The Danube is an international river. It is interesting in that it flows through many European countries, on its banks there are capitals and large cities. It is the longest river in the European Union.
general information
The Danube River is the second largest in Europe. Its length is 2960 kilometers. Only the Volga is ahead of her in length.
The Danube, the ancient name of which we give below, begins in the Black Forest mountains, in Germany. On the way to the sea, this water stream passes exactly along the border of 10 countries. The very first among them is Germany, then Austria, then the river passes through Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, passes through Romania, Moldova and, finally, Ukraine, and then flows into the Black Sea.
On this great river are some European capitals - Vienna, Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava. The huge Danube catchment basin spans another 19 countries.
Falling into the Black Sea, the river forms a delta in Romania and Ukraine.
The origin of the name of the river
In the Old Slavonic language, the ancient name of the Danube is Dounav, in Bulgarian - Dunav. Presumably, this name was adopted by the Slavs from the Goths, who brought it from the Celtic language, where the Danube is translated as “river”.
According to the Polish scientist Jan Rozwadowski, 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 ancient Slavic name of the Danube. Only "don" comes from the word "danu", that is, "water" or "river".
The ancient name of 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 (4th book). In addition, it tells where this river flows, what its features are. And all this is described with amazing accuracy.
The ancient name of the Danube is 4 letters in total (Istr). True, it is believed that the Greeks so called only the lower reaches of the river, since the upper was still unknown to them.
The river Istra begins , according to Herodotus, in the country of the Celts, then flows through the whole of Europe, in the middle dividing it into two parts. Then, dissecting into seven arms, Istra flows into the Euxinous Pontus 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 estuaries not far from Borisfen or the Dnieper.
The Roman emperor Julius Caesar also mentioned the 4-letter Danube ancient name in his field notes. And the emperor of Rome Traian built the first stone bridge over this river.
Beginning of the river
In the Black Forest mountains, near the town of Donaueschingen, the Danube originates. The river is formed at the confluence of two streams - Breg and Brigach - at an altitude of 678 meters above sea level. An interesting feature of the river is that 30 kilometers from the source the Danube abruptly goes underground, seeping through the soft calcareous rocks of the river valley.
12 kilometers to the south is the famous Aakhi spring, which is beating out of the ground. It is the most powerful in this country - up to 8.5 tons of water per second flows from it.
In 1877, it was finally proved that the Aah key is fueled by the water of the Danube. Especially for this, a large amount of salt (100 centners) was poured in its upper course, and two days later the same salt was found in the waters of the spring. By the way, during the flood period, the flow of water underground passes the same distance in just 20 hours.
In a large underground passage, water flows to the Wimzen cave, where it exits in the Aakh key. The difference in elevation 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 stream several times. At the very beginning in the mountains of Germany, it flows in a southeast direction. Then, at 2747 kilometers from the mouth (the confluence of 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 its northernmost section. Then the river changes its direction to the southeast, passes the Vienna Basin. Then 600 kilometers of the water artery passes through the Central Russian Lowland.
The river cuts through the South Carpathian mountains, passing through the Iron Gate gorge. And 900 kilometers to the Black Sea, the Danube passes along the Lower Danube Lowland.
River delta
In its lower reaches, the Danube breaks up into many branches and lakes. The marshy delta stretches 75 kilometers from west to east and has a width of 65 kilometers.
The delta begins near Cape Izmail Chetal. After 80 km, the riverbed is divided into the Tulchinskoye and Kiliyskoye girlo. Tulchinskoye is then divided into Sulinskoye and Georgievskoye girlo. All of them flow into the sea separately from each other.
The Kiliya Girl in Ukraine is being transformed into the Kiliya Delta, which has the highest current velocity than others. In general, the Danube Delta is covered by floodplains, they have a large area and occupy the second largest place in Europe after similar landscapes on the Volga. The Danube Biosphere Reserve was created here.