This division of Germany into major natural regions takes account primarily of geomorphological, geological, hydrological, and pedological criteria in order to divide the country into large, physical units with a common geographical basis. Political boundaries play no part in this, apart from defining the national border.
In addition to a division of Germany by natural regions, the federal authorities have also produced a division by so-called landscape areas (Landschaftsräume) that is based more on human utilisation of various regions and so has clearly different boundaries.
Groundwork by the Federal Institute of Regional Studies (BfL) The natural region classification of Germany, as used today by the Federal Office for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz or BfN) and by most state institutions, is largely based on the work in producing the Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany between the years 1953 to 1962. This divided the present federal territory (then West and East Germany) into 86 whilst the regions were numbered 01-90, there were only 86 in toto because nos. 47/48 were used for a single group and the numbers 49, 65 and 66 were unused. so-called major landscape unit groups (Haupteinheitgruppen) each with a two-digit number between 01 and 90. These, in turn, were subdivided into up to ten, in some cases more, major landscape units (Haupteinheiten), each with a three-digit number. The handbook was accompanied by 1:100,000 scale mapping and, in the updated 1960 map, the major landscape unit groups were bundled together into major regions (Großregionen).E. Meynen and J. Schmithüsen: Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands – Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen/Bad Godesberg 1953-1962 (9 editions in 8 books, updated 1960 1:1,000,000 map with major units)
As a result, a regional classification of Germany emerged with five (since 1976: six) primary landscape regions (naturräumliche Großregionen 1. Ordnung), divided into 18 (since 1964: 19) secondary landscape regions (naturräumliche Großregionen 2. Ordnung). The major unit groups form, in effect, the third or tertiary level,However, in some instances, the third level landscape regions combine several groups together. of landscape regions and the major units form the fourth level. Many secondary landscape regions only have one major unit group (Mecklenburg Coastal Lowland, Harz, Thuringian Basin, Upper Main-Upper Palatine Hills, Southern Alpine Foreland), others group well-known major regions together (Rhenish Massif, South German Scarplands); others are entirely new groupings.
In the subsequent work at 1:200,000 scale that lasted until the 1990s, that further split the landscape regions into a fifth and lower levels (using the three-digits numbers supplemented with further numbers placed after a decimal comma), it became apparent that the boundaries of major regions at the second and third levels had to be corrected in several places and, in individual cases, were no longer compatible with boundaries of the major unit groups. This has no impact on the numbering system of the lower levels, however.
New Classification by the Federal Office for Nature Conservation (BfN) From 1992 to 1994, Axel Ssymank revised the major unit groups 01-90 under the direction of the BfN. Most groups retained their boundaries, however, in some cases two to four major units groups according to the handbook were combined, whilst in the North and Baltic Seas, one old group was divided into four new ones.
The numbering of the new units, D01 to D73, is entirely new and runs from north to south not, as in the handbook, from south to north. So it is not compatible with the numbers of the main and subordinate landscape units, which is why it has not been adopted by the state institutions. Even the BfN has largely followed the older system in the handbook in its landscape fact files (Landschaftssteckbriefe).Biogeografische Regionen und naturräumliche Haupteinheiten Deutschlands (pdf, 216 kB) by Ssymank (1994), Übersicht und Kommentar; Bundesamt für Naturschutz. Caution: in the document the term major units (Haupteinheiten) is incorrectly used to refer to major unit groups (Haupteinheitengruppen, in the sense of the Institute for Regional Studies)!
Ssymank combined the natural regions into eight so-called great landscapes (Großlandschaften), which are rather less finely divided than the secondary main regions (Großregionen 2. Ordnung) of the BfL. The only discrepancy between the two systems is the division of the North German Plain into western and eastern parts, which is based on their climatic division into Atlantic and Continental areas. The boundary runs randomly east of landscape units D22, D24, D28, D31, and D33. These great landscape definitions have yet to be used in the literature.
List of major landscape regions - levels 1 to 3 Germany can be divided into three major geographical regions: the Northern Lowland or North German Plain, the Central Uplands, and the Alps running roughly west to east across the country.
The official major landscape groups, which more or less correspond to the tertiary level of major landscape regions, are grouped following the primary and secondary landscape region system. These subdivisions largely correspond to the publications of the Institute for Regional Studies (BfL) since 1960 which are:
The first version by Heinrich Müller-Miny appeared in the updated handbook map, the overview maps of the individual map sheets from 1960 and in the ninth edition of the handbook (1962)Naturräumliche Großregionenkarten 1960–1963, 1964–1978 und 1979–1994 nach Müller-Miny et al. (pdf, 1.2 MB) In the map sheets from publication year 1964 this version was slightly changed: The Upper Palatine-Upper Main Hills (Oberpfälzisch-Obermainische Hügelland) was raised from the third to the second level. The secondary landscape region of Lössbörden was expanded, especially in the west. There was another change in the map sheets from 1979 (Sheet 182 Burghausen) until their last publication (Sheet München and Tegernsee 1994): The primary landscape region, Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge), was divided in two into Mittelgebirgsschwelle and Schichtstufenland The classification of the Natural regions in Saxony, published after that of the Institute for Regional Studies and continually revised, allocates the larger northern part of the major unit group of Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz) to the Lössbörden, so that only the Lusatian Mountains (Lausitzer Bergland) in the south remains within the Central Uplands.
For clarity the first and second levels of the major landscape regions are organised from north to south and from west to east. Within a secondary or tertiary landscape region the list follows the numerical order in the handbook; the BfN's numbers are given in brackets. Tertiary major landscape regions are shown in bold italics. Maps, all to the same scale, are shown to the right of the lists.
For clarity, the English names for the natural regions are given; German names may be found at the relevant article. The English names are primarily based on Dickinson (1964)Dickinson (1964). and Elkins (1972)Elkins (1972). where their classification corresponds closely to the handbook's. In such cases the source of the English name is referenced.
The seven major regions are: the Northeast German Plain, the Northwest German Plain, the Western Central Uplands, the Eastern Central Uplands, the South German Scarplands, the Alpine Foreland, and the North and Baltic Seas.
North and Baltic Seas This is a list, exceptionally, of the three-figure major landscape units of group 90, because this de facto corresponds to the tertiary major landscape regions.
North Sea
900 German Bight (less island of Heligoland) (D70) 901 Dogger Bank and adjacent Central North Sea (D71)
Baltic Sea 902 Western Baltic (D72) 903 Eastern Baltic (D73)
North German Plain
Marshland Source:A more precise name of this secondary or tertiary major landscape region is not recorded (in German or English). 61 Lower Ems and Weser Marshes (D25) 67 Lower Elbe Marsh (D24) 68 Schleswig-Holstein Marsh (D21)
Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Littoral
71 Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Littoral (D01)
Mecklenburg Coastal Lowland Sources: 70 Schleswig-Holstein Uplands (D23) Northeast Mecklenburg PlainKohl, Marcinek and Nitz (1986), p. 34. and Szczecin Lagoon (D02) 72 Mecklenburg Ground Moraine Lowland 73 Szczecin Lagoon or Lower Oder Plain 74 Hinterland of the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau (D 03) 75 Mecklenburg Lake Plateau, Mecklenburg Lake Upland or Mecklenburg-Brandenburg Lake Plateau (D04) (to 80 Oder Valley (D07)) major landscape units 800 and 801
Central North German Plain Source: Ems-Weser Geest Dümmer and Ems-Hunte Geest (D30) 58 Dümmer Geest Lowland 59 Ems-Hunte Geest 60 East Frisian Geest (D26) 62 Weser-Aller Plains and Geest (D31) North Elbe Geest 63 Stade Geest (D27) 64 Lüneburg Heath (D28) 69 Schleswig-Holstein Geest (D22)
East German Lakeland and Heathland Mecklenburg-Brandenburg Plateaux and Upland (D05) 76 South-western foreland of the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau 77 North Brandenburg Plateaux and Upland 78 Luchland 79 East Brandenburg Plateau (D06) (to 80 Oder Valley (D07)) major landscape units 802 and 803 Brandenburg Heath and Lake District (D12) 81 Central Brandenburg Plateaux and Lowlands 82 East Brandenburg Heath and Lake District Lusatian Basin and Spreewald (D08) 83 Spreewald 84 Lower Lusatian Heath 85 Fläming Heath (D11) 86 Wendland and Altmark (D29) 87 Middle Elbe Plain (D09) 88 Middle Elbe Plains and Heath or Elbe-Mulde Plain (D10) 89 Upper Lusatian Plateau (D13)
54 Westphalian Lowland or Westphalian Basin (D34) Lower Rhine Plain and Cologne Lowland (D35) 55 Cologne Lowland or Lower Rhine Bay 57 Lower Rhine Plain
Loess Belt Sources:
(to 44 Upper Lusatia (D14)) 440 Neiß region 442 East Lusatian Foothills 443 West Lusatian Hills,Ohorn at zip-code.en. Retrieved 12 Oct 2013 444 Upper Lusatian GefildeEnter the Past: The E-way Into the Four Dimensions of Cultural Heritage : CAA 2003, Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology p. 267; Proceedings of the 31st Conference, Archaeopress, Vienna, Austria, April 2003. Saxon Lowland and Saxon Uplands (D19) 45 Saxon Uplands, Saxon Hills or Ore Mountain Foreland 46 Saxon Lowland (incl. Leipzig Land) 50 Central German Black Earth Region (also: Eastern Harz Foreland and Börde; D20) 51 North Harz Foreland (D33) 52 Lower Saxony Börde (D32) (to 37 Weser-Leine Uplands) (to 378 Calenberg Uplands 378.02 Kleinenbremener Basin (to 53 Lower Weser Uplands 533 Lübbecke Loessland
Central Uplands Source:
Rhenish Massif
Arranged from west to east and internally from north to south) Eifel (incl. Venn Foreland) (D45) 56 Venn Foreland 28 West Eifel 27 East Eifel 25 Moselle Valley (D43) 24 Hunsrück (D42) 29 Middle Rhine Valley (D44) 33 Sauerland (Süder Uplands) (D38) 32 Westerwald (D39) 31 Lahn Valley (D40) 30 Taunus (D41)
Weser Uplands and Hesse Lowlands and Highlands Source:
(arranged from north to south and from west to east) Lower Saxon Hills (including the Weser and Leine Uplands) (D36) 53 Lower Weser Uplands 36 Upper Weser Uplands 37 Weser-Leine Uplands Hesse Highlands 34 West Hesse Highlands (D46) 35 East Hesse Highlands (D47)
Harz 38 Harz (D37)
Thuringian Basin 47/8 Thuringian Basin (and peripheral uplands) (D18)
Eastern Central Uplands Source: Thuringian-Franconian Highlands (incl. the Vogtland) 39 Thuringian-Franconian Highlands (D48) 41 Vogtland (D17) 42 Ore Mountains (D16) Western Sudetes 43 Saxon-Bohemian Chalk Sandstone RegionKohl, Marcinek and Nitz (1986), p. 35 (D15) (to 44 Upper Lusatia (D14)) major landscape unit 441 Lusatian Mountains 40 Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest (D63)
Scarplands on either side of the Upper Rhine Valley Source: