Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states (Länder) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin is the largest city in Germany and has a population of 4.3 million within its metropolitan area and 3.4 million within the city limits. Berlin is best known for its historical associations as the German capital, for its lively nightlife, for its many cafes, clubs, and bars, and for its numerous museums, palaces, and other sites of historic interest. Berlin's architecture is quite varied: though badly damaged in the final years of World War II, Berlin has reconstructed itself greatly, and it is now possible to see representatives of many different historic periods in a short time within the compact city center, from a few surviving medieval buildings near Alexanderplatz, to the ultramodern glass and steel structures in Potsdamer Platz.
In Berlin there is more than one downtown area. Berlin has many districts or boroughs, called Bezirke, and each district has its unique style. Each Bezirk is composed of several Kieze - a Berlin term referring to "neighbourhood", with their unique style. Some districts of Berlin are more worthy of the traveller's attention than others.
Following are the districts of greatest interest:
Areas of interest that are not districts but known rather by name than by district:
Berlin has been officially divided into 12 large districts (Bezirke) since January 2001, a simplification of the previous 23 smaller districts (Stadtteile, Bezirke) that was undertaken purely for administrative efficiency. The smaller districts remain foremost in popular conceptions of the city, however, and are generally of a more practical size and cultural division for the purposes of the traveller. New names are usually compounded from the old names (e.g. Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf merged to Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf).
The foundation of Berlin was very multicultural. The surrounding area was populated by Germanic Swabian and Burgundian tribes, as well as Slavic Wends in pre-Christian times, and the Wends have stuck around. Their modern descendants are the Sorbian Slavic-language minority who live in villages southeast of Berlin near the Spree river.
In the beginning of the 13th century two towns (Berlin and Cölln) developed on each side of the river Spree (today the Nikolaiviertel and the quarter next to it beyond the river). As the population grew, the towns merged and Berlin became a center for commerce and the region's agriculture, but stayed small (about 10,000 inhabitants) up to the late 17th century - also because of the 30 years' war in the beginning of the 17th century, which led to death of about half of the population.
Since the the late 17th century, when large numbers of French Huguenots fled religious persecution, Berlin has welcomed asylum seekers, religious, economic or otherwise. 1701 Berlin became capital of Prussia and 1710 Berlin and surrounding former autonomous cities were merged to a bigger Berlin. In 1871 Berlin became the capital of the new founded German Reich and a few years later, also because of the immensely growing industry, a city with more than one million inhabitants. Shortly after the first world war, in 1920, the last of the annexations of surrounding cities of Berlin led to the foundation of the Berlin as we know it nowadays.
