Ruhr industrial region
Also called: Ruhr · Topic: World Transport and Communication · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"
Meaning
The Ruhr is a river in Germany. It joins the Rhine from the east. It flows through a rich coalfield, and the coal drew iron, steel and other factories into its valley. Over time the basin became a wealthy manufacturing area. Its factories use the Rhine waterway, the world's busiest, to bring in raw materials and to send goods to the North Atlantic sea route.
Example
Duisburg stands where the Ruhr meets the Rhine in western Germany. It is often called Europe's largest inland port, meaning a port on a river rather than on the sea. Dusseldorf, a little further up the Rhine, is the region's other main Rhine port.
Don't confuse with
- Rhine waterway: the main river route, which ships can use for 700 km from Rotterdam to Basel. The Ruhr is only a side river (tributary) of the Rhine and the industrial region around it.
Related concepts
- Rhine waterway
- Danube waterway
- Volga waterway
- Volga-Don Canal
- Great Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway
- Soo Canal
- Welland Canal
- Mississippi-Ohio waterway