are many cultural differences such as schools, Germany continues to be a major power because of their industry, their people, and their arts.The total area of Germany is 356,910 km squared, with a population of 82,071,765 that is slightly smaller than Montana. The capital of Germany is Berlin Germany is divided into sixteen different states, just like the United States is. Those sixteen different states are, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamberg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thueringen (3Germany2, 144). Germany1s location is almost in the center of Europe. This is important for Germany1s industry because it is surrounded by many other countries, for example, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland (3Germany2, 144).Germany uses their land for different things. Thirty-four percent of the land is used for arable land, one percent is crops, sixteen percent is meadows and pastures, thirty is forest and woodland and nineteen percent is used for other things. Some of that nineteen percent is important to industry because it is probably used for things like railways, highways, and waterways. There are also seventeen ports and harbors, just to name a few: Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, and Mannheim. Germany also has 678 airports, 613 for airplanes and 65 for helicopters (Germany, 1).The average religion in America is Christian, but in Germany the average is Protestant. The German region was occupied by German tribes from about 500 B.C. and came repeatedly into conflict with the Roman's from the second century B.C. overrun by the Huns in the fourth and fifth centuries, the area dominated by the Franks from the sixth century and was Christianized in the late seventh and eighth centuries. The Germans, like their inhabitants of all other European nations, have a mixed background of many races and ancestors. Many of the people in northern Germany are the Nordic, or northern type. These people are usually tall, with blue Smith 2eyes, fair hair and skin, and oval heads. In southern Germany the Alpine, or mountain type are frequently found. These people are likely to be short and plump, with brown hair, dark eyes, and round heads (3Germany2, 144).Old customs and costumes have been preserved in parts of Germany that are cut off from the rest of the land by mountains and forests (3Germany2, 144).Here, some of the women wear long, full-gathered skirts or jumpers, embroidered or banded in braids. Their blouses are snowy white, with greated puffed sleeves pulled in close at the wrist or above the elbow. Sometimes a short jacket or bodice laces tight at the waist, and the whole outfit is topped with an apron of ruffled white or some 3gay color2 (3Germany2, 144). Little girls wear their hair in braids, and their dresses are almost completely covered by cotton aprons that have sleeves, and tie in the back. Little boys wear short, strait pants held up by broad embroidered bands. In other parts of Germany the people dress much like Americans dress (3Germany2, 144).The Germans are generally thrifty and hard working people, noted for their cooking of special dishes and their love of cleanliness. Girls are trained to cook from the time they are very young. Old family recipes are passed on from mother to daughter (3Germany2, 144-145).Food fish are abundant in the lakes and rivers of Germany. Fishing on the high seas is one of the important industries of the German seacoast cities (3Germany2, 146).Forestry is an advanced science in Germany. Men are trained to know the kind and number of trees that may be cut safely without damaging the forest growth of the country. New trees are planted to take the place of old trees that have been cut down. Hillsides are planted with trees to protect the soil and keep it from washing down the slopes. German forests produce much of the wood needed in the country for building, for firewood, and for making hand-carved objects Smith 3(3Germany2, 146).The most important mines of West Germany are the soft-coal mines of the Ruhr region. These mines supply much of the coal needed for the iron and steel industry of all Western Europe. Mines in the mountains of southern Germany produce silver, copper, zinc, lead, and nickel (3Germany2, 145).A great industrial area called the Ruhr has grown up around the cities of Duisburg, Dortmund and Essen in West Germany. More than 5,000,000 people live in this area, where great iron and steel mills have been built near the rich coal mines. Near the iron and steel plants are manufacturing plants that make steel products, such as machine tools, fin tools, and knives. Production of small Volkswagen automobiles at Wolfsburg, West Germany, became one of the country1s most important industries after World War II (3Germany2, 145).Germany is the second largest chemical-producing country. This is because the country is rich in three resources often used to make chemicals: coal, potash, and salt. Great plants have been built for making drugs, medicines, fertilizers, dues, plastics, synthetic fabrics, and industrial chemical. The oldest industry in Germany is the manufacture of cloth, including cotton, woolen and silk, and linen tiles (3Germany2,145).Germany's imports add up to a total value of $430.7 billion. The imported goods include seventy-four point two percent of it being manufactures, nine point nine percent are agricultural products, six point four percent are fuels, five point nine percent are raw materials, and three point six percent are other. The total value of exports is $501.3 billion. That includes eighty-eight point two of it being manufacturing items like machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel, five percent are agricultural products, two point three percent is raw materials, one percent is fuels, and three point five percent is other (Germany, 2).The farmers of Germany supply only a little more than half of the food which Smith 4the people of the country need. Before World War II, the farms of Germany grow most of the grain, potatoes, meat, eggs, vegetable, and fruit and throughout the whole country (3Germany2,146).The average age of the people in Germany is between 15-64. This is important to the labor force because most of the people can work. The labor force in Germany is pretty high, it stands at about 36.75 million, by occupation, fourty-one percent are industry workers, six percent are agricultural workers and fifty-three percent are other (Germany,2).German schools are similar to ours, except for a few differences. Germany for many years has stressed the importance of education. In Germany, all children between the ages of six and eighteen must attend school. Most children attend a Volksschule, or elementary school, paid for by the separate state governments. When a child is in about fourth or fifth grade, he is given a series of tests. If his grades show he can do advanced work, he may then go to an Oberschule, a modern high school which teaches modern languages, science, and mathematics; or to a gymnasium, a classical high school where Latin and Greek are stressed. If the students test grades show that he does not have the ability to become a scholar, he remains in the elementary school. Later he may go to a Berufsschule, a part-time vocational school, while he receives on-the-job training in a trade. Germany has over 31,000 elementary and secondary schools(3Germany2, 147).The earliest libraries in Germany were university libraries, established at Heidelberg in 1386, and at Leipzig in 1409. At first these libraries were open only to students and professors. Later the public was allowed to use all university and state libraries (3Germany2, 147-148).Many Germans are ranked among the worlds great scientists like Johannas Kepler, musicians, writers like Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, and painters like Albrecht Durer(3Germany2, 148).Smith 5German boys and girls are fond of both outdoor and indoor sports. They like to swim in the lakes and rivers, and to paddle light canoes in the swift currents and rushing streams. When the weather is pleasant, German youths take long walking and hiking tours, with small packs of provisions strapped on their backs. They camp in the open, cook supper over a campfire, and sleep on the ground. In some places, camping centers maintain hostels, or cabins, which the campers may use for overnight stops (3Germany2, 149).Many German sports and games are organized activities which call for close teamwork. German boys like to play association football, which is somewhat like American soccer. Both boys and girls take part in group gymnastics or calisthenics. At athletic festivals, large groups perform exercises with great precision. Other German games call for individual skills. Fencing has long been a popular sport in Germany. Skiing, ice skating, and tobogganing are popular winter sports with boys and girls(3Germany2, 149).Grownups in Germany like music and dancing. They spend many summer evenings in gardens or open-air restaurants, where they gather around tables to eat and drink and sing the old songs(3Germany2, 149).Festivals and fairs are popular in Germany. Often the people of villages and small communities celebrate Saints1 Day, Germany Unity Day celebrated on October 3rd, or feast days by dressing in medieval costumes and performing some of the old ceremonies of worship or merrymaking. Many of them perform German folk dances(3Germany2,149).As one can see, Germany is an important country in the world. Without its people there would not be an industry, and without industry Germany may never be the same. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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DiBacco, Thomas V. History of The United States Boston: A Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.3Germany.2 The World Book Encyclopedia1963:142-157. http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Germany, October 27,1998. http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/adressen/brd.html, October 27,1998. http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/germany, October27,1998. http://www.infoseek.com/Topic/Germany?svx=related, October 27,1998. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/gm.html, October 27,1998.Kienberger, Verlag. King Ludwig Konig of Bavaria and Neuschwanstein Castle. http://www.mediaspec.com/castles/schwan/index.html, October 28,1998.Kolmel, Karl. Heidelberg and its Castle. http://www.mediaspec.com/castles/hberg/index.html, October 28,1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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