Brandenburg Germany
History
Brandenburg is relatively new in its current form. It was one of the federal states that emerged after the reunification in 1990. In medieval times (and into early modern times) the area now known as Brandenburg was considered to be the area known as Prussia. Prussia was the first unified state of the German empire. From 1772 to 1918, the area was known as the Kingdom of Prussia, but the area still referred to as Brandenburg was the most important part of the kingdom, becoming a province of Prussia in 1815. There was a sharp increase in population during this time due to a booming industrial economy. Prussia became a free state in 1918 and in 1920 the greater Berlin area marked itself as its own province. Potsdam became the capital city of the Brandenburg province.
After World War II, Prussia was dissolved and Brandenburg was split into separate districts. Brandenburg was a part of East Germany, where there was a socialist government. Brandenburg remained a big player in the agricultural economy of East Germany. On October 15, 1990 the present form of Brandenburg was founded. The reunification of Germany brought much unemployment to the state, as its economy could not compete with the western half of Germany. Recently, the unemployment rate has declined and the economy has picked up significantly.
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The Brandenburg
Gate located in Berlin Germany. It got its name because it is supposed to
point towards the city of Brandenburg.
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The Landscape
The state of Brandenburg is densely
forested and contains Europe’s most extensive landscape of rivers and lakes.
There are more than 3000 lakes with the Havel, Spree, and Oder rivers. It
contains Lower Oder Valley National Park, three Biosphere Reserves and eleven
Nature Parks. Brandenburg surrounds Berlin but does not include the national
capital and city-state. The capital city of Brandenburg is Potsdam. Other
cities include Cottbus, Brandenburg an der Havel, and Frankfurt (Oder).
Potsdam is situated on the River Havel
and is the capital of Brandenburg. It is the largest city in Brandenburg with
twelve palaces, including Sanssouci Palace – the summer residence of King
Frederick II. Before 1918, Potsdam was the residence of the Prussian kings and
German Kaisers. Potsdam has many architecturally significant buildings
associated with Prussian royalty. The Babelsberg Film Studio is located in
Potsdam and is the oldest, large-scale, film studio in the world. There are
three public colleges and more than 30 research institutes in the city.
Cottbus is the cultural centre of the Lower Sorbian minority. It is also home of Brandenburg University of Technology and the maths/science-oriented Max-Steenback-Gymnasium, which is named after the physicist Max Steenbeck.
Brandenburg an der Havel, also known
as Brandenburg City, is located on the banks of the River Havel and is the
oldest town in the state. During the Nazi era it had a concentration camp, one
of the first in Germany. After closing the camp, the Nazis used a prison in
Gorden, a suburb of Brandenburg an der Havel, that later became the Brandenburg
Euthanasia Centre. Brandenburg an der Havel was one of the first locations
where Nazis experimented with killing their victims by gas.
Frankfurt (Oder) is a smaller city in
Brandenburg located on the Oder River, which separates Germany and Poland.
Frankfurt (Oder) is not to be confused with the larger city Frankfurt am Main
located in the state of Hesse. Here, in Frankfurt (Oder) you can walk across
the city bridge and be in the Polish town Slubice. Frankfurt an der Oder has
one the largest Gothic churches and one of the oldest medieval town halls. The
18th century German novelist and playwright, Heinrich von Kleist, is
the town’s most famous resident.
Demographics
This
is a state in northeastern Germany that surrounds, but is independent of the
city of Berlin. Poland is to the east of this state and also bordered by other
states of Germany such as, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the north, Freistaat
Sachsen in the south, Saxony-Anhalt in the west and Lower Saxony in the
northwest. The capital of this state is Potsdam. The population was recorded as
2,495,635 in 2011. The state area is 29,478.63 km2(11,381.76 sq mi).
Economy
The main economic industries include
agriculture, automotive industry, energy industry, electrical industry and
optical industry. 7 universities and 21 other higher-education institutions
with more than 182,000 students, as well as over 100 private and public
institutes and development facilities make Berlin-Brandenburg one of the
densest research networks in Europe.
Brandenburg is a vital place for logistics. Nine out of ten of the biggest German logistic companies are located here, German Railways, German Post, Kühne+Nagel, Dachser, DPD, UPS, Rhenus, Panalpina and Fiege. There are also hundreds of bringing companies located here. The GDP of this state ranked 11th in 2011 which was 55,090 Euro€ (76,680 US$).
Sources
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110509/NEWS02/705099975/1001，09/04/2012
http://www.login-bb.de/fileadmin/login/bilder/Presseveroeffentlichungen/WorldMarket_2008-6.pdf, 09/04/2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_states_by_GDP#2011_List , 09/04/2012
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Germany/brandenburg.htm (09/02/12)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg (9/2/12)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77676/Brandenburg/277639/Geography (9/2/12)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_an_der_Havel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam (9/2/12)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottbus, http://www.study-in.de/en/life/culture-travel--11830/ (9/2/12)
http://www.germanfoodguide.com/brandenburg.htm (9/2/12)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg (9/3/12)
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/BRG/bb.html (9/3/12)
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