Western Germany

[[Image:Westdeutschland.jpg|right|Western Germany as a non-political region.]] The geographic term '''Western Germany''' ({{Lang-de|Westdeutschland}}) is used to describe a region in the west of [[Germany]]. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes, but does not have the borders of, [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] and [[Hesse]]. The [[Saarland]] and [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] are also sometimes included, but usually considered South-Western. In contrast, from 1949 to 1990, when two German states existed, [[West Germany]] was used in English as a common informal name for the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]]. The states in [[East Germany]], properly called [[German Democratic Republic]] (GDR), acceded in 1990. The enlarged Federal Republic is simply called Germany again since. Today, Western Germany is the Western part of [[Germany]], and the term should not be identified with certain states. That said, *Northrhine-Westphalia, *Western Lower Saxony, *Saar, *Rhineland-Palatinate, *Hesse and *Baden-Wurttemberg are a major part of Western Germany. West of the Harz in Central Germany, or the line Hamburg-Munich, is the Western part, though again these distinctions can only be assigned very loosely, and never in a political sense. Politically, the Germans still identify the German term ''Westdeutschland'' with the ''Bonner Republik'', the Cold War West Germany. Therefore, the distinction made in the English language is hardly possible in the German language. ==See also== *[[Eastern Germany]], which historically describes different regions and political entities *[[Northern Germany]], [[Southern Germany]], [[Middle Germany]] {{Coord missing|Germany}}