German Cities Berlin

Perhaps the most well known of all German cities, Berlin boasts a population of nearly 3.5 million people covering an area of 344 square miles (892 sq. km.), making it the largest city in Germany. With a long history dating back nearly eight centuries and a vibrant cultural life, Berlin is a popular destination for vacationers and tourists, as well as a beautiful place to live. Berlin is also home to many different businesses and industries, ranging from engineering firms, information technology, biotechnology, and media production. Berlin, along with other German cities, such as Munich, Bonn, and Leipzig, is one of the most important urban centers in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Like many other German cities, Berlin can trace its roots back to the late medieval period. The oldest written reference to the city came in 1244, although the founding date is typically held to be in 1237, and the oldest evidence of human settlement discovered on the site dates back to the 1190s. The present-day city of Berlin was originally a pair of towns that merged into one large city for economic and social purposes: Cölln and Old Berlin. The city was selected as the capital of Brandenburg in 1440, and served as the capital city through the era of the Prussian state and the German Empire. The city officially converted to Lutheranism in 1539

Selected from a pool of German cities, Berlin became the capital of the Kingdom Prussia in 1701, and later developed into a philosophy-oriented center of the Enlightenment. The Industrial Revolution had a profound effect on Berlin, as it did on many other German cities. New opportunities in the economy drew people from across the German speaking world, and the population of Berlin expanded tremendously. New suburbs of the city developed, and many formerly outlying areas were incorporated into the city proper. With the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Berlin was once again selected as the capital city of the new empire.

Of all the German cities, it was Berlin that felt the effects of the tumultuous rises and falls in German power the most.  It remained the capital city during the era of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, and large sections of the city were destroyed by bombing raids and the Battle of Berlin during the Second World War. During the Cold War, West Berlin remained a capitalist enclave completely surrounded by the communist East German territory of Brandenburg, and experienced blockades and strict border control regulations. In 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed, splitting the city in half. However, with the Reunification in 1991, the city once again became a cohesive whole. Shortly after the merger, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany voted to relocate the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, and officially commenced operations there in 1999.