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OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

7/ This year will mark 33 years since reunification, when East joined West.

Much less well known is the "mini-reunification" when the Saar protectorate rejoined Germany. Following WWII it was a separate legal entity until 1957 (with own Olympics team)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saar_Pro

#geoweirdness

Map of the German state of Saarland, which rejoined Germany in 1967.
Flag of the Saar Protectorate
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OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

8/ In 2016 it was discovered that Germany's borders had changed. Due to the shift of a river, Germany gained about 500 sqm in a remote forest from the Czech Republic πŸ‡¨πŸ‡Ώ

bigthink.com/strange-maps/germ

#geoweirdness

Map showing the location on the Czech-German border that shifted
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

9/ You may be surprised to learn of the part of Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ that was once British πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§. The North Sea island of Helgoland belonged to Britain until 1890 when it was traded for Zanzibar (Now Tanzania πŸ‡ΉπŸ‡Ώ, then part of German East Africa)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heligola

#geoweirdness

Map of the North Sea islands of Helgoland
Map showing the location of Helgoland in the North Sea
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

10/ That's it for our look at the #geoweirdness of Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ
Thanks for reading and boosting πŸ™. What did we overlook?

We have more threads about specific countries, geocoding, etc on our blog.

Enjoy: blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

Screenshot of the page on the OpenCage blog listing all the geothreads
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ

11/ Bonus #geoweirdness tweet - post reunification Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ has 16 BundeslΓ€nder (states).

Occasionally though you will hear of the "17th Bundesland", a reference to favorite German tourism destination: the πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Έ Spanish island of Mallorca

Map of Germany showing the 16 BundeslΓ€nder
Map of Mallorca
Map showing the location of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea
Germans at the beach on Mallorca
OpenCage πŸ‘‰πŸŒ replied to OpenCage

12/ Final bonus #geoweirdness tweet - here's a map of Germany πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ if the place names were given English naming equivalents.

Map of Germany if the place names were given English naming equivalents
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