Upper Rhine
| Upper Rhine (Oberrhein, Rhin Supérieur) | |
|---|---|
Upper Rhine near Iffezheim | |
Sections of the Rhine: Upper Rhine | |
| Location | |
| Country | Germany |
| States | Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatine |
| Country | France |
| Region Departments | Grand-Est Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin |
| Country Canton | Switzerland Basel-Stadt |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Rhine knee at Basel, Switzerland, continuation of the High Rhine |
| • coordinates | 47°33′37″N 7°35′23″E / 47.560148°N 7.589726°E |
| • elevation | 252 m |
| Mouth | |
• location | Bingen am Rhein, confluence with the Nahe, continues as Middle Rhine |
• coordinates | 49°58′11″N 7°53′21″E / 49.96972°N 7.88917°E |
• elevation | 89 m |
| Length | 360 km (220 mi) |
| Basin size | 185,000 km2 |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Birsig, Ill, Lauter, Moder, Nahe |
| • right | Acher, Alb, Elz, Kander, Kinzig, Main, Murg, Neckar, Pfinz, Queich, Rench, Sauer, Selz, Wiese |
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Upper Rhine (German: Oberrhein [ˈoːbɐˌʁaɪn] ⓘ; French: Rhin Supérieur; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain (Oberrheinische Tiefebene). Most of its upper section marks the France–Germany border.
The Upper Rhine is one of four sections of the river (the others being the High Rhine, Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine) between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The countries and states along the Upper Rhine are Switzerland, France (Alsace) and the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz.
The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and made navigable between 1928 and 1977. The Treaty of Versailles allows France to use the Upper Rhine for hydroelectricity in the Grand Canal d'Alsace.
On the left bank are the French region of Alsace and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate; on the right bank are the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. The first few kilometres are in the Swiss city of Basel.