Germany is one of the most dominant countries of Europe, due to its size, economic power and many other perspectives. Geographically it can be divided into three major zones: the lowlands of the north, the uplands of the central regions, and the mountains in the south, which is the Bavarian sections of the Alps.
The North European plain is segmented by the rivers coming from the central uplands, most notable the Weser, Ems, Elbe and the Oder amongst many others. This are also is the home of many lakes originating from the last glacial period.
The central hilly region also contains some more elevated mountain chains, like the Ore Mountains, Thuringian Forest, the Eifel range, or the Harz Mountains. The main direction of the dominant rivers here changes to a west-east pattern, the Main for example flows to the west, in order to empty into to the Rhine, while the Danube goes east, to reach the Black Sea after visiting several countries on its route. The most important river, however, is the Rhine, which starts from Lake Constance, flows by the border with France, cuts throught the central hilly regions, then leaves to the Netherlands.
The highest region in terms of elevation is the Bavarian Alps on the southern border with Austria, which also contain the highest summit of Germany, the Zugspitze, 2963 meters of elevation above the sea. The Bavarian Alps is also the host of numerous other summits above the 2000 mark. Other mountains that reach the 1000 meters level are the Black Forest (Feldberg peak at 1493 meters), the Bavarian Forest (Großer Arber at 1456 meters), the Ore Mountains (Fichtelberg at 1214 meters), and the Harz Mountains (Brocken peak at 1141 meters).
States of Germany: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia
