River Ruhr, an important tributary of the lower Rhine, rises on the north side of Winterberg and flows 235km west past Witten (the head of navigation), Essen, and Mülheim to enter the Rhine at Duisburg. Its functions chiefly as a supplier of water and is dammed in many places to form lakes and reservoirs. Nearby canals carry the bulk of the water traffic. The river has given its name to one of the world’s largest single industrial regions.
Although the Ruhrgebiet, or Ruhr, isn't strictly an administrative entity, it is geographically defined as extending from the left bank of the Rhine east to Hamm and from the Ruhr River north to the Lippe; a wider definition would include the Rhine River cities of Krefeld and Düsseldorf and the urban belt extending eastward from Düsseldorf through Wuppertal to Hagen. This is Germany’s most densely populated region. The Ruhr coalfield is one of the world’s largest, producing the bulk of Germany’s bituminous coal.
Steel production and diversified chemical manufacturing constitute the other basic industries of the region. Although settlement in the area dates back to the Paleolithic period and coal mining to before the Middle Ages, the Ruhr’s industrial importance dates from the early 19th century, when the Krupp and Thyssen firms started large-scale coal mining and steel production. Seen on a map, the Ruhr could be considered a single city, since there are no visible breaks between the individual city boroughs.
About the stamps
The first stamp belong to the set Blumen, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of the series German lighthouses, about which I wrote here.
References
Ruhr - Wikipedia
Ruhr - Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sender: Susanne / Duesseljin (postcrossing) DE-5532391
and the German postcrossers who participated to the Postcrossing meet-up which held on board a ship on the River Ruhr on September 3, 2016
Sent from Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westphalia / Germany), on 04.09.2016
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