Northern Germany
Northern Germany (German: Norddeutschland, pronounced [ˈnɔʁtdɔɪ̯tʃlant] ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hamburg and Bremen. It contrasts with Southern Germany, Western Germany and Eastern Germany.
Geography[edit]
The key terrain feature of Northern Germany is the North German Plain including the marshes along the coastline of the North and Baltic Seas, as well as the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the ground moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs and Luch.
These features were formed during the Weichselian glaciation and contrast topographically with the adjacent Central Uplands of Germany to the south, such as the Harz and Teutoburg Forest, which are occasionally counted as part of Northern Germany.
Culture[edit]
Northern Germany has traditionally been dominated by Protestantism, especially Lutheranism. The two northern provinces of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony have the highest proportion of self-reported Lutherans in Germany.[1] Exceptions include the Catholic districts of Emsland, Cloppenburg and Vechta in the west, traditionally linked to the Catholic region of Westphalia in the south, and the southernmost region of Lower Saxony, around the city of Duderstadt, comprising part of the traditional Catholic enclave of Eichsfeld.
Culturally and socially, Northern Germany is characterized by higher levels of income equality and gender equality than southern and south-western Germany. While the national federal Gini coefficient for Germany stands at around 30, the southern states have a Gini coefficient of 30.6 whereas for the Northern states the Gini coefficient stands at 27.5 which is closer to the Scandinavian average of 25. Traditional society in the western part of Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and some parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt) until the early 20th century was based on well-off, literate and landowning yeoman farmers owning relatively large pieces of land, making a living growing grain crops and raising dairy cattle and pigs, and a large and educated middle class in the towns and cities working in the civil service, or as businessmen, artisans, blue-collar workers and skilled workers. Thus, the proportion of serfs, landless labourers, semi-skilled industrial workers and large landlords was relatively smaller, making for a more stable society than elsewhere in Germany like the Rhineland region and the region east of the Elbe river. Additionally, Northern cities like Hamburg, Bremen and Rostock have always been economic powerhouses of trade and commerce and have had a long tradition of innovation and creativity in business and industry.
Cuisine[edit]
The traditional northern German daily diet is centered around boiled potatoes, rye bread, dairy products, cabbages, cucumbers, berries, jams, fish, and pork and beef. A breakfast specialty is the crispbread (Knäckebrot), eaten with a variety of toppings such as ham, soft cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, and liver paste. Lentil stews and soups are very popular as a working lunch. Regional specialties in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony include blood sausage (Blutwurst) and a variety of black puddings commonly eaten for brunch. Another northern German regional specialty are meatloaves (Hackbraten), made from a mixture of ground pork and beef and served with mashed potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam. Many traditional meat-based lunch dishes are served with boiled or mashed potatoes and brown sauce. Eating brunch is very popular during weekends in the larger towns and cities. In regions nearer to the coast, fish is very popular, with pickled herring and salmon being delicacies.
Drinking coffee is firmly rooted in northern Germany and the northern provinces on average consume around 8 kilograms (18 lb) of coffee per capita annually. This is more than the 6 kilograms (13 lb) of coffee per capita consumed in the south. Coffee is frequently drunk four times a day: at breakfast, after lunch, in the evening at around 4 pm, and after dinner. Many people also drink a coffee at their place of work at the start of the day's work, and a coffee break with colleagues around an hour before or after lunch. There is also a strong tradition of taking coffee breaks and visiting cafés with friends and acquaintances. In places such as publicly funded universities where free coffee is not available to students, it is not uncommon for students to bring their own hot coffee in insulated flasks and drink from it intermittently. Cafés usually offer medium-fat milk and sugar cubes along with filter coffee. Commonly eaten desserts include waffles with ice cream, pancakes, the sweet bun roll with cream known as Heißwecke, and blueberry pie (Heidelbeerkuchen) with vanilla cream.
The northwesternmost region of East Frisia is an exception insofar as tea is largely preferred over coffee there, to the extent that East Frisians drink about 300 litres (79 US gal) of tea per capita and year, more than in any particular country.[2]
Lunch at workplaces and educational institutions in northern Germany begins very early – usually between 11:45 and 12:15 pm, and dinner is usually eaten between 7 and 8 pm in the evening. This is because the work and school day starts pretty early, at 8 am sharp. Lunches eaten at home during holidays and weekends usually start later – around 1 pm.
The drinking culture in the north is more or less similar to that of the rest of the country, heavily based on beer with pale lagers and pilsners being favourites. Unlike Bavaria and Central Germany, dark beers or dark lagers are not at all popular in northern Germany. The north has a slightly stronger tradition of hard liquor, such as corn, vodka, and schnapps. Binge drinking is far more common in the north – almost 70% of binge drinking hospitalizations on weekends happen in the eight northern provinces and states containing just 40% of the population. As in all of Germany, mulled wine is a popular alcoholic drink during the Christmas season.
In the Early Middle Ages, Northern Germany was the settlement area of the Saxon tribes, which were subjugated by the Frankish ruler Charlemagne in the Saxon Wars from 772 onwards, whereafter the Imperial Duchy of Saxony was established in 804. In the 10th century the Saxon lands, enlarged by the Saxon Eastern March, became the cradle of the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, when the dukes of the Ottonian dynasty were elected King of the Romans and crowned Holy Roman Emperors.
From 1500 onwards, the former Saxon territories (except for Westphalia) were incorporated into the Lower Saxon Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. The Hanseatic League is also part of the common history and culture of the cities in northern Germany.
Northern Germany corresponds to the territory of the North German Confederation in the 19th century. The boundary between the spheres of political influence of Prussia (Northern Germany) and Austria (Southern Germany) within the German Confederation (1815–1866) was known as the "Main line" (Mainlinie, after the river Main), Frankfurt am Main being the seat of the federal assembly. The "Main line" did not follow the course of the river Main upstream of Frankfurt, rather corresponding to the northern border of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Cultural or political east–west divisions have existed in northern Germany since at least the early modern period, when
During the Cold War of the second half of the 20th century, a cultural division of northern Germany into an Eastern and a Western part has become more pronounced due to the 1949–1990 division of all of Germany into West Germany and East Germany, where identities based upon the former Iron Curtain and mutual prejudices regarding what once was the other side may still persist today.
A number of Scottish and English Lutheran Families settled in Northern Germany between the years 1683 and 1709, with the result that many Germans in Northwest Germany can claim Scottish and English ancestry.[3]
The term northern German states is always used to refer to the following coastal federal States of Germany:
In some cases, it also includes the non-coastal states of:
Northern Germany as a region or as a historical landscape includes additional federal states (see geography above). Northwestern Germany is usually considered to be part of Northern Europe both culturally and geographically where as the southern states are much closer to Central European cultures.