Danube


The Danube is a river in Europe, the second-longest after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest of Germany south through the Danube Delta in Romania into the Black Sea. A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of the Roman Empire. In the 21st century, it connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for, passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade. Its drainage basin amounts to and extends into nine more countries.
The Danube's longest headstream, the Breg, rises in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, while the river carries its name from its source confluence in the palace park in Donaueschingen onwards. Since ancient times, the Danube has been a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, of its total length are navigable. The Danube is linked to the North Sea via the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, connecting the Danube at Kelheim with the Main at Bamberg. The river is also an important source of hydropower and drinking water.
The Danube river basin is home to such fish species as pike, zander, huchen, wels catfish, burbot and tench. It is also home to numerous diverse carp and sturgeon, as well as salmon and trout. A few species of euryhaline fish, such as European seabass, mullet, and eel, inhabit the Danube Delta and the lower portion of the river.

Names and etymology

Today the river carries its name from its source confluence in Donaueschingen, Germany, to its discharge into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.
The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the Dniester and akin to Iranic turos 'swift' and Sanskrit iṣiras 'swift', from the PIE isro-, sreu 'to flow'.
In the Middle Ages, the Greek Tiras was borrowed into Italian as Tyrlo and into Turkic languages as Tyrla; the latter was further borrowed into Romanian as a regionalism.
The Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, "the bringer of luck".
The Middle Mongolian name for the Danube was transliterated as Tho-na in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat.
The modern languages spoken in the Danube basin all use names derived from the Latin name wikt:Danubius#Latin:
LanguageNamePronunciation Flow sequence
LatinDanubius, DānuviusN/A
GermanDonau1 Germany
2 Austria
BavarianDoanaN/A
SilesianDōnajN/A
Upper SorbianDunajN/A
CzechDunajN/A
SlovakDunaj3 Slovakia
PolishDunajN/A
HungarianDuna4 Hungary
SlovenianDonavaN/A
Serbo–CroatianDunav / Дунав5 Croatia
6 Serbia
MacedonianДунавN/A
RomanianDunăre,
definite form Dunărea		, 7 Romania
9 Moldova
BulgarianДунав 8 Bulgaria
UkrainianДунай 10 Ukraine
GreekΔούναβης N/A
FrenchDanubeN/A
ItalianDanubioN/A
PortugueseDanúbioN/A
SpanishDanubioN/A
RussianДунай N/A
TurkishTunaN/A
RomanshDanubiN/A
AlbanianDanub,
definite form: Danubi		N/A

Etymology

Danube is an Old European river name derived from the Celtic 'Danu' or 'Don', which itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European *deh₂nu. Other European river names from the same root include the Dunaj, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr, Dysna and Tana/Deatnu. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, danu means "fluid, dewdrop" and danuja means "born from danu" or "born from dew-drops". In Avestan, the same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is, which is most likely derived from the name of the river in German, Donau. Its Sámi name Deatnu means "Great River". It is possible that dānu in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": Dnieper and Dniestr, from Danapris and Danastius, are presumed to continue Scythian *dānu apara "far river" and *dānu nazdya- "near river", respectively.
In Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius, Ister or Hister. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, except Slovene. The German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe "wetland".
Romanian differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, Dunărea. This form was not inherited from Latin, although Romanian is a Romance language. To explain the loss of the Latin name, scholars who suppose that Romanian developed near the large river propose that the Romanian name descends from a hypothetical Thracian *Donaris. The Proto-Indo-European root of this presumed name is related to the Iranic word "don-"/"dan-", while the supposed suffix -aris is encountered in the ancient name of the Ialomița River, Naparis, and in the unidentified Miliare river mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica. Gábor Vékony says that this hypothesis is not plausible, because the Greeks borrowed the Istros form from the native Thracians. He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language.

Geography

Classified as an international waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg. The Danube then flows southeast for about, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.

International status

Once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, the river passes through or touches the borders of 10 countries. Its drainage basin extends into nine more.
Flow
seq.		CountryBasin
area		Local
name		Points of interest
1Germany7%DonauDonaueschingen – source
2Austria10%DonauVienna – capital
3Slovakia5.9%DunajBratislava – capital
4Hungary11.6%DunaBudapest – capital
5Croatia4.4%Dunav
6Serbia10.2%DunavBelgrade – capital
7Romania29%DunăreaDanube Delta – Black Sea
8Bulgaria5.9%Дунав
9Moldova1.6%Dunărea
10Ukraine3.8%ДунайDanube Delta – Black Sea

Drainage basin

In addition to the bordering countries, the drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Montenegro, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, North Macedonia and Albania. The total drainage basin is in area, and is home to 83 million people. The highest point of the drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border, at. The Danube river basin is divided into three main parts, separated by "gates" where the river is forced to cut through mountainous sections:

Discharge chronology

Tributaries

The land drained by the Danube extends into many other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges and other shallow-draught boats. From its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are :

Cities and towns

The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Ordered from source to mouth they are:
  • Germany
  • *Donaueschingen in the State of Baden-Württemberg – rivers Brigach and Breg join to form the Danube
  • *Möhringen an der Donau in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Riedlingen in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Munderkingen in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Ehingen in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Erbach, Baden-Württemberg in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Ulm in Baden-Württemberg
  • *Neu-Ulm in Bavaria
  • *Günzburg in Bavaria
  • *Dillingen an der Donau in Bavaria
  • *Donauwörth in Bavaria
  • *Neuburg an der Donau in Bavaria
  • *Ingolstadt in Bavaria
  • *Kelheim in Bavaria
  • *Regensburg in Bavaria
  • *Straubing in Bavaria
  • *Deggendorf in Bavaria
  • *Passau in Bavaria
  • Austria
  • *Linz, capital of Upper Austria
  • *Krems in Lower Austria
  • *Tulln in Lower Austria
  • *Vienna – capital of Austria and the most populous city on the Danube, where the Danube floodplain is called the Lobau, though the Innere Stadt is nowadays situated away from the main flow of the Danube.
  • Slovakia
  • *Bratislava – capital of Slovakia
  • *Komárno
  • *Štúrovo
File:Várhegy2.JPG|thumb|Basilica of Esztergom, Hungary
  • Hungary
  • *Mosonmagyaróvár
  • *Győr
  • *Komárom
  • *Esztergom
  • *Visegrád – This section of the river is also called Danube Bend.
  • *Vác
  • *Szentendre
  • *Göd
  • *Dunakeszi
  • *Budapest – capital of Hungary, the largest city and the largest agglomeration on Danube.
  • *Szigetszentmiklós
  • *Százhalombatta
  • *Ráckeve
  • *Adony
  • *Dunaújváros
  • *Dunaföldvár
  • *Paks
  • *Kalocsa
  • *Baja
  • *Mohács
  • Croatia
  • *Vukovar
  • *Ilok
File:Petrovaradinska tvrđava, 12.jpg|thumb|Petrovaradin Fortress overlooking the Danube and Novi Sad, regional capital of Vojvodina in Serbia
File:Kalemegdanska_terasa_Apr_2011.jpg|thumb|Confluence of river Sava into the Danube beneath Fortress in Belgrade, capital of Serbia
  • Serbia
  • *Apatin
  • *Bačka Palanka
  • *Čerević
  • *Futog
  • *Veternik
  • *Novi Sad – regional capital of Vojvodina
  • *Sremski Karlovci
  • *Zemun
  • *Belgrade – capital of Serbia
  • *Pančevo
  • *Smederevo
  • *Kovin
  • *Veliko Gradište
  • *Golubac
  • *Donji Milanovac
  • *Kladovo

  • Bulgaria
  • *Vidin
  • *Lom
  • *Kozloduy
  • *Oryahovo
  • *Nikopol
  • *Belene
  • *Svishtov
  • *Ruse
  • *Tutrakan
  • *Silistra
File:Cazaresulinaoras2.jpg|thumb|The Danube in Sulina, Romania
  • Romania
  • *Moldova Nouă
  • *Orșova
  • *Drobeta-Turnu Severin
  • *Calafat
  • *Bechet
  • *Dăbuleni
  • *Corabia
  • *Turnu Măgurele
  • *Zimnicea
  • *Giurgiu
  • *Oltenița
  • *Călărași
  • *Fetești
  • *Cernavodă
  • *Hârșova
  • *Brăila – limit of the maritime sector of the Danube
  • *Galați – largest port on the Danube
  • *Isaccea
  • *Tulcea
  • *Sulina
  • Moldova
  • *Giurgiulești
  • Ukraine
  • *Reni
  • *Izmail
  • *Kiliia
  • *Vylkove