Editing Ems (river) (section)

==History==
The Ems was known to several ancient authors: [[Pliny the Elder]] in ''Natural History'' (4.14), [[Tacitus]] in the ''Annals'' (Book 1), [[Pomponius Mela]] (3.3), [[Strabo]] and [[Ptolemy]], ''Geography'' (2.10). Ptolemy's name for it was the Amisios potamos, and in [[Latin]] Amisius fluvius. The others used the same, or Amisia, or Amasia or Amasios. The identification is certain, as it always is listed between the [[Rhine]] and the [[Weser]], and was the only river leading to the [[Teutoburg Forest]].

The Amisius flowed from the Teutoburg Forest, home of the [[Cherusci]], with the [[Bructeri]] and others bordering the river. These tribes were among the initial [[Franks]]. The Romans were quite interested in adding them to the empire, and to that end built a fort, Amisia, at the mouth of the Ems. As the river was navigable to their ships, they hoped to use it to access the tribes at its upper end.

Surrounding the river for most of its length, however, were swamps, bogs and marshes. The Romans found they had no place to stand, could not pick the most favourable ground, because there was none, and could not in general follow the strategies and tactics developed by the [[Roman army]]. They were stopped at the [[Battle of Teutoburg Forest]], 9 AD, and were checked again 6 years later. The Ems became a road leading nowhere for them, nor were they ever able to bridge the swamps satisfactorily with causeways.

The Dollart Bay near Emden did not exist until 1277,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goffart |first1=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qex4Pl0YATwC&q=dollart+ems+flood+1277&pg=PA126 |title=Historical Atlases: The First Three Hundred Years, 1570–1870 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2003 |page=126 |isbn=9780226300719 |access-date=2018-09-16 }}</ref> when a catastrophic storm surge flooded 43 parishes and killed an estimated 80,000 people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Suess |first1=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/faceearthdasant00suesgoog |quote=dollart ems flood 1277. |title=The Face of the Earth |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1906 |page=[https://archive.org/details/faceearthdasant00suesgoog/page/n437 417] |access-date=2018-09-16 }}</ref> Most of the land lost in that flood has been reclaimed in a series of initiatives from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. The river in 1277 curved north by Emden, covering the area of the current Emden harbor complex.

Construction of canals in more modern times connected the Ems to other waterways, opening it as a highway of industrial transportation.