9/7/2011

Niedersachsen
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

2^nd in area-47,624 km2

4^th in population-7,918,293

Capitol-Hanover

Governor-David McAllister

The northern half is mostly plains or flat lands except for few rolling hills

In the southern half there are two mountain ranges, Weserbergland and Harz mountains

Major cities and economic centers are located in the central and southern parts of the state

Four large rivers running northward: Ems, Weser, Aller, Elbe

Almost 20% of the land area is designated toward nature parks

Divided into 38 rural districts along with 10 urban districts

In economically prosperous times, the jobless totals are constantly higher than the national average

Agriculture always been an important economic factor: 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,  

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

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