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German States II: Hesse, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower SaxonyThe German Federal Republic is divided into sixteen German states, each of which has its own unique history and heritage. Many of these states originated as sovereign nations before Otto von Bismarck unified Germany in 1871, and were reformed as states following World War II. The five states that were formerly members of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, were restructured as German states after the reunification of Germany in 1990. The German states elect representatives to the Federal government, and are responsible for governing the territories they encompass on a local level. Hesse, one of the Flächenländer, or area states, occupies 8,147 square miles (21,100 sq. km.) in western Germany and has a population of 6 million people. The main cities of Hesse are Frankfurt am Main, its largest city, Wiesbaden, the state capital, Kassel, Fulda, Darmstadt, Hanau, and Gießen. The Fulda and Eder rivers run through the north of Hesse, along with the Lahn in the central area, and the Main and Rhine in the south. Hesse is also well known for its mountain ranges, such as the Rhön and the Spessart. Like many other German states, Hesse was originally inhabited by Celts, who had arrived in the region by the fifth century before the Common Era. This state played an important part in the American Revolution, as the government of Great Britain hired soldiers of fortune from this area, known as “Hessians,” to fight the American rebels. This state was formed in 1946 when the French and the American occupying forces divided the original territory between them. Located to the north of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is one of the German states with a smaller population, home to only 1.7 million people. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has an area of 8,948 square miles (23,174 sq. km.), and comprises two regions, Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania (which translates to Vorpommern in German). Germans often abbreviate the state’s unwieldy name as MV, or even shorten it to Meck-Pomm. The capital of Meck-Pomm, Schwerin, had a population of 95,855 people as of 2007. Meck-Pomm was originally part of Soviet East Germany, and was reformed as a member of the Federal Republic in October of 1990. Lower Saxony is the second largest of the German states by area, covering 18,388 square miles (47,624 sq. km) of land in northwestern Germany, and is the fourth largest among the states in terms of population, boasting nearly 8 million inhabitants. Lower Saxony is one of the few areas where Low German is still spoken, but as the Standard German Dialect edges it out, the number of Low German speakers is slowly diminishing. Major cities in Lower Saxony include Hanover, the state capital, Braunschweig, Oldenburg, and Osnabrück. Most of Lower Saxony is composed of rural areas, with vast tracts of swampland and vast plains in the western and northern areas of the state, and the urban areas and centers of commerce located in the southern and central parts of the state. The state of Lower Saxony was founded in November of 1946 by the occupying British military, and was adopted into the German Federal Republic. Lower Saxony’s agrarian economy, which has always been an important source of income for the area, produces such products as potatoes, wheat, rye, and oats, as well as pork, beef, and poultry. |