Wupper
| Wupper | |
|---|---|
 Wupper | |
| Origin | Sauerland |
| Mouth |
Rhine 51°02′43″N 6°56′27″E / 51.04528°N 6.94083°ECoordinates: 51°02′43″N 6°56′27″E / 51.04528°N 6.94083°E |
| Basin countries | Germany |
| Length | 113 km |
| Source elevation | 441 m |
| Avg. discharge | 17 m³/s [1] |
| Basin area | 827 km² |
The Wupper is a right tributary of the River Rhine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Rising near Marienheide in western Sauerland it runs through the mountainous region of the Bergisches Land in Berg County and enters the Rhine at Leverkusen, south of Düsseldorf. Its upper course is called the Wipper.
On its course of about 113 km, the Wupper passes through the city of Wuppertal where the suspension railway runs for 10 kilometres above the river. According to a popular local story, on 21 July 1950 a young elephant named Tuffi jumped into the Wupper from the railway.
It is crossed by the highest railway bridge in Germany near Müngsten, between Remscheid and Solingen. A few miles further down, Burg Castle is located on a hill overlooking the river.
Hydropower
From the 15th century, the Wupper and its many streams gave birth to hundreds of workshops, mills and factories on their banks. Originally water was used for dying, bleaching and washing canvas and cloth,[2] later it was used to power machines or transport waste.
The Wupper thus facilitated the early industrial expansion of the Wuppertal or Wupper valley during the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, similar to that of Silicon Valley in the United States in the 20th century. The Wupper Valley was one of world's first industrialized regions and empowered inter alia the Ruhrgebiet as a coal-mining region.
Other
- The Wupper is cited in the German sayings: "Über die Wupper gehen" - "To go over the Wupper" meaning going bankrupt, going into jail or going to die.[3]
- Else Lasker-Schüler wrote the drama Die Wupper.
References
- ↑ Die Wupper // Wupperverband (German)
- ↑ "Cloth Bleaching alongside Wupper River". Municipality of Wuppertal. Retrieved January 2011.
- ↑ Rolf-Bernhard Essig. "Woher kommt “Über die Wupper gehen”?" (in German). SWR. Retrieved September 2014.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wupper. |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Wupper. |
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