The ''Obersee'' ('Upper Lake'), also known as Upper Lake Constance, is the much larger of the two parts of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

, the other part being the '' Untersee'' (). The two parts are separated by the Bodanrück peninsula. The narrow, northwestern branch of ''Obersee'' is also called '' Überlinger See'' ().

Geography

The Obersee has an area of in size and extends for between

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

in the Southeast and Bodman-Ludwigshafen in the Northwest. Its maximum width is . Its main inflow is the Alpine Rhine, with other tributaries being the Dornbirner Ach, Bregenzer Ach, Leiblach,

Argen The Argen is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows into Lake Constance between Kressbronn am Bodensee and Langenargen as the third largest tributary to the lake. It is long; if one includes the Obere Argen and its source river Seele ...

, Schussen, Rotach, Seefelder Aach, Stockacher Aach and Aach. At

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

(Constance), it drains through the '' Seerhein'' into the ''Untersee''. The distinctive, northwestern arm and -large Lake Überlingen ( Standard German of Germany: ''Überlinger See''), named after

Überlingen Überlingen (; ) is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the German-Swiss border, border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second-largest city in the Bodenseek ...

, is part of the Upper Lake Constance, as well as the Bay of Bregenz, and the Constance Hopper. The countries that border the lake are

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, with its cantons of

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

and St. Gallen,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, with its

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, with its

s of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. The exact location of the border between the riparian states within the south-eastern part of ''Obersee'' have never been jointly agreed upon (see

); only the smaller northwestern water of Lake Überlingen is completely within German territory. The southeastern end of the lake borders the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, the

Appenzell Alps The Appenzell Alps () are a mountain range in Switzerland on the northern edge of the Alps. They extend into the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and St. Gallen and are bordered by the Glarus Alps to the west and the Rä ...

of Switzerland and the

Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and the Austrian states of Tyrol (state), Tyrol an ...

of Austria and Germany. A notable mountain with outlook is the

Pfänder The Pfänder is a mountain in western Austria close to Lake Constance (). The city of Bregenz lies at the foot of the mountain on the shores of the lake. With its views over the lake and the surrounding mountain peaks, the Pfänder is one of ...

above Bregenz.

Origin of the name

The Romans called it ''Lacus Venetus'', ''Lacus Brigantinus'' and ''Lacus Constantinus''. In the Middle Ages the dominant term was ''Lacus Bodamicus'', or in German ''Bodensee''. Gradually, this name began to include the Lower Lake (''Lacus Acronius''), so the term "Upper Lake" was introduced for the larger lake.

References

External links

International Bodensee Conference

Bodensee-data of the International Lake Constance Conference
{{Authority control LObersee Geography of Lake Constance Lakes of Baden-Württemberg Lakes of Vorarlberg Lakes of the canton of St. Gallen Lakes of Thurgau Konstanz (district) Bodenseekreis Lindau (district)

Geography

Origin of the name

See also

References

External links