Geography (Germany)
===================


     Total area:
         356,910 km2
     Land area:
         349,520 km2; comprises the formerly separate Federal Republic of Germany,
         the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin following formal unification on 3
         October 1990
     Comparative area:
         slightly smaller than Montana
     Land boundaries:
         3,790 km; Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czechoslovakia 815 km, Denmark 68
         km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km,
         Switzerland 334 km
     Coastline:
         2,389 km
     Maritime claims:
       Continental shelf:
         200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation
       Exclusive fishing zone:
         200 nm
       Territorial sea:
         North Sea and Schleswig-Holstein coast of Baltic Sea - 3 nm (extends, at one
         point, to 16 nm in the Helgolander Bucht); remainder of Baltic Sea - 12 nm
     Disputes:
         the boundaries of Germany were set by the Treaty on the Final Settlement
         With Respect to Germany signed 12 September 1990 in Moscow by the Federal
         Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, France, the United
         Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union; this Treaty entered into
         force on 15 March 1991; a subsequent Treaty between Germany and Poland,
         reaffirming the German-Polish boundary, was signed on 14 November 1990 and
         took effect on 16 January 1992
     Climate:
         temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional
         warm, tropical foehn wind; high relative humidity
     Terrain:
         lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south
     Natural resources:
         iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt,
         nickel
     Land use:
         arable land 34%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 16%; forest and
         woodland 30%; other 19%; includes irrigated 1%
     Environment:
         air and water pollution; groundwater, lakes, and air quality in eastern
         Germany are especially bad; significant deforestation in the eastern
         mountains caused by air pollution and acid rain
     Note:
         strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the
         Baltic Sea