300px, The Hoogstraatje in Groningen, the northernmost hill of the Hondsrug The Hondsrug () is a Dutch ridge of sand that is mainly located in the province

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

and partly in the province

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. The spur of the Hondsrug in Groningen has led to the creation of various villages build on

artificial dwelling hill A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides a ...

Adorp Adorp (; ) is a village in the municipality of Het Hogeland, Netherlands. It is located about 6 km north of Groningen. Until 1990, Adorp was a separate municipality, however the seat was in Sauwerd. History Adorp started in the middle ag ...

Sauwerd Sauwerd is a village in the municipality of Het Hogeland, Groningen, Netherlands. Until the local government reorganization of 1990 the village was the head of the former municipality of Adorp. The village of Sauwerd is 7 to 10 kilometers away ...

, Wetsinge, Winsum,

Baflo Baflo (; ) is a village in the municipality of Het Hogeland, Netherlands. Famous people born in Baflo include humanist Rodolphus Agricola (1443/1444–1485) and jurist Gezina van der Molen (1892–1972). Until 1990, Baflo was a separate muni ...

, Rasquert,

Warffum Warffum (Gronings: Waarvum)is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Groningen (province), Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Het Hogeland. It had a population of around 2,175 in January 2017. History The history of Warffum ...

Usquert Usquert is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Het Hogeland Het Hogeland is a municipality in the north of the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Hist ...

, Rottum. The name "''Hondsrug''" would appear to be taken from the Dutch word for "dog" or "hound" (''hond'') and the word for a "back" or "ridge" (''rug''). However, it is more likely a bastardization of the older name ''Hunze-rug'', coming from the name of the

Hunze The Hunze (also Oostermoerse Vaart, Oostermoersche Vaart, Drentsche Diep and Schuyten diep) is a river located in the border area of Drenthe and Groningen, east of the Hondsrug, in the Netherlands. The Hunze used to run through to the Wadden Sea, ...

River, which flows through Drenthe and Groningen. Up until the 19th century the ''Hondsrug'' was also known as the ''Bisschopsrug'', meaning "Bishop's Ridge". The ridge has northwest–southeast orientation, which it shares with some less pronounced parallel ridges. These ridges are generally thought to be

glacial landforms Glacial landforms are landforms created by the action of glaciers. Most of today's glacial landforms were created by the movement of large ice sheets during the Quaternary glaciations. Some areas, like Fennoscandia and the southern Andes, have ...

. It has been debated what kind of landform it should be, suggestions ranging from medial moraines to mega-flutes.

See also