Editing Harz (section)

=== Location and extent ===
[[File:Harz_map.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Map of the Harz mountains]]
[[File:BrockenTopFromWest.jpg|thumb|[[Sender Brocken]] at the summit in winter]]
The Harz has a length of {{Convert|110|km|mi}}, stretching from the town of [[Seesen]] in the northwest to [[Eisleben]] in the east, and a width of {{Convert|35|km|mi}}. It occupies an area of {{Convert|2226|sqkm|sqmi}}, and is divided into the '''[[Upper Harz]]''' (''Oberharz'') in the northwest, which is up to 800 m high, apart from the 1,100 m high Brocken massif, and the '''Lower Harz''' (''Unterharz'') in the east which is up to around 400 m high and whose plateaus are capable of supporting arable farming.

The following districts (''Kreise'') fall wholly or partly within the Harz: [[Landkreis Goslar|Goslar]] and [[Landkreis Göttingen|Göttingen]] in the west, [[Landkreis Harz|Harz]] and [[Landkreis Mansfeld-Südharz|Mansfeld-Südharz]] in the north and east, and [[Landkreis Nordhausen|Nordhausen]] in the south. The districts of the Upper Harz are Goslar and Göttingen (both in Lower Saxony), whilst the Lower Harz is on the territory of  Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz districts (both in Saxony-Anhalt). The Upper Harz is generally higher and features [[fir]] forests, whilst the Lower Harz gradually descends into the surrounding area and has deciduous forests interspersed with meadows.

The dividing line between Upper and Lower Harz follows approximately a line from [[Ilsenburg]] to [[Bad Lauterberg im Harz|Bad Lauterberg]], which roughly separates the catchment areas for the [[Weser]] (Upper Harz) and [[Elbe]] (Lower Harz). Only on the southeastern perimeter of the Upper Harz, which is also called the '''High Harz''' (''Hochharz'') (Goslar, Göttingen and Harz districts), does the mountain range exceed {{Höhe|1000|DE-NN}} on the Brocken massif. Its highest peak is the Brocken (1,141&nbsp;m), its subsidiary peaks are the [[Heinrichshöhe]] (1,044&nbsp;m) to the southeast and the [[Königsberg (Brocken)|Königsberg]] (1,023&nbsp;m) to the southwest. Other prominent hills in the Harz are the Acker-[[Bruchberg]] ridge (927&nbsp;m), the [[Achtermannshöhe]] (925&nbsp;m) and the [[Wurmberg (Harz)|Wurmberg]] (971&nbsp;m) near [[Braunlage]]. In the far east, the mountains merge into the East Harz foothills (Harz district, Saxony-Anhalt), which are dominated by the Selke Valley. Part of the south Harz lies in the Thuringian district of Nordhausen.

The [[Harz National Park]] is located in the Harz; the [[protected area]] covers the Brocken and surrounding wilderness area.
Approximately 600,000 people live in towns and villages of the Harz Mountains.