Inde

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Inde
The Inde in Kornelimünster.
The Inde in Kornelimünster.
Origin Hautes Fagnes
Mouth Rur
Basin countries Germany, Belgium
Source elevation ±400 m
River Inde as a tributary of the Rur
River Inde as a tributary of the Rur

The Inde is a small river in Belgium and Germany, left tributary of the Rur. It has its source near Raeren in Eastern Belgium, runs through Aachen-Kornelimünster, Eschweiler and Inden, and flows into the river Rur near Jülich. Because of lignite opencast mining, it has been diverted in 2003 near to Inden-Lamersdorf.

The brooks Omerbach, Otterbach, Saubach, Vichtbach and Wehebach flow into the Inde.

Its name is of Celtic origin: Inda. The Inde has a counterpart, a "small Inde", in France: the Andelle, which is a 55 km long river in the French département Seine-Maritime and whose original name was Indella. The suffix -ella is an example for Celtic river names comparing for instance Mosella (= Moselle, i.e. "small Mosa (= Maas)"). For the name "Inde", the Indoeuropean stem *wed (= water) is supposed, like in words like Italian "onda" and French "onde" (= wave).

The river Inde acquired historical importance, when Emperor Louis the Pious founded the monastery of Kornelimünster at one of its old passages in 815.


Inde is also the name that the Apache tribe of Native Americans used to describe themselves.