Westerwald

View of the northern Westerwald from the Otto Turm at Herkersdorf/Kirchen

The Westerwald lies mostly southwest of the three-state common point shared by Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia in the districts of Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Neuwied, Rhein-Lahn, Rhein-Sieg, Westerwaldkreis and partly in Siegen-Wittgenstein. It is found south of the Rothaargebirge, southwest of the Lahn-Dill-Bergland (another low mountain range), north of the Taunus and east of the Middle Rhine and stretches more or less southwards from Siegen and Burbach, southwestwards from Haiger, northwestwards from Weilburg, northwards from Limburg an der Lahn, northeastwards from Koblenz, eastwards from Linz am Rhein, southeastwards from Wissen and southwards from Betzdorf. In its centre lie Bad Marienberg and Hachenburg.

Clockwise, the Westerwald is bordered by the following river valleys: the Rhine between Koblenz and Linz, the Sieg as far as Betzdorf, the Heller, the Dill and from its mouth near Wetzlar, the Lahn up to Lahnstein.

Geomorphologically, the Westerwald belongs to the Rhenish Massif, which forms the greater part of that range's eastern half on the Rhine's right bank. Likewise, the Gladenbach Uplands, lying east of the Dill, also belong to the Westerwald, whereas the mountains reaching up to 680 m (2,230 ft) near the Haiger Saddle (Haiger Sattel) and east of Siegen are counted as part of the Rothaargebirge.

The Westerwald is divided by elevation into these three regions:

• Unterer or Vorderer Westerwald, or Vorderwesterwald:

Translated here as Lower Westerwald, this region borders on the Rhine and Lahn river valley landscapes and manifests itself as the western and southwestern part of the Westerwald, a heavily truncated upland with elevations ranging from 200 to 400 m. The subsidence areas found within (Dierdorfer Senke, Montabaurer Senke) are known for their clay deposits. Indeed, the name for this small region is the Kannenbäckerland, or "Jug Bakers’ Land", a reference to the traditional ceramics industry here. In the southwest, in the richly wooded Montabaur Heights (Montabaurer Höhe) is found a monadnock made of quartzite, as well as the Malberg Conservation Area (Naturschutzgebiet Malberg). The Siebengebirge joining the range in the northwest near Bonn (reaching 464 m) is, however, regionally grouped with the Middle Rhine area.

• Oberer Westerwald:

Translated here as Upper Westerwald, this is a partly wooded land of volcanic crests with major basalt layers, above all in the area of the Westerwald Lake Plateau (Westerwälder Seenplatte), with elevations ranging from some 350 to 500 m. To the south, as part of the Lahn valley, the hilly Limburg Basin abuts the Upper Westerwald.

• Hoher Westerwald:

The High Westerwald is an undulating and basalt-rich tableland decked with woodlands, making for a highly moderated microclimate, especially against extreme warmth. It ranges from roughly 450 to 657 m in height. Here is found the Fuchskaute, the highest peak.

District seats in the Westerwald are: Altenkirchen (Altenkirchen district), Montabaur (Westerwaldkreis) and Neuwied (Neuwied district). Furthermore, the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, the Mayen-Koblenz district, the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis and the Limburg-Weilburg district each have shares of the Westerwald. If Sieg is taken as the Westerwald's northernmost limit, then the Rhein-Sieg district likewise belongs here, at least in parts (for example the Siebengebirge and the communities of Eitorf and Windeck).

The Westerwald and its outer edges are crossed by stretches of Bundesstraßen 8, 42, 49, 54, 62, 255, 256, 277, 413 and 414, over which there are connections to the Autobahnen A 3 (Cologne–Frankfurt), A 45 (Dortmund–Aschaffenburg) and A 48.

The most notable railway is the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line with minor stops at Montabaur and Limburg an der Lahn.

The High Westerwald is served by Siegerland Airport for private use and special touristic charters, south of Burbach.

Panorama of the Westerwald seen from Bad Marienberg

The following are the Westerwald's rivers and streams:

• Rivers whose valley systems border the range (clockwise):
  • Rhine – southwest edge
  • Sieg – north edge
  • Dill – east edge, tributary to the Lahn
  • Lahn – southeast edge
• Smaller rivers within the range:
  • Mehrbach
  • Sayn (also known as Saynbach) – in the southern (Lower) Westerwald, flows west to the Rhine
  • Wied (between Sieg and Sayn) – flows west to the Rhine
  • Nister (in the northeast, boundary of Upper Westerwald) – flows northwest to the Sieg
  • Elbbach (Sieg) – near Wissen to the Sieg
  • Heller – rises in northern Westerwald and flows through the Siegerland to Betzdorf and into the Sieg
  • Elbbach (Lahn) – near Ailertchen to the Lahn
  • Daade – empties between Alsdorf and Grünebach into the Heller
• Greater streams and brooks:
  • Aubach, Brexbach, Dietzhölze, Erdbach, Fockenbach, Gelbach, Hellerbach, Holzbach, Kerkerbach, Masselbach, Ulmbach.

• Breitenbach Reservoir (Rennerod)
• Driedorf Reservoir
• Großer Weiher
• Fischweiher
• Heisterberger Weiher
• Krombach Reservoir
• Seeweiher near Mengerskirchen
• Waagweiher
• Waldsee Maroth
• Westerwald Lake District
  • Brinkenweiher
  • Dreifelder Weiher (or Seeweiher)
  • Haidenweiher
  • Hausweiher
  • Hofmannsweiher
  • Postweiher
  • Wölferlinger Weiher
• Wiesensee (reservoir)

Weiher is a German word meaning "pond".

Through prehistoric finds it can be determined that the Celts settled in the Westerwald and were using the iron ore deposits in the so-called Hallstatt times (Iron Age, roughly 750 to 500 BC). In all likelihood they came into the area from the Hunsrück. From La Tène times come the Celtic ringwall-girded defensive and sheltering castles which may be found on, among other peaks, the Malberg. Already by La Tène times, Germanic peoples were thrusting in from the east and from the Sieg valley. They came about 380 BC into the Upper Westerwald, bypassing the High Westerwald, seeing it as nothing more than a trackless wooded wilderness, after which they eventually came up against the Rhine in the 2nd century.

Even in the time when the Celts found themselves having to avoid the Germanic invaders by moving to the west, the Romans were also pushing in from the Rhine's left bank to the southwest. However, the Romans only managed to seize a strip of land on the Rhine's right bank and the so-called Rhine-Westerwald; the Westerwald itself lay outside the Roman-occupied area, for the Romans preferred to maintain a little-settled, most likely pathless wilderness as their border.

The Westerwald's permanent settlement and thereby its territorial history began with the Chatti (Hessians) pushing their way into the area after the Romans were driven out in the 3rd century. Placename endings such as –ar, –mar and –aha ("Haigraha" = Haiger) stemming from the Migration Period ("Völkerwanderung") can still be found now. These lie around the forest's outer edges in basins and dales whose soils and climate were favourable to early settlers, and include, for instance, Hadamar, Lahr and Wetzlar. From the 4th to the 6th century, the settlements from the time of the taking of the land arose in formerly pathless areas, taking endings such as –ingen and –heim, like Bellingen and Bladernheim; these lie on the broad, raised plains in the Upper Westerwald.

The Franks built their old settlements on the edge of the Westerwald in the central areas of their districts, to build up slowly and permanently strongholds in the interior. There arose places with names ending in –rode, –scheid, –hahn, –berg, –tal and –seifen. Once clearing settlements had been established and logging for iron ore smelting was under way, the widespread destruction of the forest began.[2] Between the 6th and 9th centuries came settlement expansion from the old settlements towards the edges, a process still witnessed in placename endings such as –hausen, –hofen, –kirch, –burg or –tal.[3]

The last settlement period in the Westerwald began in the 10th century and ended about 1300. Through Carolingian policy and therefore the Trier and Cologne mission, this area underwent Christianization. Trier advanced up the Lahn, Cologne to the Rhine and Sieg. Trier-Lorrainian and Lower Rhine influences were nevertheless brought into the Westerwald. Among the witnesses to the art of building at that time is the monastery church at Limburg-Dietkirchen, in its oldest parts.

After many changes in ownership between the Ottonian and Salian noble families, it was in the end the Counts of Sayn, Diez and Wied who managed to take hold of extensive landholdings. Particular importance was achieved by the Counts of Laurenburg, who later called themselves the Counts of Nassau. In the east, the Landgraves of Hesse put it about that they could beat the Archbishopric of Mainz on the battlefield. Moreover, the Counts of Wied, the Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein and the Electorate of Trier were all prominent landlords.

Political relations were simplified until the 16th century. Among the four greater powers' spheres of influence (Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Hesse), the House of Nassau managed to expand and strengthen its hold on its territory on the Dill between Siegen and Nassau. After the Napoleonic upheavals, Nassau had to share broad swathes of the Westerwald with the newly minted power Prussia. A sovereign Duchy of Nassau existed until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866.

Nowadays, the Westerwald is shared among three German federal states: Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.