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Bavaria: South Germany
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Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern) is the southernmost state in Germany. The capital of Bavaria is Münich (München). Bavaria is the largest state in Germany in terms of area, while the capital city, Münich, with 1.3 million residents is the third largest city in Germany. The Bavarian people have lived in this area of Europe since the 6th century, and are very proud of their age-old traditions and customs. Bavaria has had a long and stable history, and was the nation with the longest ruling family in all of Europe, the Wittelsbachs. During the Nazi Era, the history of Bavaria became more turbulent, as it held many important locations for Adolf Hitler and the leaders of the Third Reich.
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Bavaria is a country of high plateaus and medium-sized mountains. In the northwest are the wooded sandstone hills of the Spessart; in the north are basalt knolls and high plateaus. The northwest is drained by the Main River, which flows into the Rhine. To the southeast, the topography varies from the stratified land formations of Swabia-Franconia to shell limestone and red marl, the hill country of the Franconian-Rednitz Basin, and the limestone mountains of the Franconian Jura along the Danube, which divides Bavaria north and south. On the eastern edge of Bavaria, adjoining the Czech Republic, is the Bohemian Forest and in the north the Franconian Forest. South of the Danube is a plateau upon which lies the capital, Munich, and beyond it the Bavarian Alps.
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Bavaria has long had one the largest and healthiest economies of any region in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Its GDP in 2004 exceeded 385 billion Euros. [1] This makes Bavaria itself one of the largest economies in Europe. Some large companies headquarted in Bavaria include BMW, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Infineon, the European Aerospace and Defence Company, Puma AG and Adidas AG.
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[O]n the 1st of February 1817, Montgelas had been dismissed; and Bavaria had entered on a new era of constitutional reform. This implied no breach with the European policy of the fallen minister. In the new German confederation Bavaria had assumed the role of de- 1 On o ' '/8/8. fender of the smaller states against the ambitions of Austria and Prussia, and Montgelas had dreamed of a Bavarian hegemony in South Germany similar to that of Prussia in the north. It was to obtain popular support for this policy and for the Bavarian claims on Baden that the crown prince pressed for a liberal constitution, the reluctance of Montgelas to concede it being the cause of his dismissal. On the 26th of May 1818 the constitution was proclaimed.
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The borders of Bavaria have varied considerably in its history. The region was inhabited by Celts when Drusus conquered it (15 B.C.) for Rome. The Baiuoarii (see Germans) invaded it (6th cent. A.D.) and set up the duchy to which they gave their name. It was one of the five basic or stem duchies of medieval Germany. Irish and Scottish monks began the Christianization of the area, and it was completed (8th cent.) by St. Boniface. In 788, Charlemagne defeated Duke Tassilo III and added Bavaria to his empire.
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Bavaria is considered one of the three "Free States" in Germany, although this term is merely historical. In the Middle Ages, Bavaria was a duchy, and it became a kingdom in 1808. Bavaria remained an independent entity until 1871, when it became part of the united Germany following its defeat in the Austro-Prussian war.
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