Upper Rhine

Upper Rhine (Oberrhein, Rhin Supérieur)
Upper Rhine near Iffezheim
Location
Country	Germany
States	Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatine
Country	France
Region Departments	Grand-Est Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin
Country Canton	Switzerland Basel-Stadt
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Rhine knee at Basel, Switzerland, continuation of the High Rhine
• coordinates	47°33′37″N 7°35′23″E / 47.560148°N 7.589726°E / 47.560148; 7.589726
• elevation	252 m
Mouth
• location	Bingen am Rhein, confluence with the River Nahe, continues as Middle Rhine
• coordinates	49°58′11″N 7°53′21″E / 49.96972°N 7.88917°E / 49.96972; 7.88917
• elevation	89 m
Length	360 km (220 mi)
Basin size	185,000 km2
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Birsig, Ill, Lauter, Moder, Nahe
• right	Acher, Alb, Elz, Kander, Kinzig, Main, Murg, Neckar, Pfinz, Queich, Rench, Sauer, Selz,Wiese

The Upper Rhine (German: Oberrhein [ˈoːbɐˌʁaɪn] ^ⓘ; French: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the scale beginning in Konstanz and ending in Rotterdam). Most of its upper section marks the France–Germany border.

The Upper Rhine is one of four sections of the river (the others being the High Rhine, Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine) between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The countries and states along the Upper Rhine are Switzerland, France (Alsace) and the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz.

The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and made navigable between 1928 and 1977. The Treaty of Versailles allows France to use the Upper Rhine for hydroelectricity in the Grand Canal d'Alsace.

On the left bank are the French region of Alsace and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate; on the right bank are the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. The first few kilometres are in the Swiss city of Basel.