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Berlin: Cities
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Berlin is one of the most influential centers in European politics, culture and science. The city serves as an important junction of national and continental transportation. Berlin is a major tourist and shopping destination and is well known for its diverse range of convention venues and media outlets. It is home to some of the world's most prominent universities, research faculties, theaters, and museums.
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Berlin, a city that until November 1989 was divided by the politics of the Cold War, encapsulates 20th century European history. But with a rich history dating back to 1247, and over 80 galleries, it is much more than just a symbol of the Iron Curtain.
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Berlin had modest beginnings as a trading centre in the 13th century, growing into a European powerhouse that hogged the 20th century stage. Since reunification in 1990, it has evolved into a dynamic, sexy and creative city where a surprising lightheartedness lurks beneath an austere exterior.
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Berlin has an amazing number of sights, although it is not as centralized or small as other European cities. Sometimes the best things about it have nothing to do with landmarks: simply strolling along one of hundreds of charming streets complete with cafés or sipping a "Berlinerweisermit suss grun" at a beach bar along one of the city's many rivers can be pleasurable enough. The Berliners you'll meet will often be friendly and extremely helpful, although you may ... encounter the famous "Berliner Schnauze," a certain brusqueness that can seem rude.
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As of September 2007, the city state Berlin numbered 3,410,147 registered inhabitants[39] in an area of 891.82 km² (344.31 sq mi). The population density amounts to 3,820 inhabitants per km² (9,900/sq mi). The urban area comprises about 3.7 million people while the metropolitan area of the Berlin-Brandenburg region is home to about 4.3 million in an area of 5,370 square kilometers (2,073 sq mi). The Larger Urban Zone comprised about 4.94 million people in an area of 17,405 km² in the year 2001.[40]
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Prior to World War II, Berlin contained many imposing buildings, many of them built after 1871, when Berlin became the German national capital. Much of old Berlin was devastated during World War II by Allied bombing raids and by fierce house-to-house fighting that occurred when Soviet troops captured the city in 1945 at the end of the war. Wartime destruction left the historic core of the city standing amidst 26 sq km (10 sq mi) of rubble.
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