Editing Rhine (section)

=== Upper Rhine ===
{{Main | Upper Rhine}}
[[File:One autumn morning in Basel v2.jpg|thumb|The Rhine in [[Basel]] is Switzerland's gateway to the sea.]]
[[File:Rhein Mainzer Becken stromab von Mainz bei Eltville und Erbach vor Bingen Foto 2008 Wolfgang Pehlemann Wiesbaden IMG 0263.jpg|thumb|View of the Mainz Basin downstreams of Mainz, from Eltville and Erbach to Bingen]]
In the center of Basel, the first major city in the course of the stream, is the [[Rhine knee]], a major bend, where the overall direction of the Rhine changes from west to north. Here the High Rhine ends. Legally, the Central Bridge is the boundary between High and Upper Rhine. The river now flows north as Upper Rhine through the [[Upper Rhine Plain]], which is about 300&nbsp;km long and up to 40&nbsp;km wide. The most important tributaries in this area are the [[Ill (France)|Ill]] below of Strasbourg, the [[Neckar]] in Mannheim and the [[Main (river)|Main]] across from Mainz. In Mainz, the Rhine leaves the Upper Rhine Valley and flows through the Mainz Basin.
[[File:Fähre-Altrip Schiffe.jpg|thumb|The Rhine at [[Mannheim]], in the [[Rhine-Neckar]] industrial area]]
The southern half of the Upper Rhine forms the [[border]] between France ([[Alsace]]) and Germany (Baden-Württemberg). The northern part forms the border between the German states of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] in the west on the one hand, and [[Baden-Württemberg]] and [[Hesse]] on the other hand, in the east and north. A curiosity of this border line is that the parts of the city of [[Mainz]] on the right bank of the Rhine were given to Hesse by the occupying forces in 1945.

The Upper Rhine was a significant cultural landscape in Central Europe already in [[Classical Antiquity|antiquity]] and during the [[Middle Ages]]. Today, the Upper Rhine area hosts many important manufacturing and service industries, particularly in the centers Basel, Strasbourg and Mannheim-Ludwigshafen. Strasbourg is the seat of the [[European Parliament]], and so one of the three European capitals is located on the Upper Rhine.

The Upper Rhine region was changed significantly by a Rhine straightening program in the 19th century. The rate of flow was increased and the ground water level fell significantly. Dead branches were removed by construction workers and the area around the river was made more habitable for humans on [[flood plains]] as the rate of flooding decreased sharply. On the French side, the [[Grand Canal d'Alsace]] was dug, which carries a significant part of the river water, and all of the traffic. In some places, there are large compensation pools, for example, the huge ''Bassin de compensation de [[Plobsheim]]'' in Alsace.

The Upper Rhine has undergone significant human change since the 19th century. While it was slightly modified during the Roman occupation, it was not until the emergence of engineers such as [[Johann Gottfried Tulla]] that significant modernization efforts changed the shape of the river. Earlier work under [[Frederick the Great]] surrounded efforts to ease shipping and construct dams to serve [[coal]] transportation.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|pp=48-49}} Tulla is considered to have domesticated the Upper Rhine, a domestication that served goals such as reducing stagnant [[bogs]] that fostered waterborne diseases, making regions more habitable for human settlement, and reduce high frequency of floods. Not long before Tulla went to work on widening and straightening the river, heavy floods caused significant loss of life.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|p=52}} Four diplomatic treaties were signed among German state governments and French regions dealing with the changes proposed along the Rhine, one was "the Treaty for the Rectification of the Rhine flow from Neuberg to Dettenheim"(1817), which surrounded states such as [[Bourbon France]] and the [[Bavarian Palatinate]]. Loops, [[Meander|oxbows]], branches and islands were removed along the Upper Rhine so that there would be uniformity to the river.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|p=53}} The engineering of the Rhine was not without protest, farmers and fishermen had grave concerns about valuable fishing areas and farmland being lost. While some areas lost ground, other areas saw swamps and bogs be drained and turned into arable land.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|p=54}} Johann Tulla had the goal of shortening and straightening the Upper Rhine. Early engineering projects the Upper Rhine also had issues, with Tulla's project at one part of the river creating rapids, after the Rhine cut down from erosion to sheer rock.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|p=54}} Engineering along the Rhine eased flooding and made transportation along the river less cumbersome. These state projects were part of the advanced and technical progress going on in the country alongside the industrial revolution. For the German state, making the river more predictable was to ensure development projects could easily commence.{{sfn|Cioc|2002|p=56}}

The section of the Upper Rhine downstream from [[Mainz]] is also known as the "Island Rhine". Here a number of [[river island]]s occur, locally known as "Rheinauen".