Germany is a
federal republic consisting of sixteen
federal states (, or ). Since today's Germany was formed from an earlier collection of several states, it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty. With an emphasis on geographical conditions,
Berlin and
Hamburg are frequently called (
city-states), as is the
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of
Bremen and
Bremerhaven. The remaining 13 states are called (literally: area states).