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The effects of rivers on the regions through which they flow tend to alternate between trends toward unifying the regions culturally and politically and making a political boundary of the river. Of this phenomenon the Rhine is a classic example. During prehistoric times the same culture groups existed on both banks; similarly, in early historic times Germanic tribes settled on either side of its lower and Celts alongside its upper course. Although bridged and crossed by Julius Caesar in 55 and 53 bc, the Rhine became for the first time, along its course from Lake Constance to its mouth at Lugdunum Batavorum (Leiden, Neth.), a political boundary—that of Roman Gaul. This division did not endure for long, because under the emperor Augustus the provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior were established on the other side of the Rhine, and south of Bonna (Bonn) the boundary of the Roman Empire was marked by the limes (Roman fortified frontier) well east of the river. Nevertheless, because the Rhine had been the boundary of Gaul for a time, it resulted in later claims by France, esteeming itself the successor to Gaul, to the Rhine as its natural boundary. ... (200 of 3,357 words)History