Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. It is the country's most populous city, and the second most populous in the European Union.

Berlin is one of the most influential centers in european politics and culture. The city serves as an important crossroads for the eastern EU members and is a main junction of national and international transportation. Berlin is a major tourist and shopping destination and is well known for its world-class convention venues and media outlets. It hosts some of the most prominent universities , research faculties, theatres and museums in Europe.

Berlin enjoys an international reputation for its festivals, vibrant nightlife, contemporary architecture and the avant-garde arts. Being home to people from virtually every nation on Earth, Berlin is a magnet for individuals who are attracted by its liberal lifestyle, eclectic urbanity and artistic freedom. The city is famous and infamous for its political legacy of the 20th century.

Since the early founding in the 13th century, Berlin has been the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until 1701, the Kingdom of Prussia (1701 – 1871), the German Empire (1871 – 1919), the Weimar Republic (1919 – 1933), the Third Reich (1933 – 1945), the GDR (1949 – 1990) and the reunified Federal Republic of Germany (since 1991).

In 2006 Berlin hosts the FIFA World Cup Final.

History

The oldest part of Berlin was known under the name of Kopnik (today Köpenick), capital of the Slavic tribe called Sprewjanie, named after the river Spree (Slavic Sprewa/Sprowja). Early in the 13th century, the twin cities of Berlin and Cölln were founded as part of the German expansion into the formerly Slavic lands east of the River Elbe. Each of the twin cities was built on an island in the River Spree. Cölln lay on what is now known as the Spree Island (Spreeinsel), while the original Berlin lay across an arm of the Spree on an island to the northeast, where the medieval churches of St. Mary (Marienkirche) and St. Nicholas (Nikolaikirche) now stand. Another arm of the Spree, since filled in, separated the original Berlin from the mainland to the northeast.

The first written mention of the city of Cölln dates to 1237, and that of Berlin dates to 1244. Both documents are exhibited in the museum of the Dom (Cathedral) of Brandenburg an der Havel. From the beginning, the two cities formed an economic and social unit. In 1307, the two cities were united politically. Over time, the twin cities came to be known simply as Berlin, the larger of the pair. The name Berlin probably stems from the Slavic root berl (swamp, marshy ground).

In 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margravate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. Subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and finally as German emperors. The inhabitants of Berlin did not always welcome these changes.

In 1448 they rebelled in the “Berlin Indignation” against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II Irontooth. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. In 1451 Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539 the electors and the city officially became Protestant.

The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 had devastating consequences for Berlin. A third of the houses were damaged, and the city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the “Great Elector”, succeeded his father as ruler in 1640. He initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance. Over the following decades, Berlin expanded greatly in area and population with the founding of the new suburbs of Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt, today the site of many government offices.

 

 

In 1671, fifty Jewish families from Austria were given a home in Berlin. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William invited the French Huguenots to Brandenburg. More than 15,000 Huguenots came, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. Around 1700, approximately twenty percent of Berlin's residents were French, and their cultural influence was great. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.

With coronation of Frederick I in 1701 as king of Prussia, Berlin became the capital of Prussia. On 1 January 1710, the cities of Berlin, Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt were united as the “Royal Capital and Residence of Berlin.” The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, outlying suburbs including Wedding, Moabit, and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.

At the end of World War I in 1918, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed in Berlin. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into a greatly expanded city. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around 4 million. 1920s Berlin was a very exciting and interesting city.

After the National Socialists (Nazis) were elected in 1933, Berlin became the capital of the Third Reich. The Nazis used the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin for propaganda purposes. There were also plans to rebuild Berlin as “Germania, Capital of the World.” However, these plans were put aside because of World War II.

Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 160,000 before the Nazi seizure of power. After the brutal pogrom of Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the concentration camp at nearby Sachsenhausen. The last Jews in Berlin (except for a few married to non-Jews) were marched to the Grunewald railway station over several weeks in early 1943 and shipped in cattle cars to death camps such as Auschwitz.

During the war, large parts of Berlin were destroyed by bombs and street combat. After the occupation of the city by the Red Army and the German surrender in 1945, Berlin was divided into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin, while the sector of the Soviet Union formed East Berlin.

For Berlin as a whole, all four allies retained shared oversight. However, the growing political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union led the Soviet Union, which controlled the territory surrounding Berlin, to impose the Berlin Blockade, an economic blockade of West Berlin from 1948 to 1949. The Allies successfully overcame this blockade through the Berlin Airlift.

The Berlin Wall in 1986, brightly painted on the western side. Those trying to cross the so-called death strip on the eastern side could be shot.In 1949 the democratic Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic (GDR) was proclaimed in East Germany. The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by the territory of the GDR. Due to Berlin's isolation and vulnerability, the Federal Republic established its provisional capital in Bonn. The GDR, however, proclaimed East Berlin, which included most of the historic centre, as its capital. The east-west conflict culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin and other barriers around West Berlin by the GDR on 13 August 1961. West Berlin was now de facto a part of the Federal Republic of Germany, although with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of the GDR.

 

The eastern and western portions of Berlin were now completely separated. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. In 1971, the Four-Power Agreement on Berlin was signed. While the Soviet Union applied the oversight of the four powers only to West Berlin, the Western Allies emphasized in a 1975 note to the United Nations their position that four-power oversight applied to Berlin as a whole.

In 1989 pressure from the East German population brought a transition to democracy in the GDR, and Easterners gained free access across the Berlin Wall, which was quickly demolished. In 1990 the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany and Berlin became the German capital according to the unification treaty. In 1991, the Bundestag (the lower house of the German parliament) decided, after a controversial public discussion, that the city should again be the seat of the German national government. Most branches of the German government relocated from Bonn to Berlin during the subsequent years. On 1 September 1999 the German parliament and government began their work in Berlin.

Geography

 

Geographic setting

Berlin is located in eastern Germany, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of the border with Poland. Berlin's landscape was shaped by ice sheets during the last Ice Age. The city centre lies along the river Spree in the Berlin-Warsaw 'urstromtal' (ancient river valley), formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age. The urstromtal lies between the low plateaus of the Barnim, to the north, and the Teltow, to the south. In Berlin's westernmost borough, Spandau, the Spree meets the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is much like a chain of lakes. The largest lakes along the Havel are the Tegelsee and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through eastern Berlin's largest lake, Großer Müggelsee.

Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus that line the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim, while most of the boroughs Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln are on the Teltow. The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin urstromtal and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin.

The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg in the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Müggelberge in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick. Both hills have an elevation of about 115 metres (377 feet), and are in fact artificial piles of rubble from the ruins of World War II.

Climate

The city has a moderate climate. The mean annual temperature for Berlin-Dahlem is 9.4 degrees Celsius (48.9 degrees Fahrenheit) and its mean annual precipitation totals 578 millimetres (22.8 inches). The warmest months are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of 16.7 to 17.9 degrees Celsius (62.1 to 64.2 degrees Fahrenheit). The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of -0.4 to 1.2 degrees Celsius (31.3 to 34.2 degrees Fahrenheit). The months with the highest precipitation are June and August, which average 70.7 millimetres (2.78 inches) and 65.3 millimetres (2.57 inches), respectively. The months with the lowest mean precipitation are October and February, with averages of 35.8 millimetres (1.41 inches) and 36.7 millimetres (1.44 inches), respectively.

Demography

Berlin has 3,393,933 inhabitants (as of September 2005) in an area of 891.75 square kilometres (344.31 mi²). Thus, the population density of the region amounts to 3,806 inhabitants per square kilometre (9,857/square mile). Berlin residents' average age is 41.7 years (as of 2004). A total of 450,900 inhabitants are foreigners who are citizens of 185 nations (as of December 2004). Among them, approximately 36,000 citizens come from the nearest neighbouring country, Poland, and 119,000 are from Turkey—Berlin is the largest Turkish municipality in Europe outside of Turkey. In 2004, 22.3% of the population were Protestants, 9.1% were Catholics, 6.2% were Muslims, and 0.4% were Jews.

Between approximately the 1890s and the mid-1920s, Berlin was the fourth-largest urban area in the world after London, New York, and Paris. Today, it is the sixth-largest urban area in the European Union, and approximately the 80th-largest urban area in the world.

Economy

Berlin was once a major manufacturing centre and the economic and financial hub of Germany. The city suffered economically during the Cold War, when West Berlin was isolated geographically and East Berlin suffered from poor economic decisions made by East Germany’s central planners. Since reunification, the city has relied increasingly on economic activity in the service sectors.

Economic history

Berlin was founded at a point where trade routes crossed the River Spree and quickly became a commercial centre. During the early modern period, the city prospered from its role as Prussian capital by manufacturing luxury goods for the Prussian court and supplies for the Prussian military.

During the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution transformed the city’s economy. Berlin became Germany’s main rail hub and a centre of rail locomotive manufacturing. The city became a leader in the manufacture of other kinds of machinery as well, and developed an important chemical manufacturing sector. Toward the end of the 19th century, Berlin became a world leader in the then cutting-edge sector of electrical equipment manufacturing As the de facto centre of the German Zollverein, or Customs Union, and later the seat of imperial Germany’s central bank, Berlin became Germany’s banking and financial centre as well.

Berlin suffered from both the German inflation of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The city’s economy revived as a centre of armaments production under the Nazis, but it lost a pool of entrepreneurial talent when the Nazis forced Jewish businessmen to sell their holdings and ultimately massacred most who did not flee Germany. World War II severely damaged Berlin’s industrial infrastructure, and Soviet expropriation of machinery and other capital equipment as “reparations” further damaged Berlin’s industrial base. Soviet restrictions on transport impeded communication with West Germany and ended hopes that Berlin would resume a role as Germany’s financial centre; most banks established headquarters in Frankfurt. In East Berlin, central planners rebuilt a manufacturing sector, but one that was not competitive internationally or responsive to market demand. West Berlin’s economy grew increasingly dependent on state subsidies and on its role as an educational and research centre.

Berlin’s and Germany’s unification brought the collapse of many of East Berlin’s producers, which could not compete with market-disciplined Western competitors. Massive unemployment was only partly compensated by the growth of jobs in the construction and infrastructural sectors involved in rebuilding and upgrading East Berlin’s infrastructure. The arrival of the federal government in 1999 brought some economic stimulus to Berlin. Berlin’s service sectors have also benefited from improved transportation and communications links to the surrounding region. The service sectors have become the city’s economic mainstay.

Economic structure and trends

Berlin's economy has shrunk over the past decade. The gross state product totalled €77.9 billion in 2004. This compares with €77.4 billion in 1995. Correcting for the effects of inflation, however, this represents an 11% reduction in the size of Berlin's economy over 9 years.

The biggest declines came in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Construction registered a real decline of 64.2% between 1995 and 2004, a decline that coincides with the completion of a range of projects for modernizing the eastern boroughs' infrastructure, improving links between the western boroughs and their neighbours, and building new government and corporate offices. Meanwhile, the city’s manufacturing sector continued a gradual decline, shrinking by 24.3% in real terms over the 9-year period.

Berlin’s service sectors were somewhat more robust, growing 7.4% in nominal terms from 1995 to 2004, but declining by 5.0% over the same period after adjusting for inflation. Tourism, transport, and communications each showed substantial declines of more than 10% in real terms over this period. In fact, the only sector of Berlin’s economy to grow in inflation-adjusted terms between 1995 and 2004 was the real estate sector, which grew by 3.5% over the 9-year period. Other service sectors showed modest declines in inflation-adjusted terms.

In terms of composition, Berlin's gross state product in 2004 was dominated by the service sectors, which made up 76.9% of the economy. The largest service sectors were real estate (29.2%) and government services (28.3%). Goods-producing sectors accounted for 16.2% of the economy, with manufacturing alone accounting for 10.5% and construction for 2.9%. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries made up 0.1% of the economy. Imputed banking fees made up 3.0% of the city’s economy. Net government transfers and subsidies accounted for the remainder (9.7%) of Berlin's gross state product.

Before the reunification of Germany and the two Berlins in 1990, West Berlin received substantial subsidies from the West German state to compensate for its geographic isolation from West Germany. Many of those subsidies were phased out after 1990. The reduced financial support for the city and its gradual economic decline have produced fiscal difficulties for Berlin's city government and forced it to cut funding for various programs.

Infrastructure

As Germany's largest city, and one of the largest cities in Europe, Berlin developed a complex transportation and energy-supply infrastructure before World War II. After the war, West Berlin was cut off from the surrounding territory and had to develop independent infrastructures. Meanwhile, the government of East Germany built rail lines and highways that allowed traffic between East Berlin and the western part of East Germany to bypass West Berlin. The political reunification of East and West Berlin has led to the reintegration of Berlin's transportation and energy-supply with the infrastructures of the surrounding region.

Public transport and rail lines

Public transport within Berlin is provided by the S-Bahn—operated by the firm S-Bahn Berlin—and by the U-Bahn, Straßenbahn, bus, and ferries—operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, or BVG. The S-Bahn is a mostly aboveground urban railway system. The U-Bahn is the city's mainly underground metro or subway system. The Straßenbahn is a tram (trolley) system that operates mainly in eastern Berlin. Buses provide extensive service linking outlying districts with the city centre and the U-Bahn and S-Bahn. Almost all means of public transport—U- & S- Bahn, trams, buses and most ferries—can be accessed with the same ticket. Public transportation in Berlin works on a sort of honor system: There is no need to show or scan one's ticket in order to get on a bus, tram, or train. However, plain clothed transit authorities frequently conduct random checks in which they board a vehicle and demand that everyone onboard show their ticket. Anyone who does not produce a valid ticket is given a stiff fine.

As the network map at the right shows, the inner city is crossed from east to west by the elevated main line (Stadtbahn), which carries S-Bahn trains as well as regional and long-distance trains. This main line passes through most of the city's long-distance and regional train stations, including Berlin-Charlottenburg, Berlin Zoologischer Garten (Zoo), Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Friedrichstraße, Alexanderplatz, and Berlin Ostbahnhof. Along the north-south axis, the U-Bahn 9 line carries the largest passenger volume, supplemented by the north-south line of the S-Bahn. The north-south and east-west lines of the S-Bahn cross at Friedrichstraße.

The last key component of Berlin's rail network is the S-Bahn ring (Ringbahn) that forms a circle around the inner city and crosses the main line at Westkreuz (“west crossing”) and Ostkreuz (“east crossing”). A number of regional and regional express lines connect Berlin with the surrounding region. The city is also served by the freight rail yard at Seddin, south of Potsdam.

There are useful online resources for getting around Berlin using public transport, such as the route planner or a map of the current public transport network. 

Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighbouring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding region of Brandenburg and eastern Germany.

Berlin was once a major hub of the central European railway network. World War II and the political division of Germany disrupted Berlin's railway network. Today only two pre-1945 long-distance stations, Ostbahnhof and Zoologischer Garten, remain in service. In the early 1950s, in an effort by the East German government to isolate West Berlin, railway services were diverted away from terminuses in West Berlin. The following stations became disused and were demolished during the 1950s and 1960s.:Anhalter Bahnhof ;Stettiner Bahnhof ;

Görlitzer Bahnhof ;Potsdamer Bahnhof ;Lehrter Bahnhof .

Motorways

Berlin's inner city is partly surrounded by a motorway (superhighway, expressway, or freeway), the A 100, that forms a half circle to the west of the centre. There are plans to extend this motorway to form a full circle around the inner city. The A 10 motorway forms a full circle around the exterior of Berlin.

From the A 100, within the city, the following motorways extend outward to the A 10 and beyond:

A 111 to the northwest (toward Hamburg and Rostock)

A 113 to the southeast (toward Dresden and Cottbus). This motorway currently begins in the far south-eastern part of Berlin. By 2007, the connection to the A 100, currently under construction, should be complete.

A 115 to the southwest (toward Hanover and Leipzig). The segment of this motorway inside the A 10 is still commonly known as the Avus.

In addition, in the northern part of the city, the A 114 runs from Pankow to and beyond the A 10 toward Szczecin in Poland.

Airports

Berlin has three commercial airports—Tegel International Airport (TXL), Tempelhof International Airport (THF), and Schönefeld International Airport (SXF). Schönefeld lies just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg, while the other two airports lie within the city. Tempelhof handles only short-distance and commuter flights, and there are plans to close the airport and transfer its traffic to Berlin's other two airports. There are longer-term plans to close Tegel as well. Schönefeld is currently undergoing expansion. Berlin's airport authority aims to transfer all of Berlin's air traffic sometime after 2010 to a greatly expanded airport at Schönefeld, to be renamed Berlin Brandenburg International Airport. However, some residents of Berlin and Brandenburg oppose the planned expansion of service at Schönefeld.