DANUBE RIVER

The Danube River basin and its drainage network. German Donau, Slovak Dunaj, Hungarian Duna, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian Dunav, Romanian Dunarea, Ukrainian Dunay, river of Europe, the second longest river after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 1,770 miles (2,850 kilometres) to its mouth on the Black Sea. Along its course, it passes through nine countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria , Romania, and Ukraine. The Danube played a vital role in the settlement and political evolution of central and southeastern Europe. Its banks, lined with castles and fortresses, formed the boundary between great empires, and its waters served as a vital commercial highway between nations. The river's majesty has long been celebrated in music. The famous waltz An der schnen, blauen Donau (1867; The Blue Danube), by Johann Strauss the Younger, became the symbol of imperial Vienna. In the 20th century the river has continued its role as an important trade artery. It has been harnessed for hydroelectric power, particularly along the upper courses, and the cities along its banksincluding the national capitals of Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), and Belgrade (Yugoslavia)have depended upon it for their economic growth. Central Budapest, looking north along the Danube River, with the Parliament Building on the east German Donau, Slovak Dunaj, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian Dunav, Romanian Dunarea, Russian Dunay river of Europe, second longest after the Volga, rising in the Black Forest of Germany; it flows for approximately 1,770 miles (2,850 km) through the southeastern portion of the continent to the Black Sea. During its course the river flows along or through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova. The Danube basin covers an area of 315,000 square miles (817,000 square km); approximately 56 percent of this is drained by its right bank tributaries, which collect their waters from the Alps and other mountainous areas. Its average annual discharge is 227,000 cubic feet per second (6,430 cubic metres per second). The Danube begins as two small springsthe Breg and the Brigachthat emerge from the eastern slopes of the Black Forest mountains. The headstreams unite at Donaueschingen, and the river flows northeastward in a narrow, rocky bed. Between Ingolstadt and Regensburg the Danube forms a scenic, canyonlike valley on the left side. Located to the right of the river's course is the Bavarian Plateau, which is covered with thick layers of river deposits from the Alpine tributaries. The Danube reaches its northernmost point at Regensburg, then it veers to the southeast through Passau and into Austria, where it cuts into the slopes of the Bohemian Forest and forms a narrow valley. After flowing through Vienna, the Danube enters the Little Alfold plain immediately after its emergence from the Hungarian Gates Gorge near Bratislava, Slovakia. The river in this area is characterized by low banks and a riverbed that reaches a width of more than 1 mile (1.6 km). East of Komrno the Danube enters the Visegrd Gorge, squeezed between the foothills of the Western Carpathian and the Hungarian Transdanubian mountains . The river flows southward past Budapest and across the vast Great Alfold plain and then eastward past Belgrade until it reaches the Iron Gate Gorge, the site of a major hydroelectric and navigation development. In this long stretch the river takes on the waters of its major tributaries: the Drava, the Tisza, and the Sava. Beyond the Iron Gate the lower Danube flows across a wide plain, running between the tableland of the Danubian Plain of Bulgaria (south) and the Romanian Plain (north). Entering Romania west of Calarasi, it flows northeastward until, at Rasovar, the river heads northward toward Galati, where it veers abruptly to the east. Near Tulcea it begins to spread out into its delta. Here the Danube splits into three channels that make their way to the Black Sea some 50 miles (80 km) further east. The lower Danube is a major avenue for freight transport, and in its upper course it is an important source of hydroelectricity. The Main-Danube Canal (q.v.) runs for 106 miles (171 km) between Kelheim on the Danube and Bamberg on the Main River, permitting traffic to flow between the North Sea and the Black Sea. Construction of the canal was completed in 1992. Additional reading Josef Breu, Atlas of the Danubian Countries, 11 issues in 2 vol. (197089), is a comprehensive, multilingual source on the Danube region's geography. Much of the literature in English on the Danube itself consists of descriptive works based on travel experiences, such as Patrick Leigh Fermor, Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople from the Hook of Holland: The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates (1986); and Claudio Magris, Danube (1989; originally published in Italian, 1986). Navigation of the river and its influence on the economic development of the region are surveyed in J.P. Chamberlain, The Regime of the International Rivers: Danube and Rhine (1923, reprinted 1968); while Stephen Gorove, Law and Politics of the Danube (1964), discusses the regulations of navigation and the river's international importance. A number of works survey the region's long historical significance, including Emil Lengyel, The Danube (1939); Joseph Wechsberg, The Danube: 2000 Years of History, Myth, and Legend (1979); and Spiridon G. Focas, The Lower Danube River in the Southeastern European Political and Economic Complex from Antiquity to the Conference of Belgrade of 1948, trans. from Romanian (1987). Peter Georgiev Pencev