Etymology: Further Information

Contents
 1Etymology
 2History
o 2.1Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire
o 2.2East Francia and Holy Roman Empire
o 2.3German Confederation and Empire
o 2.4Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany
o 2.5East and West Germany
o 2.6Reunified Germany and the European Union
 3Geography
o 3.1Climate
o 3.2Biodiversity
o 3.3Urbanisation
 4Politics
o 4.1Law
o 4.2Constituent states
o 4.3Foreign relations
o 4.4Military
 5Economy
o 5.1Companies
o 5.2Transport
o 5.3Energy and infrastructure
o 5.4Science and technology
o 5.5Tourism
 6Demographics
o 6.1Immigrant population
o 6.2Religion
o 6.3Languages
o 6.4Education
o 6.5Health
 7Culture
o 7.1Music
o 7.2Art
o 7.3Architecture
o 7.4Literature and philosophy
o 7.5Media
o 7.6Cinema
o 7.7Cuisine
o 7.8Sports
o 7.9Fashion and design
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References
 11External links
Etymology
Further information: Names of Germany
The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use
after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine.[15] It is possibly
of Celtic origin (cf. Old Irish gair = "neighbour").[16] The German term Deutschland,
originally diutisciu land ("the German lands") is derived from deutsch (compare Dutch),
descended from Old High German diutisc "of the people" (from diot or diota "people"),
originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and
its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "of the
people" (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), derived from *þeudō, descended
from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- "people", from which the word Teutons also
originates.[17]
History
Main article: History of Germany
The Nebra sky disk, c. 1700 BC
The discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in
Germany at least 600,000 years ago.[18] The oldest complete hunting weapons found
anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen between 1994 and
1998 where eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins of 1.82 to 2.25 m (5.97 to 7.38 ft)
length were unearthed.[19] The Neander Valley was the location where the first ever non-
modern human fossil was discovered; the new species of human was called
the Neanderthal. The Neanderthal 1 fossils are known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of
modern humans, similarly dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm.
The finds included 42,000-year-old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the
oldest musical instruments ever found,[20] the 40,000-year-old Ice Age Lion Man which is the
oldest uncontested figurative art ever discovered,[21] and the 35,000-year-old Venus of
Hohle Fels which is the oldest uncontested human figurative art ever
discovered.[22] The Nebra sky disk is a bronze artefact created during the European Bronze
Age attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt. It is part of UNESCO's Memory of the
World Programme.[23]
Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire

Main articles: Germania, Migration Period, and Frankish Realm
Migrations in Europe (100–500 AD)
The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Nordic Bronze Age or the Pre-Roman
Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south, east and
west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well
as Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes in Central and Eastern
Europe.[24] Under Augustus, Rome began to invade Germania. In 9 AD, three Roman
legions led by Varus were defeated by the Cheruscan leader Arminius. By 100 AD,
when Tacitus wrote Germania, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the
Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany.
However, Baden Württemberg, southern Bavaria, southern Hessen and the
western Rhineland had been conquered and incorporated into Roman
provinces: Raetia, Germania Superior, and Germania Inferior.[25][26][27]
Frankish Realm and its expansion. As it was partitioned in 843, West Francia (blue) and East
Francia (red) became predecessors of France and Germany, respectively.
In the 3rd century a number of large West Germanic tribes

emerged: Alemanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisii, Sicambri, and Thuringii. Around 260, the
Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands.[28] After the invasion of the Huns in
375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest.
Simultaneously several large tribes formed in what is now Germany and displaced or
absorbed smaller Germanic tribes. Large areas known since the Merovingian period
as Austrasia, Neustria, and Aquitaine were conquered by the Franks who established
the Frankish Kingdom, and pushed farther east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria. Areas of
what is today the eastern part of Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes
of Sorbs, Veleti and the Obotritic confederation.[25]
East Francia and Holy Roman Empire

Main articles: East Francia and Holy Roman Empire
In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor and founded the Carolingian
Empire, which was later divided in 843 among his heirs.[29] Following the break up of the
Frankish Realm, for 900 years, the history of Germany was intertwined with the history of
the Holy Roman Empire,[30] which subsequently emerged from the eastern portion of
Charlemagne's original empire. The territory initially known as East Francia stretched from
the Rhine in the west to the Elbe River in the east and from the North Sea to
the Alps.[29] The Ottonian rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major duchies and the
German king Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of these regions in 962. In
996 Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III, whom he
shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern
Italy and Burgundy under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the
emperors lost power through the Investiture controversy.[31]
Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–1468), inventor of the movable-type printing press

In the 12th century, under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes
increased their influence further south and east into territories inhabited by Slavs; they
encouraged German settlement in these areas, called the eastern settlement
movement (Ostsiedlung). Members of the Hanseatic League, which included mostly north
German cities and towns, prospered in the expansion of trade.[32] In the south, the Greater
Ravensburg Trade Corporation (Große Ravensburger Handelsgesellschaft) served a
similar function. The edict of the Golden Bull issued in 1356 by Emperor Charles
IV provided the basic constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the
emperor by seven prince-electors who ruled some of the most powerful principalities and
archbishoprics.[33]
Martin Luther (1483–1546), Protestant Reformer
Population declined in the first half of the 14th century, starting with the Great Famine in
1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–50.[34] Despite the decline, however, German
artists, engineers, and scientists developed a wide array of techniques similar to those
used by the Italian artists and designers of the time who flourished in such merchant city-
states as Venice, Florence and Genoa. Artistic and cultural centres throughout the German
states produced such artists as the Augsburg painters Hans Holbein and his son,
and Albrecht Dürer. Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, a
development that laid the basis for the spread of learning to the masses.[35]
In 1517, the Wittenberg priest Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the church
door, challenging the practice of selling of indulgences. He was subsequently
excommunicated in the papal bull Exsurge Domine in 1520, and his followers were
condemned in the 1521 Diet of Worms, which divided Western Christianity. In 1555,
the Peace of Augsburg tolerated the "Evangelical" faith (now called Lutheranism) as an
acceptable alternative to Catholicism, but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be
the faith of his subjects, a principle called cuius regio, eius

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Contents

The Nebra sky disk, c. 1700 BC

Germanic tribes and Frankish Empire

Migrations in Europe (100–500 AD)

In the 3rd century a number of large West Germanic tribes

East Francia and Holy Roman Empire

Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–1468), inventor of the movable-type printing press

Martin Luther (1483–1546), Protestant Reformer

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