Germany has a powerful economy, it's the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest in the world.
Its economy is based on the concept of social market economy.
The 70% of the economy is based on the service sector, the 29% on the industry and the 1% it's the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and mining).
Germany is the third biggest exporter in the world, in 2014 it made 1.13 trillion euros.
Germany doesn't have many minerals, but the few they have, they have it with quite a bit of quantity like: iron, salt, uranium, nickel, copper and natural gas. In energy the most they have are fossil fuel, and then they also produce a little of renewable energies, like wind, biomass, hydro, geothermal and solar.
THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF GERMANY
Their economy started with the age of industrialisation. In germany it started like 100 years later than England but it was quite important for Germany because there they started to export and import quite big quantities.
The second phase of their economy started in 1930 when the unemployment in Germany was very high, during those years the Nazi Party came to power and in few years they achived full employment and stabilized their economy. During the following years Germany became very powerful in the hands of the Nazi Party and developed good contacts with powerfull business.
With the lose of the Second World War the german economy came down a lot, because of all their people killed, all the infrastructures and all the money they had to pay to the other countries who won the war.
During the following years the country was in a very deep crisis, and they were gonna need quite a few years to recover their economy.
In the year 2000 Germany recovered 100% and nowadays they are again one of the richest countries in Europe.
The weather in Germany it's not very good because it rains quite alot and also it's quite cold ,like we can see in the photo.
This is how much it rains in a year in a city in Germany, this is Frankfurt airport situated a little to the south-west.
Like we can see, it rains quite alot and constantly during the 12 different months of the year, it rains a bit more in July, August and June. Germany's climate is marine and temperate, with quite cold cloudy winter days and cool sunny days in the summer with some rainy days. Germany is cool/temperate climate with humit and cold days. Also there are some places in Germany that in summer it's very hot (30º) and in the winter can be very cold (-10º), and that's a continental climate. In the south it's always very hot for being germany, in the summer it's like (30º) and in the winter it's like (20º).
He was born in Ulm, germany, in the 14th of March of 1879 and he died in 1955.
he was a physicist, one of the best, he discovered and stablished lots of new theorys, laws and formulas.
In 1921 he got a Nobel Prize in physics.
In 1933 he was visiting United States when adolf Hitler came into power, and because einstein was jewish he didn't go back to germany and instead stayed in United States and became American in 1940.
When the second world war began he sent a letter to the president of United States saying that they had to begin a research for more powefull bombs. When they discovered thanks to Einstein the nuclear weapons
he denounced the idea of using them because of the destroctive power they had.
Angela Dorothea Merkel
She was born in the 17th of July of 1954, in Hamburg. Her father was Horst Karner, native from Berlin, and her mother was Herlind Jentzsch, from Poland and she was an english and latin teacher. She's a german politician and has been the chancellor of germany since 2005. She has a doctorate in physics but runs the politics of her country and is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union.
She started her political career in 1989 and went up in the posicions during the years since becoming the chancellor of germany in 2005. She allready had some german family that were politicians and had important places in the goverment. She has won the federal election since the first time she won the elctions in 1990.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
He was born in the 17 of december of 1770 in Bonn and he was a german pianist and composer.
He was one of the best musicians between the Classical and the Romantic era.
He started to compose and play the piano in a very early age, his father was the first one to teach him how to play music, and then Christian Gottlob Neefebecame his teacher.
When he was older he wanted to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn.
In 1792 he went to Viena and studied with Haydn, he didn't move from Viena all his life and died there in the 26th of March of 1827.
Ten years before he died he became almost deaf, he couldn't hear almost anything.That's why he didn't continue performing in public but he did continue composing.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born on the 12 of June of 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, she lived in Amsterdam with her family during World War II. Her family and herself were jew so they had to hide from the Nazis. They hid during two years while the War went on, and while hiding she wrote her diary that nowadays it's very famous because it talks about how the jews had to live during the war and it's very well written to be a girl who wrote it.
In 1945, while she was in the concentration camp she died at the age of fifteen. Then her diary that explained all her experiences and opinions of the second world war and how did the jews live was taken by her father, and now you can find it in every library of the world.
-Germany is the most populous country in Europe, apart from Russia: the population of germany is about 80 million people, making it the second most populated country in Europe. Russia the only country with more population than germany, it has 110 million people, the 77% of population of all russia it's in a very small area. -Germany's land extension was over 50% larger during the second world war: nowadays the extension of the whole country, germany, is about 357,021 square metres -People from Germany are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world, after the Czechs: in Germany they consume 107 litres per person in a year, -The cathedral in Ulm is the tallest church in the world, with a high of 161'53 metres: also named Ulm Minister, it's a lutheran church. Althought the tourists knows it as the Ulm cathedral, it's really not a cathedral -The biggest train station in Europe was built in Berlin in 2006: it's the Berlin Central Train Station, in german: Berlin Hauptbahnhof -Germany is the second biggest producer of motor vehicle in the world, behind Japan: producing motor vehicles is one of the industries that gives more jobs to the people resident in Germany (747000 jobs). -There are over 300 types of bread in Germany and there are also lots of bread museums: the most famous type of bread made in Germany is the pretzel, that's like a crusty bread, made ina a shipe of a bow, with some salt on top of it, and the Germans sell this bread at anywhere and at anytime. -The Cologne cathedral took over 632 years to build: this cathedral was started to build in 1248 and was unfinished in 1473, In the 19th century it was again started to build and they finished in the same century -There are over 150 castles in germany: this fact gives germany quite a lot of things, like: quite a few tourists come to germany just to see these famous castles, and it also creates quite a lot of places to work. This makes german economy to go up, but of course it's also quite expensive to maintaine the castles. Some of the most popular castles are: -Berlin is nine times bigger than Paris: Berlin is the second most populous city in Germany with a population of 3.5 million people and has an extens of 891'8 square killometre Paris,being the most populous city in France, has a population of 2.24 million people and has an extens of 105 square killometre.
The music has changed a lot in a few years.
The beginning of what we know like the german music could be in the 12th century compositions of mystic, abbes Hildegard of Blingen, who wrote a vareity of himns and other kinds of Christmas music.
German music can be divided in two groups:
+Classical music: Germans have made lots of the greatest operas of all time.In the period from Baroque to Romantic lots of operas and chorale have been made in german or translated to german because it was one of the most important places for the classical music of those years.
Also lots of great composers were born in germany or came there to make themselves famous or to get a good education.
The german classical music was revolutionized by Oswal Von Wolkenstein, who went through all Europe learning interesting technics and styles that he then brought back to germany and became famous. The main classical music they did was: -Chorale: It began in the 16th century,this type of music was more popular than catholic music, because it was vibrant and energetic, some composers that did this music were: Martin Luther (leader protestant reformation) and Heinrich Schutz. -Opera: It was wolfgang Mozart who started the opera era in germany. Opera was very famous in Germany, and lots of german composers experimented with the sound of the opera, for example they put some electronic sounds. It also has quite a lot of opera houses, like: Munich State Theatre. -Baroque period: It was the first german music that used tonality and it had quite a lot of ornamantation. Its origins were in the north part of germany. The one composer that did the best job with the baroque music with no doubt was Johann Sebastian Bach. -Classical era: in the 18th century germany had become the center of orquestral music. Mozart also did classical music in his own style, he mixed german classical music with the northern Itlay one. when Mozart died Beethoven composed the best classical music. -Romantic era: Beethoven and Franz Schubert, were the most famous composers of the Romantic era.
-20th century: Lots of german composers emigrated to America because of the nazy party, the nazy party didn't like any type of music that had something to do with the jews.
+Contemporary music:In the 20th century in berlin they went for a more populistic music, Kurt weill and Paul Hindemith, who did socilist operas. Carl Orff had ideas from France, like the impressionist . So his music was colorful with unusual combinations of instruments in his orchestra.
Lots of the germans composers went to America when the nazis came to power, because the nazy party wanted to get rid of all the music that had something to do with Jews, communists or jazz. The largest summer festival for classical music is the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. The main contemporany music: -Kabarett: It was the first type of pop german music, it started in the 1920, as the popular music they listened in clubs and diferent places, the young people. -Swing movement: when germany was governed by Hitler, the Nazi party, the young people of germany became more independent and they started to make a fuss,they protested in the streets.But theire main point was the music, the protests were on the musical preferences and the Nazi party didn't like it a bit because they liked and listened to jazz and swing, that for the Nazis it's the worst of the music because jazz was the music their enemy listened and it was sung by the black people, the Nazis said it was the "Negro music".
Berlin is the capital of Germany and with the biggest number of population of all the cities (3'5m).
This city is located in the northestern of germany, next to the rivers Spree and Havel.
The weather in Berlin is quite moderate compared to the rest of Germany where it's quite cold normally.
Also it has quite a lot of vegetation in the centre of the city like in the outskirts.
Some interesing things of Berlin are:
-Visit the wall of Berlin:
-Go to the famous Berlin zoo:
-Go to have a walk at the Charlottenburg gardens:
-Go for a cultury walk throgh the most famous museums in Berlin:
HAMBURG
Hamburg is the second biggest city in Germany also the second one most populated (1'7m).
It's situated on the south of the Jutland Peninsula and it's on the river Elbe.
The climate is oceanic, because the coast is so near, the Baltic sea and the North sea.
The name comes from the first permanent building, a castle which the emperor Charlemagne made construct in 808. It was constructed between the river Alster and the river Elbe.
The architecture of Hamburg is quiet important, it has a few skyscrapers (like the Rathaus), and also a few unique styles, it has some churches (St Nicholas).
Hamburg has several museums and galleries, they have quite important paints of famous people, generally contemporary art.
MUNICH
Munich is the capital and the biggest city of Bavaria ( Bavaria is a free state siuated in the southeast and the biggest state in the country, 70548 km2 ). Munich is situated next to the river Isar, and north of the Bavarian Alps. It has a population of 1.5 million people. First Munich was a single monestir owned by Benedictine Order. The climate in Munich is oceanic, it's quite cool all the year, also it rains a lot in that place and it's very wet.
Some things you have to do when you go to Munich:-Visit the english gardens: it's bigger than any park in London or New York.
-The museums: if you like art and culture you have to go to Kunstaeal, it's a big area where there are the most famous museums in Munich. There are the:Alte Pinakthek, Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne Also if you like football you should go to Munich, just to see the famous football stadium, Alianz Arena. The arquitecture of the building is quite unique, because of the material used to do the main structure ETFE plastic panels, and also that the whole building can change color, the capacity of the stadium is of 71000p. COLOGNE
Cologne has a population of 1 million people and it is the fourth largest city.
It's situated on both sides of one of the most important rivers, Rhin.
It has an enormous cathedral, quite famous, and also a very old and big university.
The whole city was bombed in the second world war and the 95% of the population died or evacuated from the city.
The bombing destroyed the whole city and lots of historical buildings had to be rebuild like all the city, so now the city is quite unique and there is quite a variety of modern buildings next to old ones or also historical buildings with some modern styles in it.
It's situated in the middle-west side of germany nearly toching netherlands and belgium.
Intersting things to do in Cologne:
-Visit the chocolate museum: if you like chocolate you should go to the chocolate museum, they show you every step to do good handmade chocolate,and when the tour has finished they give you a sample of their own chocolate.
-Visit the cathedral: if you go to Cologne you have to visit the cathedral, it's massive and unique and old, you could say it's the principal attraction of the city.
FRANKFURT
Frankfurt am Main, is the largest city in the german state of Hesse and the fifth largest city of Germany, with a population of 720.000 people.
Frankfurt is a centre for commerce,culture, education, tourism and web traffic.
Some interesting things they do in Frankfurt:
-The Frankfurt motor show: it's the largest motor show in the whole world
-The Frankfurt book fair: it's the largest book fair in the world.
Also it has lots of important universities and museums, so lots of young people go there to study or get a job.
Frankfurt it's situated in both sites of the main river south-east of the Taunus mountainrange.
It has a temperate-oceanic climate, with moderate cold winters and warm summers. The average of temperature it's more a less 10ºC.
So if you go to Frankfurt and you like to visit some cultural or interesting things, here there are some things you have to do:
-Go to walk on the palmengarten botanical garden.
-Go to have a degustation walk through the Kleinmarkthalle: a type of market where you can try every typic or strange type of food you can imagine,and you don't have to pay to taste the food.
The german education system is one of the best in Europe but it's also quite different from the other ones. This education system is made for all type of students, more inteligent or less, and also it doesn't matter if they are poor or rich because it's all free, the state pays it.
So the german state education system is divided in different sections:
+The first section is the same for everyone until they age 10:
+KINDERGARETEN: children fom 3 to 5 have attend to kindergarten, during kindergarten they get used to school and start to know different kids. They don't do much of studying because they are very little
+ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Grundschule): childrem from 6 to 10, have to attend to elementary school, and they are put in the same school all the children that live nearby, but when they get to 4th grade, 10 years, they do an exam that will separate them in differnet schools depending in their intelectual level and effort they put in school.
-The second section they split the children in different groups depending in their intelectual level and the wishes of their family:
-GYMNASIUM: The ones that go to the gymnasium, get a diploma called Abitur. They also prepare you to go to university or dual academic and vocational credential. They usually do these subjects: german, mathematics, computer science, phisycs, chemistry, biology, geography, art, music, history, philosophy, civics, social studies and also some foreign languages.You get the Abitur at the 12th or 13th grade depending were you live.
-REALSCHULE: They study from grades 5-10. They go to part-time vocational schools and higher vocational schools. In the 21 century it's now possible to go from the realschule to the gymnasium if you work hard.
-HAUPTSCHULE: They do the same subjects as realschule and gymnasium, they do the classes slower and also they do some vocational oriented courses.They study until they are 18 years old.
-GESAMTSCHULE: It's a mix of the Realschule and the Hauptschule, they learn things from the two schools from the 5th grade to the 10th grade. If you leave school in the 9th grade you get the Hauptschule degree and if you leave in the 10th grade you get the Realschule degree
-BERUFFSCHULE: This combines academic study with apprenticeship. In these school you get a degree in a particular work or trade.
But in these school like all the others you have to do minimum 9 years of education.
-There is also a third section for children who need special needs:
-SONDERSCHULE or SONDERSCHULE: these are schools for children with special needs.
There are also private schools that function more a less like state schools, but they can offer different courses in the same sections as the state school. In the section of the private schools there are also some other ones that are religious, protestant and catholic.
After they finish all the years in one school or another depending where they had to go, they can go to University:
-There is the normal one where you go to University during six years, but after some changes the state said you can get the higher education degree studing only for four years.
