Lippe (river)

The Lippe is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and 220.1km in length with an elevation difference of 125 metres and a catchment area of 4.882 km². The source is located at the edge of the Teutoburg Forest in Bad Lippspringe close to the city of Paderborn. It runs westward through Paderborn, Lippstadt and then along the northern edge of the Ruhr area, parallel to the river Emscher and river Ruhr. The river finally enters the Rhine at Wesel.Description and historyThe river Lippe has been used as an infrastructure in Roman times. For the Romans the river was a gateway to Germania, running from the river Rhine to the region around Paderborn. The watercourse was used for transport of supplies, so along the banks of the Lippe many former Roman camps can be found. In the last 200 years many of these camps have been identified, above all the camp in Haltern which is likely to be the former headquarter of the imperial prince Tiberius. The distance between the camps is about a one-day walk of the troops, which is almost 30 km (20 mi). Today’s identified Roman camps are: Olfen, Xanten, Haltern, Oberaden, Holsterhausen, Anreppen and Beckinghausen.Today, the river appears as a two-tier water course: Upstream, eastward of the city of Hamm, the catchment is more rural. Downstream of Hamm settlements and industrial impacts characterize the situation. Though the Lippe was partly navigable from 1820 on it was not sufficient for the transport of industrial goods.