Bingen

Bingen or Bingen am Rhein, city, southwestern Germany, in Rhineland-Palatinate, on the Rhine River. It is a busy port and railroad junction, with plants engaged in wine production and the manufacture of tobacco products. In the vicinity are the Bingerloch, a famous whirlpool in the Rhine River; and the Mäuseturm (Mice Tower), in which, according to legend, Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz, was devoured by mice for wrongdoing. Before the arrival of the Romans, Bingen was a town of the Belgae, a Celtic-speaking people. The Romans fortified the community, and there, in ad70, they inflicted a severe defeat on the Gauls. In 1254 Bingen became a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1689 it was burned by the French, and from 1797 to 1814 the French ruled the city. Population (2005 estimate) 24,800.