
The Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald, pronounced [ˈʃvaʁt͡svald]) is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft). The region is almost rectangular with a length of 160 km (99 mi) and breadth of up to 60 km (37 mi). The name Schwarzwald (German for “Black Forest”) derives from the Romans who referred to the thickly forested mountains there as Silva Nigra[citation needed] (Latin for “Black Forest”) because the dense growth of conifers in the forest blocked out most of the light inside the forest.