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Danube

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: European Geography

   This article is about the river. For other uses of "Danube", see Danube
   (disambiguation).
   Danube
   The 2850 kmDanube at Budapest

                        The 2850 kmDanube at Budapest

   Origin Black Forest ( Schwarzwald-Baar, Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
   Mouth Black Sea (Romania and Ukraine)
   Basin countries Romania (28.9%), Hungary (11.7%), Austria (10.3%),
   Serbia (10.3% combined), Germany (7.5%), Slovakia (5.8%), Bulgaria
   (5.2%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.8%), Croatia (4.5%), Ukraine (3.8%),
   Czech Republic (2.6%), Slovenia (2.2%), Moldova (1.7%), Switzerland
   (0.32%), Italy (0.15%), Poland (0.09%), Albania (0.03%)
   Length 2,888 km
   Source elevation 1,078 m
   Avg. discharge 30 km before Passau: 580 m³/s
   Vienna: 1,900 m³/s
   Budapest: 2,350 m³/s
   Belgrade: 4,000 m³/s
   just before Delta: 6,500 m³/s
   [Peak discharge at Iron Gate Dam 15,400 m³/s on 13 April 2006.]
   Basin area 801,463 km²

   The Danube (ancient Danuvius, ancient Greek Ἴστρος Istros) is the
   longest river of the European Union and Europe's second-longest (after
   the Volga). It originates in the Black Forest in Germany as two smaller
   rivers—the Brigach and the Breg—which join at Donaueschingen, and it is
   from here that it is known as the Danube, flowing generally eastwards
   for a distance of some 2850 km (1771 miles), passing through several
   Central and Eastern European capitals, before emptying into the Black
   Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania.

   The Danube has been an important international waterway for centuries,
   as it remains today. Known to history as one of the long-standing
   frontiers of the Roman Empire, the river flows through—or forms a part
   of the borders of—ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary,
   Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine; in addition,
   the drainage basin includes parts of ten more countries: Italy, Poland,
   Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
   Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, and Albania.

   The names of the river (German: Donau, Slovak: Dunaj, Albanian: Danubi,
   Polish: Dunaj, Hungarian: Duna, Croatian: Dunav, Serbian: Дунав /
   Dunav, Bulgarian: Дунав (Dunav), Romanian: Dunăre, Ukrainian: Дунай
   (Dunay), Italian: Danubio, Latin: Danuvius, modern Greek: Δούναβης,
   Turkish: Tuna, Slovene: Donava, local Yiddish: Duner - דונער and Tine -
   טינע) are all ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European *dānu,
   meaning "river" or "stream". Still nowadays don in Ossetic language
   means both "water" and "river". Other major European river names with
   this Indo-European root for "stream" include the Donets, Dnieper,
   Dniester, the Don River, Russia and the River Don, England.

Geography

Tributaries

   The confluence of the Sava into the Danube at Belgrade. The river to
   the left is Sava. The land to the right of the picture is the "Veliko
   Ratno Ostrvo" island in the Danube.
   Enlarge
   The confluence of the Sava into the Danube at Belgrade. The river to
   the left is Sava. The land to the right of the picture is the "Veliko
   Ratno Ostrvo" island in the Danube.

   The Danube's tributary rivers reach into ten other countries. Some
   Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable
   by barges and river boats of shallow draught. Ordered from source to
   mouth, the main tributaries are:

          Iller - Lech - Regen (entering at Regensburg) - Isar - Inn
          (entering at Passau) - Enns - Morava - Leitha - Váh (entering at
          Komárno) - Hron - Ipel - Sió - Drava - Vuka - Tisza - Sava
          (entering at Belgrade) - Tamiš - Velika Morava - Caraş - Jiu -
          Iskar - Olt - Vedea - Argeş - Ialomiţa - Siret - Prut

Cities

   The Danube Bend at Visegrád (Hungary) is a popular destination of
   tourists
   Enlarge
   The Danube Bend at Visegrád ( Hungary) is a popular destination of
   tourists

   The Danube flows through the following major cities:
     * Ulm - Germany
     * Ingolstadt - Germany
     * Regensburg - Germany, capital of Upper Palatinate
     * Passau - Germany
     * Linz - Austria, capital of Upper Austria
     * Krems - Austria
     * Vienna - capital of Austria, where the Danube floodplain is called
       the Lobau
     * Bratislava - capital of Slovakia
     * Komárno - Slovakia
     * Komárom - Hungary
     * Esztergom - Hungary
     * Visegrád - Hungary
     * Budapest - capital of Hungary
     * Baja - Hungary
     * Vukovar - Croatia
     * Bačka Palanka - city in Serbian province of Vojvodina
     * Novi Sad - capital of the Serbian province of Vojvodina
     * Belgrade - the capital of Serbia
     * Smederevo - Serbia
     * Drobeta-Turnu Severin - Romania
     * Vidin - Bulgaria
     * Lom - Bulgaria
     * Rousse - Bulgaria
     * Călăraşi - Romania
     * Silistra - Bulgaria
     * Brăila - Romania
     * Galaţi - Romania
     * Tulcea - Romania
     * Sulina - Romania
     * Izmail - Ukraine

Modern navigation

   The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to Brăila in
   Romania and by river ships to Kelheim, Bavaria; smaller craft can
   navigate further upstream to Ulm, in Germany. About 60 of its
   tributaries are also navigable.
   The Iron Gate, on the Romanian-Serbian border
   Enlarge
   The Iron Gate, on the Romanian-Serbian border

   Since the construction of the German Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in 1992,
   the river has been part of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on
   the North Sea to Sulina on the Black Sea (3500 km). In 1994 the Danube
   was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in
   Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the
   following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the
   Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport
   on the river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of 3 bridges in
   Serbia. The clearance of the debris was finished in 2002. The temporary
   pontoon bridge that hampered navigation was finally removed in 2005.

   At the Iron Gate, the Danube flows through a gorge that forms part of
   the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains the hydroelectric
   Iron Gate I dam, followed at about 60 km downstream (outside the gorge)
   by the Iron Gate ll dam.

   There are three artificial waterways built on the Danube: the
   Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal (DTD) in the Banat and Bačka regions (
   Vojvodina, northern province of Serbia); the 64 km Danube-Black Sea
   Canal, between Cernavodă and Constanţa (Romania) finished in 1984,
   shortens the distance to the Black Sea by 400 km; the Rhine-Main-Danube
   Canal (about 171 km), finished in 1992, linking the North Sea to the
   Black Sea.

The Danube delta

   The Danube Delta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991. Its
   wetlands (on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance)
   support vast flocks of migratory birds, including the endangered Pygmy
   Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus). Rival canalization and drainage
   scheme threaten the delta: see Bastroe Channel.

Geology

   A map showing the Danube
   Enlarge
   A map showing the Danube

   Although the headwaters of the Danube are relatively small today,
   geologically, the Danube is much older than the Rhine, with which its
   catchment area competes in today's southern Germany. This has a few
   interesting geological complications. Since the Rhine is the only river
   rising in the Alps mountains which flows north towards the North Sea,
   an invisible line divides large parts of southern Germany, which is
   sometimes referred to as the European Watershed.

   However, before the last ice age in the Pleistocene, the Rhine started
   at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the
   Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the so-called
   Urdonau (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which was
   much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless)
   canyons in today's landscape of the Swabian Alb. After the Upper Rhine
   Valley had been eroded, most waters from the Alps changed their
   direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is but a
   meek reflection of the ancient one.

   Since the Swabian Alb is largely shaped of porous limestone, and since
   the Rhine's level is much lower than the Danube's, today subsurface
   rivers carry much water from the Danube to the Rhine. On many days in
   the summer, when the Danube carries little water, it completely oozes
   away noisily into these underground channels at two locations in the
   Swabian Alp, which are referred to as the Donauversickerung ( Danube
   Sink). Most of this water resurfaces only 12 km south at the Aachtopf,
   Germany's wellspring with the highest flow, an average of 8500 liters
   per second, north of Lake Constance—thus feeding the Rhine. The
   European Water Divide thus in fact only applies for those waters that
   pass beyond this point, and only during the days of the year when the
   Danube carries enough water to survive the sink holes in the
   Donauversickerung.

   Since this enormous amount of underground water erodes much of its
   surrounding limestone, it is estimated that the Danube upper course
   will one day disappear entirely in favour of the Rhine, an event called
   stream capturing.

Human history

   Danube in Ulm, where it separates Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm
                                                               in Bavaria.
                                                                   Enlarge
   Danube in Ulm, where it separates Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm
                                                               in Bavaria.

   At Esztergom and Štúrovo, the Danube separates Hungary from Slovakia.
                                                                   Enlarge
   At Esztergom and Štúrovo, the Danube separates Hungary from Slovakia.

                                                   River Danube in Vienna.
                                                                   Enlarge
                                                   River Danube in Vienna.

                     The Danube between Belene and Belene Island, Bulgaria
                                                                   Enlarge
                     The Danube between Belene and Belene Island, Bulgaria

          A look upstream from the Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria during an
    unusually cold winter (February 2006). A frozen Danube is a phenomenon
                   experienced only once or twice in a lifetime. (Details)
                                                                   Enlarge
          A look upstream from the Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria during an
    unusually cold winter (February 2006). A frozen Danube is a phenomenon
                   experienced only once or twice in a lifetime. (Details)

        Bratislava doesn't usually experience major floods, but the Danube
                                       sometimes overflows its right bank.
                                                                   Enlarge
        Bratislava doesn't usually experience major floods, but the Danube
                                       sometimes overflows its right bank.

   The Danube basin contains sites of the earliest human cultures: the
   Danubian Neolithic cultures include the Linear Pottery Cultures of the
   mid-Danube basin (see also Linear Ceramic culture) The Vucedol culture
   (from site Vucedol near Vukovar, Croatia) of the third millennium BC is
   famous for their ceramics. Later, many sites of the Vinca culture are
   sited along the Danube. The river was part of the Roman empire's Limes
   Germanicus.

   Of importance for the Danube is also the International Commission for
   the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). The ICPDR is an
   international organisation consisting of 13 member states (Germany,
   Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia
   and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine) and the
   European Union. ICPDR, established in 1998, deals not only with the
   Danube itself, but with the whole Danube River Basin, which includes
   also its tributaries and the ground water resources. The goal of the
   ICPDR is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention, promoting
   and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including
   conservation, improvement and rational use of waters for the benefit of
   the Danube River Basin countries and their people.

   Noted horror writer Algernon Blackwood's most famous short story, "The
   Willows" concerned a trip down the Danube.

Cultural significance

   The Danube is mentioned in the title of a famous waltz by Austrian
   composer Johann Strauss, An der schönen, blauen Donau (By the Beautiful
   Blue Danube). This song was composed as Strauss was travelling down the
   Danube River. This song is well known across the world and is also used
   widely as a lullaby.

   Another famous waltz about the Danube is The Waves of the Danube (
   Romanian: Valurile Dunării) by the Romanian composer Ion Ivanovici
   (1845–1902), and the work took the audience by storm when performed at
   the 1889 Paris Exposition.

   The German tradition of landscape painting, the Danube school, was
   developed in the Danube valley in the 16th century.

   The most famous book describing the Danube might be Claudio Magris's
   masterpiece Danube ( ISBN 1-86046-823-3).

   The river is the subject of the film The Ister (official site here).

   Parts of the German road movie Im Juli take place along the Danube.

Economics of the Danube

Drinking water

   Along its path, the Danube is a source of drinking water for about ten
   million people. In Baden-Württemberg, Germany, almost thirty percent (
   as of 2004) of the water for the area between Stuttgart, Bad
   Mergentheim, Aalen and Alb-Donau (district) comes from purified water
   of the Danube. Other cities like Ulm and Passau also use some water
   from the Danube.

   In Austria and Hungary, most water comes from ground and spring
   sources, and only in rare cases is water from the Danube used. Most
   states also find it too difficult to clean the water because of
   extensive pollution; only parts of Romania where the water is cleaner
   still use a lot of drinking water from the Danube.

Navigation and transport

   As "Corridor VII" of the European Union, the Danube is an important
   transport route. Since the opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, the
   river connects the Black Sea with the industrial centers of Western
   Europe and with the Port of Rotterdam. The waterway is designed for
   large scale inland vessels (110 by 11,45 meters) but it can carry much
   larger vessels on most of its course. The Danube has been partly
   canalized in Germany (5 locks) and Austria (10 locks). Further
   proposals to build a number of new locks in order to improve navigation
   have not progressed, due in part to environmental concerns.

   Downstream from the Freudenau Locks in Vienna, canalization of the
   Danube was limited to the Gabčíkovo dam and locks near Bratislava and
   the two double Iron Gate locks in the border stretch of the Danube
   between Serbia and Romania. These locks have larger dimensions (similar
   to the locks in the Russian Volga river, some 300 by over 30 meters).
   Downstream of the Iron Gate, the river is free flowing all the way to
   the Black Sea, a distance of more than 860 kilometers.

   The Danube connects with the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal at Kelheim, and
   with the Wiener Donaukanal in Vienna. Apart from a couple of secondary
   navigable branches, the only major navigable rivers linked to the
   Danube are the Drava, Sava and Tisza. In Serbia, a canal network also
   connects to the river; the network, known as the Dunav-Tisa-Dunav
   canals, links sections downstream.

Fishing

   The importance of fishing on the Danube, which used to be critical in
   the Middle Ages, has declined dramatically. Some fishermen are still
   active at certain points on the river, and the Danube Delta still has
   an important industry.

   Important tourist and natural spots along the Danube, including the
   Wachau valley, the Nationalpark Donau-Auen in Austria, the Naturpark
   Obere Donau in Germany, Kopački rit in Croatia, Iron Gates (Danube
   Gorge) and Danube Delta in Romania.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
