What is "ourthe"

The Ourthe ( Walloon: Aiwe d' Oûte) is a long river in the Ardennes in Wallonia ( Belgium). It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The Ourthe is formed at the confluence of the Ourthe Occidentale (Western Ourthe) and the Ourthe Orientale (Eastern Ourthe), west of Houffalize.

The source of the Ourthe Occidentale is near Libramont-Chevigny, in the Belgian province Luxembourg. The source of the Ourthe Orientale is near Gouvy, also in the Belgian province Luxembourg, close to the border with Luxembourg.

After the confluence of the two Ourthes near Nisramont, the Ourthe flows roughly in north-west and later in northern direction. Near Noiseux it flows for a short distance through the province of Namur. After the municipality of Durbuy it flows in the province of Liège. Eventually it flows into the river Meuse in the city of Liège. The most important tributaries of the river Ourthe are the Amblève and the Vesdre. Towns along the Ourthe are Houffalize (Ourthe Orientale), La Roche-en-Ardenne, Hotton, Durbuy, Hamoir and Esneux.

Ourthe was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany and Belgium, at the time written as Ourte by French officials. It was named after the river Ourthe. Its territory corresponded more or less with that of the present-day Belgian province of Liège and a small adjacent region in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

The department was formed when the Southern Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine were occupied by the French around 1795. Before the occupation, its territory was divided among the bishopric of Liège, the abbacy of Stavelot- Malmedy, the duchies of Limburg, Luxembourg and Brabant, and the county of Namur. Its capital was Liège.

The department was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons (situation in 1812):

• Liège, cantons: Dalhem, Fléron, Glons, Herve, Hollogne-aux-Pierres, Liège (4 cantons), Louveigné, Seraing and Waremme.
• Huy, cantons: Avennes, Bodegnée, Ferrières, Héron, Huy, Landen and Nandrin.
• Malmedy, cantons: Aubel, Eupen, Kronenburg, Limbourg, Malmedy, Sankt Vith, Schleiden, Spa, Stavelot, Verviers and Vielsalm.

Its population in 1812 was 352,264, and its area was 435,754 hectares.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, most of the department became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as the province of Liège. The easternmost part ( Eupen, Malmedy, Sankt Vith, Kronenburg, Schleiden) became part of the Prussian Rhine Province; part of this (Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt Vith) was taken back into Liège province after the First World War, under the Treaty of Versailles.