Editing Wupper (section)

==Hydropower==
From the 15th century, the Wupper and its numerous streams gave birth to hundreds of workshops, mills and factories on their banks. Originally water was used for [[dyeing]], [[bleaching]] and washing canvas and cloth;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.langerfeld.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=68 |title=Cloth Bleaching alongside Wupper River |publisher=Municipality of Wuppertal |access-date=12 January 2011}}</ref> later it was used to power machines or transport waste.

The Wupper thus facilitated the early industrial expansion of [[Wuppertal]] (German for "Wupper Valley") during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. The Wupper Valley was one of the world's first industrialized regions and empowered ''inter alia'' the [[Ruhr]] valley as a coal-mining region.

[[File:Wuppertal Schwebebahn 2005.jpg|right|thumb|220px|The [[suspension railway]] over the Wupper in [[Wuppertal]].]]
[[File:Wupper unter Schwebebahn.jpg|thumb|Wupper under suspension railway.]]