Inde

The Inde is a small river in Belgium and Germany, left tributary of the Rur. It has its source near Raeren in Eastern Belgium, runs through Aachen-Kornelimünster, Eschweiler and Inden, and flows into the river Rur near Jülich. Because of lignite opencast mining, it has been diverted in 2003 near to Inden-Lamersdorf.

The brooks Omerbach, Otterbach, Saubach, Vichtbach and Wehebach flow into the Inde.

Its name is of Celtic origin: Inda. The Inde has a counterpart, a "small Inde", in France: the Andelle, which is a 55 km long river in the French département Seine-Maritime and whose original name was Indella. The suffix -ella is an example for Celtic river names comparing for instance Mosella (= Moselle, i.e. "small Mosa (= Maas)"). For the name "Inde", the Indoeuropean stem *wed (= water) is supposed, like in words like Italian "onda" and French "onde" (= wave).

The river Inde acquired historical importance, when Emperor Louis the Pious founded the monastery of Kornelimünster at one of its old passages in 815.