The
Leine is a river in
ThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen
Bundesländer...
and
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is a left tributary of the
AllerThe Aller is a river, long, in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last form the Lower Aller federal waterway...
river (and so of the
Weser riverThe Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the of the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
as well) and 281 km in length.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. Forty kilometers downriver, the river enters Lower Saxony and runs northwards.
Important towns upstream to down along its course are
GöttingenGöttingen is a college town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
,
EinbeckEinbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It's located on the German Framework Road.- Economy :Einbeck is very famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
,
AlfeldFor the town in the district of Nürnberger Land, see Alfeld, Bavaria.Alfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the Leine river in the district of Hildesheim and on the German Framework Road.-History and main sights:...
and
GronauGronau is a town and a municipality in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approx. 15 km southwest of Hildesheim, and 35 km south of Hanover....
, before the river enters
HanoverHanover 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, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
, the largest city on its banks.
The
Leine is a river in
ThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen
Bundesländer...
and
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is a left tributary of the
AllerThe Aller is a river, long, in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last form the Lower Aller federal waterway...
river (and so of the
Weser riverThe Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the of the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
as well) and 281 km in length.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. Forty kilometers downriver, the river enters Lower Saxony and runs northwards.
Important towns upstream to down along its course are
GöttingenGöttingen is a college town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
,
EinbeckEinbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It's located on the German Framework Road.- Economy :Einbeck is very famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
,
AlfeldFor the town in the district of Nürnberger Land, see Alfeld, Bavaria.Alfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the Leine river in the district of Hildesheim and on the German Framework Road.-History and main sights:...
and
GronauGronau is a town and a municipality in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approx. 15 km southwest of Hildesheim, and 35 km south of Hanover....
, before the river enters
HanoverHanover 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, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
, the largest city on its banks. Downstream some forty kilometers north of Hanover, near
SchwarmstedtSchwarmstedt is a municipality in Soltau-Fallingbostel in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the confluence of the rivers Aller and Leine, approx. 20 km south of Bad Fallingbostel, and 30 km east of Nienburg...
, the river joins the
AllerThe Aller is a river, long, in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last form the Lower Aller federal waterway...
and reaches the
North SeaThe North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. It is more than long and wide, with an area of around...
via the Weser connecting to and flowing north past both the oceanic seaports of
HanseaticHanseatic may refer to:* The Hanseatic League, a trading alliance in northern Europe in existence between the 13th and 17th centuries.* The Hanseatic , the synonym for the members of the upper class of the free imperial cities Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck since the middle of the 17th century after...
BremenThe City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A port city along the river Weser, about south from its mouth on the North Sea, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area...
and the much newer but equally important city of
BremerhavenBremerhaven is the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a federal state of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
. Although the river occasionally over-floods its banks, damage is usually nominal. Only in its northern (lower) reaches is it navigable by today's smallest commercial carriers, though in the past it served as an important pre-railway
bargeA barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
transportation artery as far up river as Göttingen.
The river is somewhat polluted from industries and so not used for drinking water but the pollution was never so much as to prevent fish from living in it, and like many western rivers since the 1960s, has enjoyed successively cleaner waters since environmental controls were implemented. People enjoy sport fishing from small boats and from along the banks, although yields are normally low.
At at least one point (Göttingen) the river is partially diverted into a canal that runs more or less parallel to the river.
In his 1986 bestseller
Red Storm RisingRed Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s...
, author
Tom ClancyThomas Leo Clancy Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War and his video games. His name is also a brand for similar movie scripts written by ghost writers and many series of...
uses the Leine as a major obstacle to the Soviet Union's
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
in its drive to the Rhine River and the North Sea ports of the Netherlands and Belgium through
West GermanyWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
.