Hille

Hille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. The community is named after Hille its largest village. The geography of the community belongs to that of the North German Plain, from its lowest altitude of 45 metres it rises to 251 metres on the ridge of the Wiehengebirge at its southern border.GeographyHille is located in the northeast of the Detmold (region), in the middle of the Minden Land. Hille has portions of the ecologic areas of the Wiehen Hills, the Lübbecke Loess Country and the Rahden-Diepenauer Sandy Moorlands (boglands). The southern portion of the community is located in the transition zone from the North Germain Plain to the Central Uplands (piedmont). This especially apparent with the ridgelike structure of the Wiehengebirge, which closes Hille like a bolt from the Ravensberg hill country. The main part of the northerly bench of the community is clearly a component of the plain, which received its endmoraine character from the Ice Age. The Great Peatbog (Grosses Torfmoor) provides Hille with a wet ecosystem of glacial origin which has been a designated nature reserve since 1980. This is where rare plants and animals such as white storks are found. Hille is the source of the Ösper, a tributary of the River Weser. The Mittelland Canal crosses Hille at its geographic middle in an east–west orientation. Several settlements adhere to the canal's adjacent dry northern plateau. To the north are a large raised bog and the Minden Forest (Mindener Wald). The River Weser presents a geographic border 10 km east of Hille. To the west the same lansdcape continues all the way to Osnabrück. The varied farmland is characterized by scattered settlements and single farms that are bordered by copses and hedges. Forests are found on higher ground, while meadows are found at low ground and in bogs.