According to COUNTRYAAH, Germany is a Central European state. (357,168 km²). Capital: Berlin. Administrative division: Confederate states (16). Population: 80,511,300 (2013 estimate). Language: German. Religion: Protestants 30.3%, Catholics 30.8, others 38.9%. Monetary unit: euro (100 cents). Human Development Index: 0.911 (6th place). Borders: Denmark, North Sea, Baltic Sea (N), Poland and Czech Republic (E), Austria (S-SE), Switzerland (SW), France, Belgium, Luxembourg (W), the Netherlands (NW). Member of: Council of Europe, EBRD, NATO, OCDE, UN, OSCE, EU and WTO.
The Germanic territory is varied, in relation to the different structures that form it. The most representative section is the central one, whose predominant morphological note consists of the ancient Hercynian massifs (the so-called Middle Mountains), which rise between the northern Lowlands, overlooking the Baltic and North Seas, and the alpine foreland at S. These massifs, which generally do not reach 1000 m and show mature profiles, constitute the “keystone” of Germanic geography. The Middle Mountains (Mittelgebirge), formed mainly of schist-crystalline rocks and permo-carboniferous sedimentary strips, are the remains of ancient chains raised by the Hercynian orogeny and subsequently leveled. In the Mesozoic however, the whole region was invaded by the sea on several occasions, as shown by the presence of extensive sedimentary layers ranging from the Triassic to the Cretaceous. The Alpine orogeny had important effects on the already stabilized Hercynian structures; in fact, it caused thrusts and setbacks, following which the massifs underwent “rejuvenation” and a whole series of fractures and faults with consequent Horst and Graben formations. Volcanic activity is linked to the same tectonic disturbances, which is responsible for the birth of various isolated reliefs. Among the Paleozoic massifs, the Eifel and the Hunsrück dominate the extreme western edge, continuation of the Ardennes highlands, with the Taunus, the Westerwald, the Rothaargebirge and the Sauerland heights, E of the Rhine, which form the so-called Renano Schistoso Massif. In the eastern section of the massive, characterized by an alignment trellis rhomboid, are those of the Thuringian Forest, the Selva di Franconia, mountains Ore and Šumava. Volcanic buildings are instead the Vogelsberg, the Rhön and the isolated and northern Harz, granite pillar that reaches 1142 m and dominates the lowlands of Saxony. An ancient massif of gneisses and crystalline schists is the Black Forest, a plate raised at the edge of the Renana Fossa, as well as the Vosges in front of it and as, further north, the Haardt and the Odenwald. The Fossa Renana is in fact an element of tectonic origin derived from a series of parallel submeridian fractures, caused by the repercussions of the Alpine orogeny; it opened the way to the Rhine, which engraved the Renano Schistoso Massif further to the N. On the Fossa Rhenish converge also the basins of Swabia and Franconia, hemmed S and E by the Swabian Alb and the Franconian Jura, anticlines of Jurassic rocks that represent the first folds of the Alpine foreland. This has its characteristic environment in the Swabian-Bavarian Plateau, dominated to the S by the peaks of the Bavarian Alps (Zugspitze, 2963 m), with glacial lakes, moraine hills and vast lössic accumulations. The physical picture of Germany is completed with the northern section: it corresponds to the great lowland, the Tiefland, substantially a continuation on one side of the plains of Friesland, on the other of the Polish and Sarmatic ones. The Tiefland it is made up of successive sedimentary formations on which layers of recent material of different origin, glacial and fluvio-glacial, rest; In fact, the contributions of the Scandinavian glaciers were conspicuous, which in the phases of greatest expansion covered almost the entire lowland, depositing during the retreat phases those significant moraine materials that are at the origin of the varied landscape of today, characterized E of Elba by an almost uninterrupted succession of hills (the so-called “Baltic arch”) interspersed with depressions occupied by the numerous lakes (Rialto Lagoso) of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg. AS of this hilly arc furrows (Urstromtäler) direct from SE to NW, in which after the last glaciation the melting waters of the glaciers were channeled; today they are partly followed by the rivers that flow down from the S, by the Medium Mountains, whose zone of connection with the lowland is given by a band of fertile, lössic soils, called the Börden. AN of the moraine hills, approaching the coast, a sandy strip (Geest) follows the formations of pebbles and gravels, which on the North Sea side is still marshy for large stretches, ending on a coast with large sandbanks invaded by the waters during the tides (Watten); this area, however, is now “polderized”, occupied by rich grasslands (Marschen). The same low plains are repeated on the side of the Baltic Sea, where there are extensive island and lagoon formations.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see national geography, brief history, society description, domestic politics, economy overview, and a list of widely used acronyms about Germany.
Temperatures, precipitation, sunshine
| Jan | Feb | March | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Daytime temperature | 3 ° C | 4 ° C | 9 ° C | 13 ° C | 19 ° C | 22 ° C | 24 ° C | 24 ° C | 19 ° C | 13 ° C | 7 ° C | 4 ° C |
| Night temperature | -2 ° C | -2 ° C | 1 ° C | 4 ° C | 9 ° C | 12 ° C | 14 ° C | 14 ° C | 11 ° C | 6 ° C | 2 ° C | -0 ° C |
| Precipitation in mm | 42 | 33 | 41 | 37 | 54 | 69 | 56 | 58 | 45 | 37 | 44 | 55 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 |
| Hours of sunshine | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Sunrise | 8:10 | 7:25 | 6:20 | 6:10 | 5:10 | 4:45 | 5:00 | 5:45 | 6:40 | 7:30 | 7:25 | 8:10 |
| Sunset | 16:25 | 17:15 | 18:10 | 20:05 | 20:55 | 21:30 | 21:25 | 20:35 | 19:25 | 18:10 | 16:15 | 15:55 |
Temperatures
The average annual temperature is 9.6 ° C. For comparison: Munich reaches an average of 8.6 ° C, in Berlin it is 9.6 ° C. The warmest month is July (19 ° C), coldest month of January with mean values of 0.5 ° C.
Precipitation
The annual precipitation is 570 mm on 107 days with precipitation. For comparison: In Munich, 967 mm, in Berlin 570 mm, precipitation is measured annually. There is no rainy season, i.e. months with more than 175 mm of precipitation. In the months of January, February, March, April, November and December snowfall is possible.
Sunshine
As our climate table shows, July is the sunniest month with an average of 8 hours of sunshine per day. On average over the year the sun shines 4.7 hours per day. For comparison: In Munich and Berlin, the sun shines an average of 4.7 hours per day throughout the year.
Cities nearby
The following larger towns are nearby and have a similar climate: District Pankow, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Mitte, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Neukölln, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Reinickendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick, Spandau, Potsdam, Berlin-Neukölln, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Marzahn.
