High in the Swiss Alps, two springs are released, gurgling and growling from icy wastes of the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier. These converge at the village of Reichenau to become the Alpine Rhine, which will continue for 1320 km to the North Sea. Pouring over the beautiful waterfalls of Schffhausen and Laufenburg, unhindered and with increasing energy, it weaves its way through Switzerland, along the borders of Liechtenstein, Austria and France, passing through Germany into Holland where finally it disgorges itself into open waters.
The Rhine has always played an important role in the history of the countries it passes through or borders upon. Even before Roman times the Rhine has been of vital and strategic importance. When Julius Cesar crossed it in 55 BC; it was already been settled along its lower reaches by the Germanic tribes and on the upper reaches Celtic settlements were established. In 409 AD, taking advantage of the rebellion in the Western Roman Empire, and the inclement weather, the Barbarians and the Vandals were able to cross the frozen Rhine into France and Spain. The Germanic tribes slowly began to settle along the whole length of the river, which was to become the kingdom of the Franks and later the Carolingian Empire. By 870 the Rhine had become the central axis of the Holy Roman Empire. At the end of the Thirty Years’ War, in 1648, this Empire had also disintegrated and the borders were being established.
In 1832, the first steamboat made it up river from the North Sea to Basel. This was later to herald the waterborne traffic, which was at its busiest throughout the Industrial Revolution and continues, albeit in lesser volume, to this very day. Emperor Charlemagne’s vision of a connection between the Rhine and the Danube was eventually realized 1000 years later when in 1846 the Ludwig-Donau-Canal was completed. Unfortunately this, along with many bridges was destroyed during World War 11. Reopened as the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in1992 to provide a route from the North Sea to the Black Sea, its use was once again disrupted by the Balkans conflict.
The main tributaries, which feed the Rhine on its subsequent journey westward, are the Neckar, which joins it near Mannheim; The Main, which enters at Mainz and the Mosel, joins at Koblenz. There are hundreds of smaller tributaries, some just streams and others rivers in their own right: The Ems; the Lahn; the Nahe; the Ahr; the Agger; the Sieg, all adding, not just their waters but in a sense their own individual history to that of Father Rhine’s.
Numerous myths and legends relating to the Rhine have entered into German folklore, the majority of these having their origins along the stretch of river between Mainz and Koblenz. It is here that the Rhine valley is at its most beautiful, with vineyards and fairytale castles seemingly at every bend. But when the clouds are low on the hilltops and a damp mist hangs clings to the river, it can be also quite somber and eerie. This is the Mittelrhein (Middle Rhine) and is where the Rhine daughters are rumoured to be encountered. As can be expected of German nymphs, Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde, they are blond and beautiful and it is their job to protect the hidden Rhine gold, which is mined be the Nibelung brothers, Alberich and Mime. This is the legend, which was to inspire Richard Wagner’s, The Ring. Then there is the gentle Weisse Frau who protects children and the scary Waterman who will drown folk who dare to bathe in the river. The better know of these Nixies - as they are locally called - is Lorelei, of whom Heinrich Heine wrote his famous poem and who is still luring sailors to their doom as they pass through the narrow gorge, under the 132 meter high cliff by that name.
It is in this same region, between Wiesbaden and Assmannshausen, where the Rhine turns west as it skirts the Taunus Mountains, that the better-known German vineyards are located. This is the Rheingau and is world renowned for its Riesling. It is also true that the majority of Germany’s vineyards owe their very existence to the river. Five other wine growing regions Baden, the Rheinpfalz, Hessische Bergstraße, Rheinhessen are situated on or near the Rhine. In Roman times this particular region of the Pfalz was known as the "Wine Cellar of the Holy Roman Empire."
After the Mosel flows into it, at Koblenz, the river weaves its way majestically onward past Bonn, where it becomes the Niederrhein (Lower Rhine). The friendly - at times not always so - rivalries between the towns and villages on the western side of the river and those across the water on its eastern banks, is legendry. Bonn against Beuel and vice versa. Cologne against Düsseldorf and Xanten against Wesel. The citizens of Beuel, for instance, following some obscure disagreement between themselves and those of Bonn, erected a statue on the riverside, with a man showing his backside to the populace on the opposite shores.
It is near the town of Emmerich that the Rhine leaves Germany as it flows across the border into Holland. This is known as the Rhine Delta, where it again turns west and splits up into several waterways, joined by the river Meuse. It is at Rotterdam that the Rhine ends its long majestic journey as one of Europe’s most important rivers disgorges itself into the North Sea.