I.

Introduction

Berlin (city), city in north-east Germany, capital of a united Germany from 1871 to 1945 and again since 1990. It lies on the flatlands of the North German Plain at the confluence of several rivers and among many lakes. Its name probably comes from a word for island; its slight elevation made it a site for human settlement even in prehistoric times. The city has an area of approximately 889 sq km (343 sq mi).

After World War II Berlin, badly damaged during the war, was surrounded by the German Democratic Republic (GDR; also known as East Germany), and was partitioned into East Berlin and West Berlin. The divided city not only symbolized the collapse of the German Empire, of which it was the capital, but also became a focus of Cold War tensions between the Communist nations led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the group of Western nations led by the United States. The Berlin Wall, a wall separating East and West Berlin and built by the East Germans in 1961, blocked free access in both directions until November 1989; some 100 people died attempting to cross from East to West Berlin. By the time Germany was unified in October 1990, much of the wall had been torn down. A few small segments remain as memorials. Population 3,387,800 (2005 estimate).