Thuringia!

The state of Thuringia lies in the eastern-central part of Germany. It is bordered by the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hessen , and Bavaria, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. Thuringia wasnt officially established in 1990 after the German Reunification, it is one of Germany's newest states founded. Thurungia is known as the "green heart of Germany" because much of it, especially in the south, is covered by forest. This, along with its mountain range found in the east, makes Thuringia a popular recreation area. It offers hundreds of miles of walking and hiking paths, as well as great winter sports facilities. The industries found most in Thuringia include the glass, ceramic, toy, lumber, textile, and metal industries, but predominantly machine and automobile production. The largest companies in the region include Opel (automobile manufacturer), Bosch (supplier of auto and machine parts), and Karl Zeiss (optics) (germanfoodguide.com Jan 28, 2014).

History

The Germanic Thuringians appeared after about ad 350 and were conquered by the Huns in the second quarter of the 5th century, but by 500 they had established a large kingdom stretching from the Harz mountains to the Danube. After many invasions and take overs, and all other sorts of land disputes, the Thuringians land was greatly reduced from its original state.. In 1920, under the Weimar Republic, several old Thuringian territories were merged into a new Thuringia, a state of republican Germany, with Weimar as its capital. After World War II all Thuringia fell to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. With the administrative dissolution of Prussia, an enlarged Thuringia state was constituted within East Germany, with rationalized frontiers, including the southwestern part of the former province of Saxony and all the former enclaves; the capital was Erfurt. In 1952, however, when the East German states were dissolved, Thuringia was divided between the Bezirke (districts) of Erfurt, Suhl, Gera, Halle, and Leipzig. Following the reunification of Germany, Thuringia was reconstituted as a state with boundaries similar to those of its post-World War II predecessor from the former East German districts of Suhl, Erfurt, and Gera and from small parts of Leipzig and Halle districts (britannica.com Jan 28, 2014).

The Populous

Thuringia has gone through many diplomatic changes with the rise and fall of leaders and as a result of Germany being the center of two world wars. As a result the current Thuringia now resides as a Free Democratic Party. Religious views also went under similar changes, but maybe not at the same time. Thuringia today is mostly made up of citizens that have no religious affiliations what-so-ever.  2.718 million is the population of Thuringia as of 2012. The biggest city in this German state would easily be Erfurt with a population of 200,000+, followed by Jena with only have the population (nationsonline.org Jan 27, 2014).

The Culture

Thuringia is just as much of a cultural hub as any other pert of the world. One of the most noteable places that this takes place is in Weimer. Some of the protected sights include: Goethe House, Schiller House, Goethe’s Garden House, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, the Bauhaus Museum and the three palaces – Belvedere, Ettersburg and Tiefurt with their unique grounds (thuringia-tourism.com Jan 28, 2014).