Berlin is the capital
city of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a
population of 3.5 million people] Berlin is Germany's largest
city and is the second most populous city proper and the seventh
most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in
northeastern Germany on the River Spree, it is the center of the
Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has 6 million
residents from over 180 nations. Due to its location in the
European Plains, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal
climate. Around one third of the city's area is composed of
forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.
First documented in the
13th century, Berlin was the capital of 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, the city became divided into East
Berlin—the capital of East Germany—and West Berlin, a
West German exclave surrounded by the Berlin Wall from
1961–1989. Following German reunification in 1990, the city
regained its status as the capital of Germany, hosting 147
foreign embassies.
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