Kilometers and Miles

So this week’s lesson is about length and distance. Height, width, and length. Perhaps this will be of more interest to the geography buffs out there. This week at work, we found ourselves in a discussion surrounding the size of Germany. It stemmed from me commenting on how difficult it is to incorporate country-wide initiatives when a country is so large. I guess when one thinks of a country, they immediately thing BIG. I don’t want to speak for everyone in the States, but I think particularly as Americans we tend to imagine most countries as large land-masses that operate in a manner somewhat similar to us. It really can be difficult to understand the difference between political borders (size and nature) until you travel abroad.

Borders:

The first and easiest comparison is a US state to a European country. In Europe, most people travel between countries on vacation as we travel between states in the United States. In most cases, border control is the same as well. I have traveled through multiple countries in Europe so far and have not once had my passport checked. This has made me realize how uptight we are about our US borders. Of course there are reasons for this and I really do appreciate that safety, but one must realize that walls and bureaucracy do not surround every land in this world. When I traveled home last weekend, I must have passed through at least eight check-points where I was questioned and counted. At home, someone commented to me that it is easier to get into heaven than in the United States! I had to laugh, because I understand it can even be hard for an American to get back into the US at times. I know many people from our neighboring countries to the south who would literally do about anything to obtain a green card or visa to be in the US.

Size:

The next analogy is between country sizes. Someone asked how big Germany was compared to one of our states. Well, since Texas and Germany share some similar characteristics in terms of pride in tradition, I saw fit to compare these. Thanks to google, I found this map which clearly makes a good comparison.

Considering Germany is one of the largest European countries, you can see that most states in the US compare nicely in size. If you are not a visual person, perhaps some stats will do well here.

Width of US: about 4800 km or 3000 miles (2 day drive)
Width of Germany: about 650 km or 400 miles (6 hour drive)
Height of US: about 2700 km or 1700 miles (28 hour drive)
Height of Germany: about 870 km or 540 miles (8 hour drive)
Population of US: 309 million
Population of Germany: 82 million
Density of US: 33.7 per sq km
Density of Germany: 229 per sq km

Topography:

Now let’s talk mountains. In the US, we have numerous mountain ranges, but perhaps the two most familiar are the Rocky Mountains in the west and the Appalachian Mountains in the East. In Germany, the only true mountain range is in the south and these are the northern most part of the Alpine Mountains. Naturally, in the US, we have many other landscapes (plains, rolling hills, deserts, and swamps), but in Germany, most of the country-side is fairly uniform in terms of looks. There are some flatter regions for farming, but most is green and hilly. Here are some stats:

Highest Point in Contiguous US: 4421 meters about sea level (Mt. Whitney)
Highest Point in Germany: 2962 meters above sea level (Zugspitze)
Lowest Elevation in US: 86 meters below sea level (Badwater in Death Valley)
Lowest Elevation in Germany: 3.5 meters below sea level (Wilstermarsch)

Weather:
In general, Germany’s weather is VERY similar to Ohio’s weather. I would say that the extremes here are a little less widespread however. Munich rests at about 48 deg North latitude, while Cincinnati rests at 39 deg North latitude. Because of this, mountain ranges, and jet-stream patters, Germany sees slightly cooler weather in the summer and slightly warmer weather in the winter.