Editing Minden (section)

=== Location ===
[[File:Falk Oberdorf Minden Topographie.PNG|thumb|Topography of the Minden area]]
[[File:Wasserstrassenkreuz Minden.jpg|thumb|[[Mittelland Canal]] crossing the [[Weser]]]]
[[File:Minden subdivisions.svg|thumb|The quarters of Minden]]
Minden is a town in the northeastern part of the [[States of Germany|German federal state]] of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]. The town is crossed by the [[River Weser|Weser]] flowing north. The town centre lies on a plateau on the western side of the river {{convert|5|km|0|abbr=off}} north of the [[Porta Westfalica (gorge)|Porta Westfalica gap]] between the ridges of the [[Weser Hills]] and [[Wiehen Hills]], where the Weser leaves the [[Weser Uplands]] and flows into the [[North German Plain]]. The small Bastau stream flows into the Weser from the west near the town centre. The edge of the plateau marks the transition from the [[Middle Weser Valley]] to the [[Lübbecke Loessland]], divides the upper town from the lower town, and marks the boundary between two ecological zones.

In the frame of [[Natural regions of Germany]], the western part of Minden belongs to a sequence of geomorphological units (from south to north): the Wiehen Hills, the Lübbecke Loessland, therein the Bastau depression, and the [[Dümmer Geest Lowland]]. The eastern part lies in the [[Middle Weser Valley]] depression.

Crossing the Weser valley was once favoured by a [[ford (crossing)|ford]] with a break in the middle; there its [[meander]] touches the western edge of the valley, the eastern [[floodplain]] is usually flood-meadow, so that the central [[bridgehead]] ({{lang|de|Brückenkopf}}) becomes a [[river island]]. Today a system of two bridges crosses the valley.

The Mittelland Canal connecting the river systems of [[Ems (river)|Ems]], Weser and [[Elbe]] traverses the town from west to east. These waterways cross in the northern area of the town at the [[Minden Aqueduct]] ({{lang|de|Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden}}).

The Weser leaves the Minden area at its lowest part in the quarter of Leteln, at {{convert|40|m|0|abbr=off}}, while the highest part is the top of ''Häverstädter Berg'' with {{convert|272|m|0|abbr=off}}, at the edge of the Wiehen Hills in the quarter of Haddenhausen. The altitude of the town is given officially as {{convert|42.2|m|1|abbr=off}}, based on the elevation of the town hall.

The town covers an area of {{convert|101.12|km2|2|abbr=out}}. It extends {{convert|13.1|km|1|abbr=in}} from north to south and {{convert|14.1|km|0|abbr=on}} from east to west.

Minden is {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=off}} northeast of [[Bielefeld]], {{convert|60|km|mi|abbr=in}} west of [[Hanover]], {{convert|80|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Bremen]] and {{convert|60|km|mi|abbr=on}} east of [[Osnabrück]].