Nordhorn is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of the County of Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.

Geography

Place
The town is in southwesternmost Lower Saxony, near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia, on the river Vechte. The nearest major city is Hengelo in the Netherlands, some  southwest of Nordhorn. The nearest German cities are Münster, about  to the southeast, and Osnabrück, about  to the east.

The landscape in and around Nordhorn is marked by the Vechte, the Vechtesee (lake), through which the Vechte flows, and three canals: the Süd-Nord-Kanal, the Nordhorn-Almelo-Kanal and the Ems-Vechte-Kanal.

Extent of the municipal area
Through various combinations the town's area has grown to 14 959 ha, only slightly smaller than the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Neighbouring communities
North of Nordhorn is the town and joint community (Samtgemeinde) both called Neuenhaus, while the communities of Engden and Isterberg are in the south. The town's western limit is also part of Germany's border with the Netherlands.

Constituent communities
Nordhorn is subdivided into 17 quarters ("Stadtteile").

Twin towns – sister cities
Nordhorn is twinned with:
 Coevorden, Netherlands (1963)
 Montivilliers, France (1963)
 Reichenbach im Vogtland, Germany (1987)
 Malbork, Poland (1995)
 Rieti, Italy (2010)

References

Further reading
  (English-French-Dutch-German)
 Heinrich Specht, Bürgerbücher der Stadt Nordhorn von 1396-1913, Nordhorn 1939
 Heinrich Specht, Wappen und Siegel der Stadt Nordhorn, aus Nordhorner Nachrichten Nr. 213, 194 (1941): Ältere Nordhorner Wappenzeichen,
 Alfred Dietrich, Nordhorn - Textilstadt im Grünen, Oldenburg 1966
 Bernd-Andreas Knoop + Jörg-Uwe Seifert, Nordhorn - Gesichter einer Stadt, 1976
 VHS Grafschaft Bentheim (publisher), Nordhorn nach 1945, Nordhorn, 1977
 Heinrich Specht, Nordhorn - Geschichte einer Grenzstadt, Nordhorn 1941; 1979. publisher: Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim.
 Clemens v. Looz-Corswarem + Michael Schmitt (publisher), Nordhorn - Beiträge zur 600 jährigen Stadtgeschichte, 1979
 Bernd-Andreas Knoop + Fritz Schöbel, Das war die Festwoche - 600 Jahre Stadt Nordhorn, 1979
 VHS Grafschaft Bentheim (publisher), 35 Jahre Volkshochschule der Stadt Nordhorn, Bad Bentheim, 1983
 Gerhard Plasger, Nordhorn in alten Ansichten, 1983
 Gerhard Plasger, Nordhorn - Bilder der Vergangenheit, 1986
 VHS Grafschaft Bentheim (publisher), Mühlen und Müller, Nordhorn, 1987
 Wilfried P. Delissen et al., Nordhorn - Spuren und Notizen, Nordhorn 1988
 Herbert Wagner: Militär in der Region, Dokumentation über den Artillerieschieß- und Bombenabwurfplatz Engdener Wüste / Nordhorn - Range, Bad Bentheim, 1989
 neomdedia GmbH (publisher), Nordhorn - Grenzstadt ohne Grenzen, 1989
 VHS Grafschaft Bentheim (publisher), Nordhorn im 3. Reich, Nordhorn, 1991
 Bernd-Andreas Knoop, Das große Buch der Grafschaft, Lage 1994
 VHS Grafschaft Bentheim (publisher), Nordhorn - eine Zeitreise, Nordhorn, 1998
 Schwester M. Willibaldis, St. Augustinus Nordhorn, Nordhorn 2003
 Herbert Wagner: Die Gestapo war nicht allein... Politische Sozialkontrolle und Staatsterror im deutsch - niederländischen Grenzgebiet 1929 - 1945, Münster 2004

Other websites 
  
 

County of Bentheim (district)