Homework 2: for September 6, 2011:


I am in group 2 with Riebe, Monica A; Scherer, Miranda D; Schurr, Jennifer R; Shaw, Douglas E.
(I got to pick the group because I joined the class late and this group only had two people.) 
The two of the sixteen German states assigned are Sachsen-Anhalt and Niedersachsen.


         In order to present such a large quantity of information in a short-introductory manner our group
broke down information into three categories: demography, geography and culture, and historical.  In 
terms of presentation Jen Schurr is responsible for introducing the state and statistical data, Dough 
Shaw is to introduce geography and culture, while I am to touch on the states history relative to 
Germany.


 Niedersachsen


          Geography:

         The state is in Northwest Germany surrounded by the North Sea, The Netherlands, and German states Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia.

         The northern half is primarily plains or flat lands except for few rolling hills.  While in the southern half of the state there are two mountain ranges, Weserbergland and Harz mountains.  Most major cities and economic centers are within the central and southern parts of the state.

          History:

          Statistics:

• 2^nd in area-47,624 km2
• 4^th in population-7,918,293
• Capitol-Hanover
• 38 rural districts along with 10 urban districts
• ~20% of the land area is designated toward nature parks
• Primarily agriculture economically: wheat, potatoes, rye, oats, sugar beets, beef, pork, poultry. 
• Mining: silver, iron, salt, lignite, crude oil 
• Manufacturing: another large part to the regional economy: Volkswagen, aviation, shipbuilding, biotechnology, steel are large manufacturing sectors of the economy
• 2 political parties: Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party
• Large Cites: Brunswick, Hanover, Luneburg, Gottingen, Oldenburg,  
• Current Governor: David McAllister
• Four large rivers running northward: Ems, Weser, Aller, Elbe.

Sachsen-Anhalt

Landlocked by Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia

8^th in area-20,447 km2

10^th in population-2,335,006

Capitol-Magdeburg

Governor-Reiner Haseloff

In the northern region, the land is mostly flat plains

Southwest you have the Harz mountains

In the south is the winegrowing area

Divided into 11 rural districts and 3 urban districts

German reunification in 1990 caused severe economic and social problems

In 2000, highest unemployment rate of all German states at 20.2%

Over the last 11 years, with the building of infrastructure, the unemployment rate has gone down to 11.3%, as of June

The chemical industry is important, along with winds farms, producing wind-turbine energy, along with awesome fertile soil

Large Cites: Halle, Magdeburg, Dessau

Links / Sources / Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niedersachen
http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsen-Anhalt