This map shows counties [Kreise] in the German Empire where at least 5 percent of the population (according to the census taken on December 1, 1900) spoke a non-German mother tongue. See especially the Polish-speaking regions (green) in the Prussian east, the Danish-speaking region (pink) in the north, and the French-speaking region (purple) in the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorrraine in the west. The areas marked with red crosses were lost to the German Reich after the First World War.