continent main 
Frankfurt am Main is a metropolis and the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth - largest city in Germany , with a 2015 population of 731 , 095 within its administrative boundaries , and 2 . 3 million in its urban area . The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine - Main Metropolitan Region , which has a population of 5 . 8 million and is Germany ' s second - largest metropolitan region after Rhine - Ruhr . Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013 , the geographic centre of the EU is about to the east of Frankfurt ' s CBD , the Bankenviertel . Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse , with around half of the population , and a majority of young people , having a migration background . A quarter of the population are foreign nationals , including many expatriates . Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western ___MASK4___ . It includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' s capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . It is a densely populated country located in Western ___MASK4___ with three island territories in the Caribbean . The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east , Belgium to the south , and the North Sea to the northwest , sharing maritime borders with Belgium , the United Kingdom , and Germany . The largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam , Rotterdam , The Hague and Utrecht . Amsterdam is the country ' s capital , while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of government and parliament . The name " Holland " is used to refer informally to the whole of the country of the Netherlands . The Hanseatic League ( also known as the Hanse or Hansa ; Middle Low German : " Hanse ", " Dudesche Hanse ", or "") was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns . Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s , the League came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for four centuries along the coast of Northern ___MASK4___ . It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period ( c . 15th to 19th centuries ). " Hanse ", later spelled as " Hansa ", was the Middle Low German word for a convoy , and this word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities whether by land or by sea . The European Union ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in ___MASK4___ . It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . Bankenviertel (" banking district ") is the name of the central business district in Frankfurt , Germany . It designates an area in the city centre , where many banks , insurance companies and other financial institutions are located . It is the most important financial centre in Germany and one of the largest in ___MASK4___ along with La Défense in the Paris aire urbaine and London ' s City and Canary Wharf . The Main ( German pronunciation : ( man ) ) is a river in Germany . With a length of 527 km ( 327 mi ) ( including the White Main : 574 km ( 357 mi ) ) , it is the longest right tributary of the Rhine , and the longest river lying entirely in Germany ( if we consider the Weser and the Werra as two separate rivers ; together they are longer ) . The largest cities along the Main are Frankfurt am Main and Würzburg . The euro ( sign : €; code : EUR ) is the official currency of the eurozone , which consists of 19 of the member states of the European Union : Austria , Belgium , Cyprus , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , the Netherlands , Portugal , Slovakia , Slovenia , and Spain . The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries , as well as unilaterally by two others , and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of ___MASK4___ , a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency . The Rhine (, , ) is a European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps , forms part of the Swiss - Austrian , Swiss - Liechtenstein , Swiss - German and then the Franco - German border , then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands . The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne , Germany , with a population of more than 1 , 050 , 000 people . It is the second - longest river in Central and Western ___MASK4___ ( after the Danube ), at about , with an average discharge of about . The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in ___MASK4___ , stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries : Austria , France , Germany , Italy , Liechtenstein , Monaco , Slovenia , and Switzerland . The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided . Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn . Mont Blanc spans the French  Italian border , and at is the highest mountain in the Alps . The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres ( just over 13 , 000 feet ). The Danube (, known by various names in other languages ) is ___MASK4___ ' s second - longest river , after the Volga River , and also the longest river in the European Union region . It is located in Central and Eastern ___MASK4___ . ___MASK4___ is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia . ___MASK4___ is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . To the east and southeast , ___MASK4___ is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of ___MASK4___  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to ___MASK4___ also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' s current overland boundaries . The Weser is a river in Northwestern Germany . Formed at Hannoversch Münden by the confluence of the rivers Fulda and Werra , it flows through Lower Saxony , then reaching the Hanseatic - town Bremen ( see : Hanseatic League ), before emptying further north at Bremerhaven into the North Sea . On the opposite ( west ) bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula ; thus , the mouth of the river is in Lower Saxony . The Weser has an overall length of . Together with its Werra tributary , which originates in Thuringia , its length is .