It lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of , km 2 , sq mi , making it the most populous member state of the European Union. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt ; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic , with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts.
Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. Formal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state commenced on 18 August with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia -led North German Confederation , which became the German Empire in The Nazi rise to power in led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship , World War II , and the Holocaust.
In , after the war and a period of Allied occupation , Germany was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany , and the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Berlin continued its de jure Four Power status.
After the fall of the communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October Germany has been described as a great power with a strong economy ; it has the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP.
As a global power in industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer. As a developed country , it offers social security , a universal health care system , and tuition-free university education. Germany is part of multiple international organizations and forums. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania , which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. Dutch , descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' from diot or diota 'people' , originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants.
