Danube is an international river. It is interesting because it flows through many European states, capitals and large cities are located on its banks. It is the longest river in the European Union.
General information
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe. Its length is 2960 kilometers. Only the Volga is ahead of her in length.
The Danube, the ancient name of which we will give below, begins in the mountains of the Black Forest, in Germany. On the way to the sea, this water flow passes exactly along the border of 10 countries. The very first among them is Germany, then Austria, then the river passes Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, passes through Romania, Moldova and, finally, Ukraine, and then flows into the Black Sea.
Some European capitals are located on this great river - Vienna, Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava. The huge Danube drainage basin covers about 19 more countries.
Flowing into the Black Sea, the river forms a delta onterritories of Romania and Ukraine.
Origin of the name of the river
In the Old Slavonic language, the ancient name of the Danube is Dounav, in Bulgarian - Dunav. Presumably, the Slavs adopted this name from the Goths, who brought it from the Celtic language, where the Danube is translated as "river".
According to the Polish scientist Jan Rozvadovsky, the Slavs used to call the Dnieper the word "Danube". Then they moved to the banks of the described river and transferred the name to it. It is noteworthy that the name of the Don River also has the same translation as the Old Slavonic ancient name of the Danube. Only "don" comes from the word "danu", that is, "water" or "river".
Ancient name for the Danube River
The Danube was mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman sources. So, in the writings of the historian Herodotus, the ancient name of the Danube is mentioned (Book 4). In addition, it tells where this river flows, what features it has. And all this is described with amazing accuracy.
The ancient name of the Danube - 4 letters in total (Istr). True, it is believed that the Greeks called so only the lower course of the river, since the upper course was still unknown to them.
The river Istres begins, according to Herodotus, in the country of the Celts, then flows through all of Europe, dividing it into two parts in the middle. Then, splitting into seven branches, the Istres flows into the Euxine Pont or the Black Sea. According to Strabo, this river flows in the middle of the territory located between the Black and Adriatic Seas and flows into the sea through its 8 mouths nearBorisfen or Dnieper.
The Roman emperor Julius Caesar also mentioned the ancient name of the Danube from 4 letters in his travel records. And the emperor of Rome, Trajan, built the first stone bridge across this river.
Beginning of the river
In the mountains of the Black Forest, near the city of Donaueschingen, the Danube originates. The river is formed at the confluence of two streams - Breg and Brigah - at an altitude of 678 meters above sea level. An interesting feature of the river is that after 30 kilometers from the source, the Danube abruptly goes underground, seeping through the soft limestone rocks of the river valley.
After 12 kilometers to the south there is a well-known Aah key, beating from the ground. It is the most powerful in this country - up to 8.5 tons of water per second flows out of it.
In 1877, it was finally proved that the Aah Key is fed by the Danube water. Especially for this, a large amount of s alt (100 centners) was poured into its upper reaches, and two days later the same s alt was found in the waters of the spring. By the way, during the flood period, the flow of water underground travels the same distance in just 20 hours.
The water flows through a large underground passage to the Wimzen Cave, where it comes out in the Aahsky spring. The height difference between the place where the Danube goes underground and the exit is 185 meters.
River direction
On the way to the sea, the Danube turns its flow several times. At the very beginning in the mountains of Germany, it flows in a southeasterly direction. Then, 2747 kilometers from the mouth (the place where it flows into the Black Sea), the Danube turns to the northeast.
Thus, the river reaches the city of Regensburg, located 2379 kilometers from the mouth. Here is the northernmost part of it. Further, the river changes its direction to the southeast, passes the Vienna Basin. Then 600 kilometers of the waterway runs through the Central Russian Lowland.
The river cuts through the mountains of the Southern Carpathians, passing through the Iron Gate gorge. And 900 kilometers to the Black Sea, the Danube runs through the Lower Danube Lowland.
River Delta
In its lower reaches, the Danube splits into many branches and lakes. The swampy delta stretches 75 kilometers from west to east and is 65 kilometers wide.
The delta begins near Cape Izmail Chetal. After 80 km, the riverbed is divided into the Tulchinskoye and Kiliya branches. Tulchinskoye is then divided into the Sulinsky and Georgievskoe arms. They all fall into the sea separately from each other.
Kiliya arm in Ukraine will be transformed into the Kiliya delta, which has the highest flow rate than others. In general, the Danube Delta is covered by floodplains, they have a large area and are the second largest in Europe after similar landscapes on the Volga. The Danube Biosphere Reserve was created here.
