BINGEN, Germany, town of the grand duchy of Hesse, 17 miles west of Mainz, on the left bank of the Rhine and the right of the Nahe, opposite Rudesheim. It contains a Gothic church dating from the 15th century. The castle of Klopp and the sanctuary of Saint Roch are situated nearby on the Rochusberg. A dangerous passage on the Rhine, called the Bingerloch, has been opened up by the blasting of sunken rocks, leaving a channel of 210 feet wide. On the opposite side of the river rises the Niederwald Dcnkmal, raised to commemo rate the victories of 1870-71. In a neighbor ing castle the Emperor Henry IV was detained aprisoner in 1105, and on a rock in the middle of the river stands the Mausethurm or Mouse tower, the scene of the ancient legend of Arch bishop Hatto, who was devoured by rats in 969. Drusus Bridge. over the Nahe near its mouth was first built by Drusus in 13 B.C. Bingen was a town of the Belgm and here a battle took place in 70 A.D. in which the Ro mans inflicted a defeat on the Gauls. Bingen
came under the rule of the see of Mainz in 1281, was taken and retaken several times dur ing the Thirty Years' War and in 1689 was burned by the French, who blew up the castle_ From 1797 to 1814 it belonged to France and after 1815 was incorporated with Hesse. Bin gen is the market for the salt of wines pro duced in the neighborhood. The principal in dustries are the manufacture of leather, hquors, tobacco, starch, and there is also considerable trade in cattle, grain, coal and iron. The Rhen ish Technical College is situated here. Pop. 9,950.
BINGER, Louis Gustave, French soldier and African explorer: b. 14 Oct. 1856. He made his way from the upper Niger to Grand Bassam in 1N7-89, thus connecting the French possessions with the Ivory Coast. In 1892 he was commissioner of the French gov ernment to settle the Ashanti boundaries with England.