Places to Visit in Germany

Germany is a federal republic made up of 16 states, known in German as Länder (singular Land). Since Land is also the German word for "country", the term Bundesländer ("Federal States"; singular Bundesland) is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. A few of the states are city states, while others are Flächenländer ("area states").

The term "Bundesland" however is actually misleading, since it would imply a subordination of the German Länder to the federal Bund. It does not reflect the autonomy of the Länder per international law. The correct term, which is also used by the Grundgesetz, is therefore Länder.

This differentiation is important, because after the end of the Second World War, the Länder in the western part of the former Deutsches Reich were constituted as administrative areas first, and built on them the Federation (Bund) was constructed. This in complete contrast to the post-war development in Austria, where the Bund was erected first, and then the states as units of the federal system followed. In Austria, the states are also referred to as Länder in the constitution.

Each Land is represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat ("Federal Council").

The 16 Länder, by reference to the numbers on the map to the right, are:

1. Baden-Württemberg
2. Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern)
3. Berlin
4. Brandenburg
5. Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen)
6. Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg)
7. Hesse (Hessen)
8. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
9. Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
10. North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
11. Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)
12. Saarland
13. Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen)
14. Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)
15. Schleswig-Holstein
16. Free State of Thuringia (Freistaat Thüringen)
    

The description Free State is merely used for historical reasons. Legally a Free State is not different to the other states.