The Ems is a river in northwestern Germany. It runs through the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Its total length is 371 km.
The source of the river is located in the southern Teutoburg Forest in North Rhine-Westphalia. In Lower Saxony the brook becomes a comparatively large river. Here the swampy region of Emsland is named after the river. In Meppen the Ems is joined by its largest tributary, the Hase river. It now runs northwards, close to the Dutch border, into Ostfriesland ("Eastern Frisia"). At Emden it runs into a bay of the North Sea called the Dollart.\n