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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:
- Baden-Württemberg
- Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern)
- Berlin
- Brandenburg
- Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt
Bremen)
- Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Freie und Hansestadt
Hamburg)
- Hesse (Hessen)
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
- Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
- North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
- Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)
- Saarland
- Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen)
- Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)
- Schleswig-Holstein
- 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.
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