Central European Uplands are various elevated landforms situated in the middle of the European continent where the underlining rock was deformed millions of years ago during the Hercynian collision, a geologic mountain-building event. The sparsely populated landmass spans from western France to northern Austria and includes Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Czechia and portions of northern Switzerland. The well forested highlands are lower in elevation and less jagged than the Alpine mountain systems to the south. Notable features include the Valley of the Rhine, the hilly Ardennes in Belgium and Luxembourg, the Cevennes Gorge and Chaine des Puys mountains of the Massif Central and Lac de Gerardmer in the Vosges mountains in France, the Black Forest and the Taunus Mountains in Germany, the gorges of the Jura Mountains and The Elbsandsteingebirge and Sudetic Mountains in the Bohemian Massif. - AsNotedIn