Czech Labe ancient Albis
River, central Europe.
One of the continent's major waterways, it rises in the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains on the border of the Czech Republic and Poland and flows southwest across Bohemia. It then flows northwest across Germany and empties into the North Sea near Cuxhaven. From 1945 to 1990 it formed part of the boundary between East and West Germany. It is 724 mi (1,165 km) long and connected by canals with the Baltic Sea , the Havel River and Berlin , the Rhine River . It is navigable for 1,000-ton barges as far upstream as Prague through the Vltava River . Hamburg , Ger., is 55 mi (88 km) upstream from its mouth.