Innerste
Encyclopedia
The Innerste is a river in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is a right tributary of the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...

 river and 95 km in length.

Origin of the name

The name Innerste, in earlier times called the Inste (1805), Inderste (1567), Indistria (1313), Entrista (1065) and Indrista (1013), probably goes back to the Indo-Germanic root oid = turbulent, strong. It may be the name referred to in the name of the battlefield of Idistaviso
Idistaviso
Idistaviso is the location on the Weser river where forces commanded by Arminius fought those commanded by Germanicus at the Battle of the Weser River in 16 CE, attested in chapter 16 of Tacitus' Annales II...

(16 A.D.). It is therefore not a superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...

 and is declined without a case ending in German e.g.: Hildesheim liegt an der Innerste, not: an der Innersten.

Course

The river's source is in the Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...

 mountains, 4 km from the town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000, Clausthal-Zellerfeld is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde Oberharz....

 to the Southwest. The place is at an elevation of 615 m, it is called Innerstesprung in German. As a small brook, the Innerste flows to the West and passes a system of lakes the first of which is called Entensumpf.

Having passed Wildemann
Wildemann
Wildemann is a town in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the west of the Harz, northwest of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is part of the Samtgemeinde Oberharz....

 (390 m), one of the smallest towns in Germany, the Innerste turns to the North to Lautenthal
Lautenthal
The formerly free mining town of Lautenthal is a state-recognised, climatic spa with around 2,000 inhabitants that has been part of the borough of Langelsheim since 1972.- Geography :...

 (300 m), another town on its course and flows parallel to an abandoned railway track. Near Lautenthal
Lautenthal
The formerly free mining town of Lautenthal is a state-recognised, climatic spa with around 2,000 inhabitants that has been part of the borough of Langelsheim since 1972.- Geography :...

 the Innerste is dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

med (the Innerstetalsperre). When the dam was built 1963-1966, a nice lake for holidays and watersports was created. A few kilometers further on, the Innerste leaves the Harz Mountains near the town of Langelsheim
Langelsheim
Langelsheim is a town in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany.- Geography :The municipality is situated between the river Innerste and its tributary Grane, on the northern edge of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park, located about northwest of Goslar.- City subdivisions...

 (204 m) and turns to the Northwest. The first tributary is river Grane
Grane (river)
The Grane is a right tributary of the Innerste river near Goslar.It rises in the vicinity of Hahnenklee in the Upper Harz and discharges about 12 km later into the Innerste near Langelsheim . At Herzog Juliushütte, in the municipality of Astfeld near Goslar, it is controlled by the Grane Dam....

 (12 km in length).

From here, the Innerste flows through the Harzvorland, a hilly countryside. Further tributaries are river Nette
Nette (Innerste)
The Nette is a small river in Lower Saxony, Germany, a left tributary of the Innerste. It rises in the Harz, in the municipality of Seesen. The Nette flows through Bockenem before reaching the Innerste in Holle, between Hildesheim and Salzgitter....

 (42 km in length), river Lamme (21 km in length), river Bruchgraben, river Neile and river Beuster (12 km in length). Some more towns on its course are the southern quarters of Salzgitter
Salzgitter
Salzgitter is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven Oberzentren of Lower Saxony...

 and Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...

. The Innerste passes Marienburg Castle, the centre of Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...

 (90 m) and Steuerwald Castle
Steuerwald Castle, Hildesheim
Steuerwald Castle is a well-preserved romanesque castle in Hildesheim, a city in Lower Saxony, Germany.- History :Hildesheim was founded as the seat of the Bishopric of Hildesheim in 815...

 in the North of the City.

In the North of Hildesheim, the Innerste enters the Norddeutsche Tiefebene, a large plain. About 18 km further on, it flows into the Leine near the town of Sarstedt
Sarstedt
Sarstedt is a town in the district of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has around 17,800 inhabitants. Sarstedt is close to Hanover.The GEO 600 gravitational wave detector is located nearby....

, south of Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

, at an elevation of 65 m.

Sources

  • Sönke Martens, Erich Heinemann: Lebensader Innerste: von der Quelle bis zur Mündung. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1999, ISBN 3-8067-8543-0
  • Heinrich Hofmeister: Naturraum Innerstetal. Mitteilungen der Paul-Feindt-Stiftung Band 4. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2003
  • Bibliographisches Institut & F. A. Brockhaus AG, 2001, Brockhaus multimedia 2002
  • Ludger Feldmann: Hildesheim im Eiszeitalter - eine Bilderreise. In: Manfred Boetzkes, Ingeborg Schweitzer, Jürgen Vespermann (Hrsg.): EisZeit. Das große Abenteuer der Naturbeherrschung. Begleitbuch zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 1999 und Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim 1999, Seite 95-106.
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