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About Germany

     Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (help·info), IPA: [ˈbundəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), is a country in West-central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

     Germany is a parliamentary federal republic of sixteen states (Bundesländer). The capital city and seat of government is Berlin. As a nation-state, the country was unified near the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. After World War II, Germany's government was re-formed, its territory was divided into two separate states along the lines of allied occupation in 1949 and then was reunified in 1990. Germany is a founding member of the European Union, and with over 82 million people it has the largest population among the EU member states.

     The Federal Republic of Germany is a modern great power, a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G4 nations and, as of 2006, ranked sixth in military expenditure. Germany is the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP, the world's largest exporter of goods, and the world's second largest importer of goods. In 2007 it held the rotating presidencies of both the European Council and the G8 summits.

About Darmstadt

     Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hesse in Germany. It is located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Metropolitan Area. It is also one the few cities (as opposed to smaller towns) in Germany which do not lie close to a river or coast.^{[citation needed]}

     It is historically dominated by administration (being the seat of the former Landgraves of Hessen-Darmstadt), with industry (especially chemicals) as well as large science and tertiary education sectors becoming important from the early 20th century onwards. The element Darmstadtium (atomic number 111) is named after Darmstadt, having been synthetisized in a research facility nearby.

     The name Darmstadt first appears towards the end of the 11th century, then Darmundestat; Literally translated, the current German name Darmstadt means "Intestine City", though this is just a coincidence, as the name derives from the 'Darm'(bach), a small stream formerly running through the city. It was until recently mostly covered over, but is now being uncovered and partly renaturated, to add more character to the inner city.

     Darmstadt was chartered as a city by the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330 to the counts of Katzenelnbogen. When the house of Katzenelnbogen became extinct in 1479, the city was passed to Hesse, and was seat of the ruling landgraves (1567-1806) and thereafter (to 1918) of the Grand Dukes of Hesse.