Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population.
According to the population within city limits, its 3.8 million inhabitants make it the European Union’s most populous city.
One of Germany’s sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg’s capital.
Berlin’s urban area, which has around 4.5 million, is Germany’s second-most populous metropolitan area after the Ruhr.
The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has over six million inhabitants and is Germany’s third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.
Spree flows into Havel (a tributary of the Elbe) in the borough of Spandau in western Berlin.
Among the city’s topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel and Dahme, the largest Lake Müggelsee.
Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate.
About one-third of the city’s area comprises forests, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes.
The city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.
First documented in the 13th century and at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and the Third Reich (1933–1945).
Berlin in the 1920s was the third-largest municipality in the world.
After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, Berlin was divided; West Berlin became a de facto exclave of West Germany, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East German territory.
East Berlin was declared the capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital.
Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science.
This city’s economy is driven by high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing various creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues.
Berlin is a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network.
The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.
Significant industries include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics.
Berlin is home to world-renowned universities such as the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin), the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin), the Universität der Künste (University of the Arts, UdK) ESMT Berlin and Bard College Berlin.
Its Zoological Garden is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide.
Berlin is an increasingly attractive location for international film productions with the world’s oldest large-scale movie studio complex.
The city is well known for its entertainment, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and very high quality of living.
Berlin has experienced a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene since the 2000s.
Berlin contains three World Heritage Sites: Museum Island, the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, and the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.
Other landmarks include the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building, Potsdamer Platz, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Berlin Wall Memorial, the East Side Gallery, the Berlin Victory Column, Berlin Cathedral and the Berlin Television Tower, the tallest structure in Germany.
Berlin has numerous museums, galleries, libraries, orchestras, and sporting events.
These include the Old National Gallery, the Bode Museum, the Pergamon Museum, the German Historical Museum, the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Natural History Museum, the Humboldt Forum, the Berlin State Library, the Berlin State Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Berlin Marathon.
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Berlin is Germany’s capital and co-extensive with the Land of Berlin, one of the 16 federal states that make up the Federal Republic of Germany.
With a population of 3.8 million (2019) (and a million more in “suburbs” like Potsdam across the state line in Brandenburg), Berlin is Germany’s biggest city.
The focus on and dominance of Berlin as capital has historically been far weaker than that of London, Paris or Madrid, not least because of the federal nature of Germany and the havoc war and partition wreaked on the city.
Berlin is unusual among European capitals in many respects, and the four decades of partition—28 years of them being physically separated by a wall—have also left traces.
Merely a backwater town in the early 18th century, Berlin grew to be one of the most significant cities in the world by the 1920s, only to lose much of its importance and historic architecture due to World War II and German partition.
The heart of old Prussia and a focal point of the Cold War, Berlin today is coming into its own again as a cosmopolitan capital of one of Europe’s wealthiest nations.”Arm aber sexy” (poor but sexy) as a former mayor would have it, Berlin attracts young people, students and a creative bohème like few other cities in the world.
With architectural heritage from Prussian monarchism, Nazism, East German communism and Potsdamer Platz, filled with the 1990s and 2000s-style glass palaces after being a “blank canvas” due to the wall, Berlin’s architecture is as varied as its neighbourhoods and its people.
And due to its long history as a cosmopolitan capital (first of Prussia and later of Germany), it has attracted immigrants from all over the world for more than three hundred years now, who continue to leave their marks on the city.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science.
Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, and media corporations.
IT, biotechnology, construction, and electronics are also important sectors.
There are world-renowned universities, orchestras, museums, and entertainment venues in Berlin, and it hosts many sporting events.
Its Zoological Garden is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide.
With the world’s oldest large-scale movie studio complex in nearby Babelsberg, Berlin is an increasingly popular location for international film productions.
The city is well known for its festivals, nightlife, contemporary arts and very high quality of living.
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