TheSüder Uplands[1] (German:Süderbergland, sometimesSüdergebirge i.e. Süder Hills), form a major natural region (no. 33 or D38) of theRhenish Massif in the German states ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia and northwesternHesse. They correspond roughly to the historic regions of theSauerland,Bergisches Land,Siegerland andWittgenstein Land in NRW as well as theUpland and the extreme northwest of theHinterland in Hesse.
The uplands include several mountain and hill ranges that are commonly referred to as the Sauerland:
In listing these ranges theBergisches Land with its 519 m high peak ofHomert (Oberbergischer Kreis) is often counted. However these are foothills of the Ebbe Mountains, whilst the historic Bergisches Land lies on the slopes of the Süder Uplands as they gradually descend to the Rhine.
In a similar way the highest elevations of the historic Siegerland (such as the 678 m highRiemen) are not in the natural region ofSiegerland (see major landscape units), but in the Rothaar Mountains. And the 633-metre-highAlte Burg lies geographically in the Siegerland, but is not the highest elevation of an independent ridge. Rather, it is part of the Siegerland Rothaar Foothills (Siegerländer Rothaar-Vorhöhen), which form the western slopes of the Rothaar Mountains.
TheHessian Upland in turn is part of the Rothaar Mountains forming the eastern edge of the range.
