Inde

The Inde (French: L'Inde) is a small river in Belgium and in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Inde
Inde in Aachen-Kornelimünster
Map of the Rur Basin, including the Inde
Native name	L'Inde  (French)
Location
Countries	Germany and Belgium
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Hautes Fagnes
• elevation	±400 m (1,300 ft)
Mouth
• location	Rur
• coordinates	50°53′58″N 6°21′46″E
Length	54.1 km (33.6 mi) [1]
Basin size	374 km^2 (144 sq mi) [1]
Basin features
Progression	Rur→ Meuse→ North Sea

Geography

The Inde in Weisweiler

The Inde is a left (western) tributary of the Rur/Roer, in eastern Belgium and in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany.

Its source is near Raeren, in Eastern Belgium. The Inde runs through Aachen-Kornelimünster, Eschweiler, and Inden. Its mouth is on the Rur near Jülich. Because of lignite opencast mining, a section of the course was diverted near Inden-Lamersdorf in 2003 .

Tributaries of the Inde include the streams: Omerbach, Otterbach, Saubach, Vichtbach, and Wehebach.

Itertalviadukt viaduct of the Vennbahn railway over the Inde

History

Its name is of Celtic origin: Inda. The Inde has a counterpart, a "small Inde", in France: the Andelle, which is a 55-kilometre (34 mi) long river in the French département Seine-Maritime and whose original name was Indella.
The suffix -ella is an example for Celtic river names comparing for instance Mosella (= Moselle, i.e. "small Mosa (= Maas)"). For the name "Inde", the Indoeuropean stem *wed (= water) is supposed, like in words like Italian "onda" and French "onde" (= wave).

The Inde acquired historical importance when Emperor Louis the Pious founded the Kornelimünster Abbey monastery along one of its old courses in 815.

See also

• List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia

References

1. Hydrographic Directory of the NRW State Office for Nature, the Environment and Consumer Protection (Gewässerverzeichnis des Landesamtes für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz NRW 2010) (xls; 4.67 MB)