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Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hamburg and Bremen. It contrasts with Southern Germany, Western Germany, and Eastern Germany.
Although from the 19th century onwards, the use of Standard German was strongly promoted especially by the Prussian administration, Low German dialects are still present in rural areas, with an estimated number of five to eight million active speakers. However, since World War II and the immigration of expellees from the former eastern territories of Germany, its prevalence has steadily reduced. Besides which, Frisian is spoken in East Frisia and North Frisia, as well as Danish language (Standard and South Jutlandic) in parts of Schleswig.
These features were formed during the Weichselian glaciation and contrast topographically with the adjacent Central Uplands of Germany to the south, such as the Harz and Teutoburg Forest, which are occasionally counted as part of Northern Germany.
Culturally and socially, Northern Germany is characterized by higher levels of income equality and gender equality than southern and south-western Germany. While the national federal Gini coefficient for Germany stands at around 30, the southern states have a Gini coefficient of 30.6 whereas for the Northern states the Gini coefficient stands at 27.5 which is closer to the Scandinavian average of 25. Traditional society in the western part of Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and some parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt) until the early 20th century was based on well-off, literate and landowning yeoman farmers owning relatively large pieces of land, making a living growing grain crops and raising dairy cattle and pigs, and a large and educated middle class in the towns and cities working in the civil service, or as businessmen, artisans, blue-collar workers and skilled workers. Thus, the proportion of serfs, landless labourers, semi-skilled industrial workers and large landlords was relatively smaller, making for a more stable society than elsewhere in Germany like the Rhineland region and the region east of the Elbe river. Additionally, Northern cities like Hamburg, Bremen and Rostock have always been economic powerhouses of trade and commerce and have had a long tradition of innovation and creativity in business and industry.
Northern German culture, especially those of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein are very similar to the culture of the Netherlands, due to their common Lower Saxon history.
Drinking coffee is firmly rooted in northern Germany and the northern provinces on average consume around of coffee per capita annually. This is more than the of coffee per capita consumed in the south. Coffee is frequently drunk four times a day: at breakfast, after lunch, in the evening at around 4 pm, and after dinner. Many people also drink a coffee at their place of work at the start of the day's work, and a coffee break with colleagues around an hour before or after lunch. There is also a strong tradition of taking coffee breaks and visiting cafés with friends and acquaintances. In places such as publicly funded universities where free coffee is not available to students, it is not uncommon for students to bring their own hot coffee in insulated flasks and drink from it intermittently. Cafés usually offer medium-fat milk and along with filter coffee. Commonly eaten desserts include with ice cream, pancakes, the sweet bun roll with cream known as Heißwecke, and blueberry pie (Heidelbeerkuchen) with vanilla cream.
The northwesternmost region of East Frisia is an exception insofar as tea is largely preferred over coffee there, to the extent that East Frisians drink about of tea per capita and year, more than in any particular country. Deutscher Teeverband: Tee als Wirtschaftsfaktor (PDF; 941 kB) p. 4, retrieved 5 May 2017
Lunch at workplaces and educational institutions in northern Germany begins very earlyusually between 11:45 and 12:15 pm, and dinner is usually eaten between 7 and 8 pm. This is because the work and school day starts pretty early, at 8 am sharp. Lunches eaten at home during holidays and weekends usually start lateraround 1 pm.
The drinking culture in the north is more or less similar to that of the rest of the country, heavily based on beer with and being favourites. Unlike Bavaria and Central Germany, dark beers or dark lagers are not at all popular in northern Germany. The north has a slightly stronger tradition of hard liquor, such as corn, vodka, and schnapps. Binge drinking is far more common in the northalmost 70% of binge drinking hospitalizations on weekends happen in the eight northern provinces and states containing just 40% of the population. As in all of Germany, mulled wine is a popular alcoholic drink during the Christmas season.
From 1500 onwards, the former Saxon territories (except for Westphalia) were incorporated into the Lower Saxon Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. The Hanseatic League is also part of the common history and culture of the cities in northern Germany.
Northern Germany corresponds to the territory of the North German Confederation in the 19th century. The boundary between the spheres of political influence of Prussia (Northern Germany) and Austrian Empire (Southern Germany) within the German Confederation (1815–1866) was known as the "Main line" ( Mainlinie, after the river Main), Frankfurt am Main being the seat of the federal assembly. The "Main line" did not follow the course of the river Main upstream of Frankfurt, rather corresponding to the northern border of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Cultural or political east–west divisions have existed in northern Germany since at least the early modern period, when
During the Cold War of the second half of the 20th century, a cultural division of northern Germany into an Eastern and a Western part has become more pronounced due to the 1949–1990 division of all of Germany into West Germany and East Germany, where identities based upon the former Iron Curtain and mutual prejudices regarding what once was the other side may still persist today.
A number of Scottish and English Lutheran Families settled in Northern Germany between the years 1683 and 1709, with the result that many Germans in Northwest Germany can claim Scottish and English ancestry.
In some cases, it also includes the non-coastal states of:
Northern Germany as a region or as a historical landscape includes additional federal states (see geography above). Northwestern Germany is usually considered to be part of Northern Europe both culturally and geographically where as the southern states are much closer to Central European cultures.
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The Nordderby ( Northern derby) is played between Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen, whereas the Hamburg derby is played between Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli. Other notable men's football clubs include Hertha Berlin, VfL Wolfsburg, Hannover 96, Eintracht Braunschweig, F.C. Hansa Rostock, 1. FC Magdeburg. Hamburger SV won the 1982–83 European Cup and six German championships, whereas Werder Bremen won the German championship four times and Hertha Berlin twice.
In women's football, the VfL Wolfsburg won the Bundesliga three times and the UEFA Women's Champions League twice, whereas 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam won the Bundesliga six times and the UEFA Champions League twice.
Notable Basketball Bundesliga teams include Alba Berlin, Basketball Löwen Braunschweig, Hamburg Towers and EWE Baskets Oldenburg.
Notable Eishockey-Bundesliga teams include Eisbären Berlin, Grizzlys Wolfsburg, Hamburg Freezers, Hannover Scorpions and Fischtown Pinguins.
Notable handball teams include GWD Minden, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke, THW Kiel, Handball Hamburg, SC Magdeburg, Buxtehuder SV, VfL Oldenburg and HSG Blomberg-Lippe.
Notable marathon races include the Berlin Marathon (one of the World Marathon Majors), Hamburg Marathon, Hannover Marathon.
Notable tennis tournaments include the Halle Open, International German Open and Sparkassen Open.
Other notable competitions are the Kiel Week, EuroEyes Cyclassics and the Hanse Sail.
The Olympiastadion in Berlin has hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics and Internationales Stadionfest.
The sailing competitions for the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics were held at the Bay of Kiel.
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