Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony demonstrates keystone dependency: Germany's 2nd-largest state (47,710 km², 8M people) hosts Volkswagen's Wolfsburg HQ, where the 6.5 km² plant drove €158,749/capita GDP while 2/3 of land remains agricultural breadbasket.
Lower Saxony exists because Volkswagen exists—and because agricultural flatlands meeting North Sea ports created Germany's most diversified industrial state. Germany's second-largest Land by area (47,710 km²) and fourth-most populous (8 million) generated €229.5 billion GDP in 2018, roughly 8.7% of national output. The state's defining organism is Wolfsburg, purpose-built in 1938 as Europe's largest single-site car factory, where VW's 6.5 km² plant could produce 870,000 vehicles annually at peak capacity—though 2023 output fell to 490,000 amid the EV transition. When VW sneezes, Wolfsburg catches pneumonia: the city's €158,749 GDP per capita (Germany's highest in 2021) reflects extreme monoculture dependency. This automotive keystone anchors a broader ecosystem spanning 408 municipalities from Borkum island to the Harz Mountains, where two-thirds of land remains agricultural—Germany's breadbasket for potatoes, sugar beets, and livestock. The Lüneburg Heath marks the ecological transition zone, while Hanover's trade fair grounds (world's largest) pulse with Hannover Messe's 4,000 exhibitors annually. Offshore wind installations in the state's northern waters increasingly diversify an energy portfolio historically dependent on small natural gas deposits near Emden.