Southern Germany in the context of Hesse

The Gauls (Latin: Galli; Ancient Greek: Γαλάται, Galátai) were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (Gallia). They spoke Gaulish, a continental Celtic language.

The Gauls emerged around the 5th century BC as bearers of La Tène culture north and west of the Alps. By the 4th century BC, they were spread over much of what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland, Southern Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, by virtue of controlling the trade routes along the river systems of the Rhône, Seine, Rhine, and Danube. They reached the peak of their power in the 3rd century BC. During the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, the Gauls expanded into Northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul), leading to the Roman–Gallic wars, and into the Balkans, leading to war with the Greeks. These latter Gauls eventually settled in Anatolia (contemporary Turkey), becoming known as Galatians.

The Blue Banana (Dutch: blauwe banaan; French: banane bleue; German: Blaue Banane; Italian: banana blu), also known as the European Megalopolis or the Liverpool–Milan Axis, is a discontinuous corridor of urbanization in Western and Central Europe, with a population of around 100 million. Over time, the region has been referred to by several names, each reflecting its development and significance. Initially, French geographer Roger Brunet, as the leader of RECLUS (Network for the study of changes in locations and spatial units), described the area as 'the European Backbone', which depicted an urban corridor extending from Liverpool to Milan.

Characterized by significant industrialization and urbanization, this area has attracted numerous public and private enterprises since the early post-war period, prompting researchers and academics to investigate the factors behind its remarkable development within Europe. It stretches approximately from North West England through the English Midlands across Greater London to the European Metropolis of Lille, the Benelux states with the Dutch Randstad and the Flemish Diamond and along the German Ruhrgebiet, Rhineland, Southern Germany, Alsace-Moselle in France in the west and Switzerland (Basel and Zürich), Austria (Vorarlberg and Tyrol) to Northern Italy (Milan, Turin, and Genoa) in the south.

Northern Germany (German: Norddeutschland, [ˈnɔʁtdɔɪ̯tʃlant] ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hamburg and Bremen. It contrasts with Southern Germany, Western Germany, and Eastern Germany.

Baden (/ˈbɑːdən/; German: [ˈbaːdn̩]) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine.

CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (German: Unionsparteien [uˈni̯oːnspaʁˌtaɪən]) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian democratic and conservative political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).

The CSU contests elections only in Bavaria, while the CDU operates in the other 15 states of Germany. The CSU also reflects the particular concerns of the largely rural, Catholic south. While the two Christian Democratic parties are commonly described as sister parties, they have shared a common parliamentary group, the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group, in the German Bundestag (German: CDU/CSU-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag) since the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. According to German Federal Electoral Law, members of a parliamentary group which share the same basic political aims must not compete with one another in any federal state.

The Ludwig Canal (German: Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal or Ludwigskanal), is an abandoned canal in Southern Germany.

The Alpine Foreland, less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland, Bavarian Plateau or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (German: Bayerisches Alpenvorland), refers to a triangular region of plateau and rolling foothills in Southern Germany, stretching from Lake Constance in the west to beyond Linz on the Danube in the east, with the Bavarian Alps forming its south boundary and the Danube its northern extent.

The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the Po valley with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the Alps.

The route still exists, and since the 1990s increased interest in long-distance hiking and cycling have made the German and Austrian stretches of the Via Claudia Augusta popular among tourists. Modern signage (illustration) identifies the revitalised track.Since 2007, the Giontech Archeological Site, in Mezzocorona/Kronmetz (Italy) serves as the Via Claudia Augusta International Research Center with the support of the Foundation Piana Rotaliana and the Government of the City of Mezzocorona/Kronmetz.

Orcinus meyeri is a fossil species of Orcinus (killer whales) found in the Early Miocene deposits of southern Germany, known from two jaw fragments and 18 isolated teeth. It was originally described as Delphinus acutidens in 1859, but reclassified in 1873. Its validity is disputed, and it may be a synonymous with the ancient sperm whale Physeterula dubusi. It was found in the Alpine town of Stockach in the Molasse basin, which was a coastal area with strong tidal currents.

A beer garden (German: Biergarten) is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.

Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain common in Southern Germany. They are usually attached to a brewery, beer hall, pub, or restaurant.

Reichenau Island (German: [ˈʁaɪçənaʊ] ) is an island in Lake Constance in Southern Germany. It lies almost due west of the city of Konstanz, between the Gnadensee and the Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance. With a total land surface of 4.3 km (1.7 sq mi) and a circumference of 11 km (6.8 mi), the island is 4.5 km (2.8 mi) long and 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide at its greatest extent. The highest point, the Hochwart, stands some 43 m (141 ft) above the lake surface and 438.7 m (1,439 ft) above mean sea level.

Reichenau is connected to the mainland by a causeway, completed in 1838, which is intersected between the ruins of Schopflen Castle and the eastern end of Reichenau Island by a 10-metre-wide (33 ft) and 95-metre-long (312 ft) waterway, the Bruckgraben. A low road bridge allows the passage of ordinary boats but not of sailing-boats.

Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Linz) in Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germany.

The three Gusen concentration camps in and around the village of St. Georgen/Gusen, just a few kilometres from Mauthausen, held a significant proportion of prisoners within the camp complex, at times exceeding the number of prisoners at the Mauthausen main camp.

The Österreichisches Wörterbuch (Austrian German pronunciation: [ˈøːstɐraɪçɪʃəs ˈvœrtɐˌbuːx] ; lit. 'Austrian Dictionary'), abbreviated ÖWB, is the official spelling dictionary of Standard German in Austria, i.e. of Austrian Standard German. It has been edited since 1948 by a group of linguists under the authority of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur) and contains a number of terms unique to, distinct or characteristic for Austrian German. Such Austrianisms may be more frequently or differently used or pronounced compared to other German-speaking areas. A considerable amount of this Austrian vocabulary is also common in Southern Germany, especially Bavaria, and some of it is used in Switzerland as well. The most recent edition is the 44th from 2022. Since the 39th edition from 2001 the orthography of the ÖWB was adjusted to the German spelling reform of 1996.

The Palatinate (/pəˈlætɪnɪt/; German: Pfalz [pfalts] ; Palatine German: Palz), or the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), covering an area of 2,105 square miles (5,450 km) with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines (Pfälzer).

The term Lederhosen (/ˈleɪdərˌhoʊzən/; German pronunciation: [ˈleːdɐˌhoːzn̩] , singular in German usage: Lederhose, German: [ˈleːdɐˌhoːzə] ; lit. "Leather Pants") is used in English to refer specifically to the traditional leather breeches worn by men in Southern Germany (specifically in Bavaria and Swabia), Austria, South Tyrol and Slovenia. The term Trachten Lederhose is often used in German to avoid confusion with other types of leather pants. The longer trousers are generally called Bundhosen.

The Hercynian Forest was an ancient and dense forest that stretched across Western Central Europe, from Northeastern France to the Carpathian Mountains, including most of Southern Germany, though its boundaries are a matter of debate. It formed the northern boundary of that part of Europe known to writers of Antiquity. The ancient sources are equivocal about how far east it extended. Many agree that the Black Forest, which extended east from the Rhine valley, formed the western side of the Hercynian, except, for example, Lucius of Tongeren. According to him, it included many massifs west of the Rhine.

Across the Rhine to the west extended the Silva Carbonaria, the forest of the Ardennes and the forest of the Vosges. All these old-growth forests of antiquity represented the original post-glacial temperate broadleaf forest ecosystem of Europe.