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Bavaria (/bəˈvɛəriə/; German and Bavarian: Bayern [ˈbaɪɐn]; Czech: Bavorsko), officially the Free State of Bavaria (German and Bavarian: Freistaat Bayern [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈbaɪɐn]), is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner.
With an area of 70,550 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), Bavaria is the largest German state by land area. Its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany’s second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria’s capital and largest city, Munich, is the third-largest city in Germany.
Geography
The landscape of Bavaria consists of four major regions: the Bavarian Alps, with Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany at 2,962m in south; the Alpine foothills, known as the Bavarian Alpine Foreland with its numerous lakes; the Eastern Bavarian central mountains, a wooded low-mountain region with Germany’s first national park, the Bavarian Forest National Park; and in west, the plateaus of Swabia and Frankenalb.
Bavaria shares international borders with Austria and the Czech Republic as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance to the Canton of St. Gallen). Neighbouring federal states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony.
Bavaria is divided in 7 administrative regions: Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), Unterfranken (Lower Franconia), Bayerisch Schwaben with Allgäu (Bavarian Swabia), Oberpfalz, (Upper Palatinate), Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria), and Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria).
History
The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and formation as a duchy in the 6th century AD through the Holy Roman Empire to becoming an independent kingdom and then a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century AD, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself after the Second World War.
Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes language, cuisine, architecture, festivals such as Oktoberfest and elements of Alpine symbolism. The state has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, giving it a status as a rather wealthy German region.
Information Sources
Derived from Wikipedia – Bavaria and One World Nations Online – Bayern