Europe's strongest economic and industrial power, Germany is
also the most populous European country outside Russia. Fertile
northern plains stretch south from the North and Baltic Seas
changing to central highlands and then rising to the rugged
Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in the southwest and to the Alps in
the far south. Germans are highly urbanized; about 86 percent
live in cities and towns. With one of the world's lowest
birthrates, Germany is a magnet for foreign workers—some 7.3
million immigrants live here. Some German industry is well known
(Daimler Chrysler, Siemens, and Volkswagen); some, like
Transrapid (the maglev railway) and Nordex wind turbines,
represent new environment-friendly technology. "Wir sind ein
Volk—We are one people," sang crowds on November 9, 1989, as
East Germans breached the Berlin Wall. A year later, just after
midnight on October 3, 1990, Germany was reborn. One people,
divided since the end of World War II, had one country again.
Yet German unity is relatively new. Disparate G