​SAUERLAND, a mountainous district of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, between the Sieg and the Ruhr, separated by the former from the Westerwald on the S., and by the latter from the coal formation of Ardey on the N. It is a well-wooded plateau of the Devonian formation, diversified by deep valleys and tracts of heather land. The district is a favourite tourist resort.

See F. W. Grimme, Das Sauerland und seine Bewohner (2nd ed., Paderborn, 1886); Fricke, Der Tourist im Sauerland (Bielefeld, 1892), and Kneebusch, Reiseführer durch das Sauerland (Dortmund, 1809).