The Oberwälder Land is a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

in the extreme east of the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

with small elements parts in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

and

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. It consists of

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Mid ...

upland, heavily dissected by the Nethe and its tributaries, between the

Eggegebirge The Egge Hills (german: Eggegebirge, ), or just the Egge (''die Egge'') is a range of forested hills, up to , in the east of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography The Egge extends from the southern tip of the Teutoburg Forest ra ...

to the west, the

Lippe Uplands The Lippe Uplands (german: Lipper Bergland, , or ''Lippisches Bergland'') is a range of hills in Ostwestfalen-Lippe within the administrative district of Detmold in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography The Lippe Uplands are part ...

to the north, the Weser Valley around Holzminden to the east, the

West Hesse Depression The West Hesse Depression (german: Westhessische Senke) is part of the West Hesse Highlands and Lowlands region in the north of the German state of Hesse. Like the East Hesse Depression, it is a series of separate depressions that form a natural c ...

to the southeast and the Warburg Börde to the south. This natural region is part of the upper

Weser Uplands The Weser Uplands (German: ''Weserbergland'', ) is a hill region in Germany, between Hannoversch Münden and Porta Westfalica, along the river Weser. The area reaches into three states, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Important ...

and hence the German

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...

Political division

The Oberwälder Land lies predominantly in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of

Höxter Höxter () is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the left bank of the river Weser, 52 km north of Kassel in the centre of the Weser Uplands. The main town's population is around 15,000, and with outlying centres, about 30,0 ...

. This includes the borough of Brakel in the centre as well significant parts of

Nieheim Nieheim () is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Historical names of Nieheim are: Nihem, Nyem, and Nym. The town covers an area of about 80 km2 and has about 6,250 inhabitants. Geography Nieheim lies roughly 10& ...

, Beverungen,

and

Willebadessen Willebadessen is a town in Höxter district and Detmold region in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Willebadessen lies on the eastern edge of the Eggegebirge (the southern extension of the Teutoburg Forest) about 25 km ...

. The latter is also true of the Hessian town of Liebenau and to a lesser extent of Polle in Lower Saxony. The name derives from the time of the

Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn The Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn (german: Fürstbistum Paderborn; Hochstift Paderborn) was an ecclesiastical principality ( Hochstift) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1281 to 1802. History The Diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by Pop ...

, when there was an ''Oberwaldischer Distrikt'' as an administrative unit. ''Oberwaldisch'' meant situated beyond the

(as seen from the town of Paderborn).

Natural features

The deep, sunken Weser valley to the east necessitates a very steep descent for the streams of the Oberwälder Land, which cut deeply into the soft limestone as a result. There are numerous 'box-shaped' valleys which, in the west, flow towards the flat Nethe depression around Brakel, and, in the east, run directly to the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

and lie at a height of about 150 m NN. The heavily dissected uplands reach heights of up to 350 m and, in places, their slopes descend in steep steps. As one would expect from the underlying rocks, much of the soil contains high levels of calcium carbonate. The region has a

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

, but the individual

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

s vary according to height above sea level. The average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is between 750 and 900 mm. The predominant natural woodland habitat is the beech wood.

Human utilisation

The greater part of the landscape is given over to

arable farming Arable land (from the la, wikt:arabilis#Latin, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Al ...

;

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

is only found on the wetter, wider valley floors.

Literature

* Emil Meynen (Hrsg.): Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands. Selbstverlag der Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen 1953-1962 (Teil 1, enthält Lieferung 1-5), ISBN B0000BJ19E

External links

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Landscape fact file {{DEFAULTSORT:Oberwalder Land Geography of Lower Saxony Regions of North Rhine-Westphalia Central Uplands Geography of North Rhine-Westphalia Regions of Hesse Natural regions of the Upper Weser Uplands, !