North German Plain

The North German Plain or Northern Lowland is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea to the north and Germany's Central Uplands (die Mittelgebirge) to the south.

In the west, the southern boundary of the North German Plain is formed by the Lower Saxon Hills – specifically the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest, the Wiehen Hills, the Weser Hills and the Lower Saxon Börde – which partly separate it from that area of the Plain known as the Westphalian Lowland. Elements of the Rhenish Massif also act a part of the southern boundary of the plain: the Eifel, Bergisches Land and the Sauerland. In the east the North German Plain spreads out beyond the Harz mountains and Kyffhäuser further to the south as far as the Central Saxon hill country and the foothills of the Ore Mountains.

Landscape, soils and their formation

Northern Germany

Northern Germany (German: Norddeutschland) is the region in the north of Germany. Its exact area is not precisely or consistently defined but varies depending on whether one is taking a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural or historic standpoint.

Language

Northern Germany generally refers to the Sprachraum area north of the Uerdingen and Benrath line isoglosses, where Low German dialects are spoken. These comprise the Low Saxon dialects in the west (including the Westphalian language area up to the Rhineland), the East Low German region along the Baltic coast with Western Pomerania, the Altmark and northern Brandenburg, as well as the North Low German dialects.