Jade Bight

The Jade Bight (or Jade Bay;German: Jadebusen) is a bight or bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as Jade or Jahde. Because of the very little input of freshwater, it is classified as not an estuary but a bay.

Intrusion of the sea

About 180 km² (70 mi²) in area, the Jade was largely created by storm floods during the 13th and 16th centuries. Since the early 14th century, it has joined eastward to the estuary of river Weser. For some time, there were three permanent connecting branches and one flood bed between the river and the bight, forming an estuarine delta. The first of these junctions was closed in 1450 by dikes, the last one in 1515. However, it took more than a century, for most of the area flooded by these connections to be regained for pasture and arable land.

In the west, the Jade extended far into the Frisian peninsula. From the early 16th century, a number of dikes were built against the storm floods and to gain arable land. The main dike, Ellenser Damm, was built between 1596 and 1615 by the County of Oldenburg before the agreement with the objecting County of East Frisia was finished successfully.

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