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86-634: The town of Blumberg is in the region where the source of the Danube is situated, the glacial valley between Eichberg and Buchberg . The town's official origins date from the 13th century, with the Masters of Blumberg first mentioned in 1260. However, one of the oldest settlements, the Steppacher Hof , was already documented in the 12th century, and the town itself is believed to have originated long before that time, as archaeological finds have shown

172-513: A flat valley basin which has filled the silted-up, upper part of the Titisee since the last ice age . The stream now flows in wide meanders through the bogs of the nature reserve before reaching Lake Titisee. From the Titisee the sluggishly flowing meadow river is called the Gutach ("good stream"). Before Neustadt it swings sharply through 90° to the right and heads southeast in the direction of

258-515: 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

344-571: A maximum depth of 160 m (520 ft) (see Wutach Gorge ) which has long been a tourist attraction. Between the second and the last part of the gorge, near the village of Achdorf in the municipality of Blumberg , it takes a sharp turn (known as the Wutachknie or Knee of the Wutach), and subsequently flows SW to join the Rhine near Tiengen in the town of Waldshut-Tiengen . At the Wutachknie

430-670: A series of tight turns, including crossing back over itself, in order to make a substantial increase in height without exceeding a 1:100 gradient. The Wutach drains almost the entire south-eastern slopes of the Black Forest. There, its waters first flow through glacially formed valley troughs, carved into the crystalline rocks of High Black Forest . Here are the lakes of the Feldsee and Titisee (Gutach), Windgfällweiher (Haslach), Schluchsee ( Schwarza ) and Schlüchtsee ( Schlücht ). After flowing through several very narrow ravines,

516-535: Is 4,152 km (1,603 sq mi), of which 3,446 km (1,331 sq mi) are in Romania. If one includes the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe (1,015 km (392 sq mi) of which 865 km (334 sq mi) water surface), which are located south of the delta proper, but are related to it geologically and ecologically (their combined territory is part of the World Heritage Site),

602-477: 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

688-641: Is canalised. The most important settlements in this part of the valley are the town of Stühlingen and the villages of Eggingen and Wutöschingen . Before Lauchringen the Wutach turns again in the same direction as a tributary, this time the Klingengrabens /Kotbach which arrives in a broad valley from the Klettgau region. In Unterlauchringen the Wutach forms one of the largest waterfalls in Germany,

774-612: Is divided into three main parts, separated by "gates" where the river is forced to cut through mountainous sections: Mean annual discharge on the hydrological stations (period from 2000 to 2023); 1 - Reni , Isaccea ; 2 - Silistra ; 3 - Pristol ; 4 - Batina , Bezdan ; 5 - Nagymaros , Szob ; 6 - Bratislava , Wolfsthal ; 7 - Untergriesbach Multiannual average, minimum and maximum discharge (water period from 1876 to 2010) Simulated water and suspended sediment results from climate-driven decadal study (with STD through specific decade): P – Simulated average precipitation in

860-657: Is estimated that the Danube upper course will one day disappear entirely in favor of the Rhine, an event called stream capturing . The hydrological parameters of Danube are regularly monitored in Croatia at Batina , Dalj , Vukovar and Ilok . The Danube basin was the site of some of the earliest human cultures. The Danubian Neolithic cultures include the Linear Pottery cultures of the mid-Danube basin. Many sites of

946-539: Is one of the most important hiking areas of the Black Forest and is covered by a dense network of trails. Through the Wutach Gorge run two main trails maintained by the Black Forest Club : South of the Wutach Gorge, from Grimmelshofen downstream, there are footpaths and cycleways by the side of the river. Note: Several digital maps erroneously show the course of the Wutach following the former route of

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1032-537: Is represented in the gorge, which is one of the most species-rich and intensively studied natural areas in Central Europe. A full-time nature conservation warden looks after the area, balancing the interests of up to 100,000 visitors during the summer months with the requirements of nature and landscape protection (including guided walks). One of the peculiarities of the Middle Gorge is the infiltration of

1118-790: Is the second-longest river in Europe , after the Volga in Russia . It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe , from the Black Forest south 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 ,

1204-686: Is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention by promoting and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, improvement, and rational use of waters and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and the Danube Strategy . The Danube Commission is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of the river's navigation conditions. It was established in 1948 by seven countries bordering

1290-701: The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodos (Argon. IV. 282). At the end of the Okeanos Potamos , is the holy island of Alba (Leuke, Pytho Nisi, Isle of Snakes ), sacred to the Pelasgian (and later, Greek) Apollo, greeting the sun rising in the east. Hecateus Abderitas refers to Apollo's island from the region of the Hyperboreans, in the Okeanos. It was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that

1376-460: The Black Forest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg . It is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine . In its lower reaches it flows for about 6 kilometres along the border with the canton of Schaffhausen , Switzerland. The name Wutach means "furious water", referring to the whitewater rapids in the gorge. Wut is recognisably cognate to a modern German word for anger; ach , which forms part of

1462-464: The Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine . 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 (ten if Kosovo is included). In addition to the bordering countries (see above), the drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.6% of

1548-576: The Bystroye Canal . In 2022, there was a major heat wave in Europe. As a result, there was less water flowing in the rivers. As the water level decreased, a number of ship wrecks from World War II emerged in the Danube River. Many of the ships were from Nazi Germany 's Black Sea Fleet and had been scuttled to stop them from falling into enemy hands. The International Commission for

1634-713: The Danubian Limes was the northeastern border of the Empire, with occasional interruptions such as the fall of the Danubian Limes in 259. The crossing of the Danube into Dacia was achieved by the Imperium Romanum , first in two battles in 102 and then in 106 after the construction of a bridge in 101 near the garrison town of Drobeta at the Iron Gate. This victory over Dacia under Decebalus enabled

1720-647: The Feldberg . Shortly thereafter it drops in three cascades through a height of 62 metres down the Feldsee Waterfall into the rocky cirque lake of the Feldsee . Heading east-northeast, the stream then follows the glacially formed Bärental valley through the municipality of Feldberg to Lake Titisee . During this stretch it is joined by the Sägenbach, which rises on the Baldenweger Buck on

1806-653: The Habsburg monarchy , Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Russian Empire for controlling the Danube ( Tuna in Turkish ), which became the northern border of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Many of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars (1366–1526) and Ottoman–Habsburg wars (1526–1791) were fought along the river. Wutach (river) The Wutach is a river, 91 kilometres long, in the southeastern part of

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1892-590: The Neustadt Paper Factory in 1989. Between 1624 and ca. 1760, timber was rafted on the Wutach from the area around the Titisee. It was needed in the old iron smeltery of Eberfingen . The first attempt to exploit the Wutach by building a dam for energy production was made during the Nazi era . The project for the construction of the Wutach Dam , which was approved in 1943, ground to a halt during

1978-635: 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 ( Turlă ). 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

2064-537: The Second World War . In 1951, the Schluchseewerk took over the plans and greatly added to them. However, the project resulted in a wide popular protest and was finally rejected for environmental reasons in 1960. Southern Black Forest and High Rhine Its tributaries in the area of the Black Forest are: Other tributaries of the middle reaches also form the Wutach Gorge system. In addition to

2150-708: The rapids of the Kadelburger/Koblenzer Laufen . The stretch of the Wutach is the site of two remarkable railways. The upper stretch of the first gorge is crossed and followed by the so-called Höllentalbahn . The valley just below the third gorge is the site of the Wutach Valley Railway , officially known in German as the Wutachtalbahn but commonly known as the Sauschwänzlebahn (pigtail) because it proceeds in

2236-771: The 'Klettgaurinne', and the Wutach then follows the direction of the Kotbach. Until the end of the Riss Ice Age , some 200,000 years ago, the Ancient Rhine flowed westward through the Klettgau here, instead of the little Klingengraben and Kotbach. At the Ettikoner Lauffen it rejoined its old river bed. Only towards the end of the Würm glaciation did it move his course from Schaffhausen southwards, resulting in

2322-773: The Danube basin all use names derived from the Latin name Danubius : Danube is an Old European river name derived from the Celtic ' danu ' or ' don ' (both Celtic gods), 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 (दनु) means "fluid, dewdrop" and danuja (दनु-ज) means "born from danu " or "born from dew-drops". In Avestan ,

2408-431: The Danube basin; T – Simulated average temperature in the Danube basin; Q – Simulated average discharge in the Danube River at delta; S – Simulated sediment load in the Danube River at delta ; Historical average flow to the present day; Measured and reconstructed average water flows from 1742. The reconstructed and observed streamflow (Q – m /s) at Ceatal Izmail for the 1742 to 2022: The land drained by

2494-1040: 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 (as they enter): 18. Tisza (entering near Titel ) 19. Sava (entering at Belgrade ) 20. Timiș (river) (entering at Pančevo ) 21. Great Morava (entering near Smederevo ) 22. Mlava (entering near Kostolac ) 23. Karaš (entering near Banatska Palanka ) 24. Jiu (entering at Bechet ) 25. Iskar (entering near Gigen ) 26. Olt (entering at Turnu Măgurele ) 27. Osam (entering near Nikopol, Bulgaria ) 28. Yantra (entering near Svishtov ) 29. Argeș (entering at Oltenița ) 30. Ialomița 31. Siret (entering near Galați ) 32. Prut (entering near Galați ) The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals (shown below in bold), more than any other river in

2580-565: The Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), 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 817,000 km (315,000 sq mi) and extends into nine more countries. The Danube's longest headstream Breg rises in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald , while

2666-592: 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 name of the Rhine is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German Donau ( Early Modern German Donaw , Tonaw , Middle High German Tuonowe ) is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing

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2752-610: The Danube's, today subsurface rivers carry much water from the Danube to the Rhine. On many days in the summer, when the Danube carries little water, it completely oozes away noisily into these underground channels at two locations in the Swabian Alb, which are referred to as the Donauversickerung ( Danube Sink ). Most of this water resurfaces only 12 km (7.5 mi) south at the Aachtopf , Germany's wellspring with

2838-522: The Danube. Today the Commission include riparian and non-riparian states. Although the headwaters of the Danube are relatively small today, geologically, the Danube is much older than the Rhine , with which its catchment area competes in today's southern Germany. This has a few interesting geological complications. Since the Rhine is the only river rising in the Alps mountains which flows north towards

2924-574: The Feldberg. More than 70% of the average water volume of both streams is siphoned off before their confluence and diverted to the Schluchseewerk hydropower station. As a result, at the Bärental Gauge above the just under 5-metre-high Seebach Waterfall, the Seebach only has a volumetric flow of 0.3 m /s instead of its natural 0.8 m /s. Below the little waterfall the Seebach enters

3010-693: The Greeks borrowed the Istros form from the native Thracians. He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language ( Cuman or Pecheneg ). 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 2,730 km (1,700 mi), passing through four capital cities ( Vienna , Bratislava , Budapest , and Belgrade ) before emptying into

3096-670: The North Sea, an invisible line beginning at Piz Lunghin divides large parts of southern Germany, which is sometimes referred to as the European Watershed . Before the last ice age in the Pleistocene , the Rhine started at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the so-called Urdonau (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which

3182-424: The Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an organization that consists of 14 member states (Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine) and the European Union . The commission, established in 1998, deals with the whole Danube river basin, which includes tributaries and groundwater resources. Its goal

3268-418: The Province of Dacia to be created, but in 271 it was abandoned by emperor Aurelian . Avars used the river as their southeastern border in the 6th century. Part of the rivers Danubius or Istros was also known as (together with the Black Sea) the Okeanos in ancient times, being called the Okeanos Potamos (Okeanos River). The lower Danube was also called the Keras Okeanoio (Gulf or Horn of Okeanos) in

3354-471: The Serbian and the Romanian stretches of the Danube. However, the transgressions may not be considered acts of piracy, as defined according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , but rather instances of "river robbery". On the other hand, media reports say the crews on transport ships often steal and sell their own cargo and then blame the plundering on "pirates", and the alleged attacks are not piracy but small-time contraband theft along

3440-438: The Wutach in its river bed, is much lower than would be expected of a river than under natural circumstances drained a catchment of 1,140 km . This is due to the water siphoned off for the Schluchseewerk power station, which particularly affects its largest tributary, the Schlücht Owing to its riverbed gradient of, on average, 13 ‰, critical high water often occurs on the Wutach. A well-known historical lithograph shows

3526-409: The Wutach is within the Black Forest. The central Wutach land with the middle and lower Wutach Gorge is outside of the forest. However, as in the Baar , one can see that the culture here relates to that of the Black Forest, and not only with regard to tourism. This is, in part due to their former common affiliation with the historic state of Baden . The Wutach Valley Railway is often counted as one of

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3612-410: The Wutacht valley are Sto AG (building materials and systems) in Stühlingen and Lauffenmühle (textile manufacturing) in Lauchringen. The hydropower of the Wutach and its tributaries is used by the Schluchseewerk and by the Wasser- und Elektrizitätswerk Hallau in Wunderklingen to generate energy. In the area of the Black Forest the woodworking industry is still important, even after the closure of

3698-434: The almost equally large Josbach/Langenordnach. Below the town, two large bridges cross the valley: the Gutach Viaduct carrying the B 31 and the Gutach Bridge with the Höllental Railway . From here on the river rushes through an ever deepening gorge. From the confluence where the river acquires the name Wutach, it flows ESE through a series of three gorges with a total length of more than 30 km (19 mi) and

3784-417: The area was inhabited during the Stone Age . The Wutach is a 90-kilometre (56 mi) tributary of the Rhine that changes name twice as it passes through the southern Black Forest . Blumberg was established in the Wutach valley near the Wutach Gorge . Built above the town in the Middle Ages, Blumberg Castle contributed significantly to the development of the surrounding settlements, and while ruled by

3870-488: The basin area), the Czech Republic (2.9%), Slovenia (2.0%), Montenegro (0.9%), Switzerland (0.2%), Italy (<0.15%), Poland (<0.1%), North Macedonia (<0.1%) and Albania (<0.1%). The total drainage basin is 801,463 km (309,447 sq mi) 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 4,049 m (13,284 ft). The Danube River Basin

3956-471: The distance to the Black Sea by 400 km (250 mi); the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal is about 171 km (106 mi), finished in 1992, linking the North Sea to the Black Sea. A Danube-Aegean canal has been proposed. Danube River cruise for sightseeing is popular, especially between Passau , Germany, to Budapest , Hungary. In 2010–12, shipping companies, especially from Ukraine, claimed that their vessels suffered from "regular pirate attacks " on

4042-409: The former main valley, which began at about the Kandel , but was cut off and redirected a long time ago by the Wild Gutach . Similar river bends in the course of the tributaries from the Black Forest also show (much earlier) re-direction, most strikingly the Schwarza leaving the Schluchsee transversely to the direction of the valley. In the lower reaches of the Wutach, the Wutach valley flows into

4128-477: The gorge) by the Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station . On 13 April 2006, a record peak discharge at Iron Gate Dam reached 15,400 m /s (540,000 cu ft/s). There are three artificial waterways built on the Danube: the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal (DTD) in the Banat and Bačka regions ( Vojvodina , northern province of Serbia); the 64 km (40 mi) Danube-Black Sea Canal , between Cernavodă and Constanța (Romania) finished in 1984, shortens

4214-416: The hero Achilles was buried (to this day, one of the mouths of the Danube is called Chilia). Old Romanian folk songs recount a white monastery on a white island with nine priests. Between the late 14th and late 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire competed first with the Kingdom of Serbia , Second Bulgarian Empire , Kingdom of Hungary , Principality of Wallachia , Principality of Moldavia and later with

4300-423: The highest flow, an average of 8,500 L/s (300 cu ft/s), north of Lake Constance —thus feeding the Rhine. The European Water Divide applies only for those waters that pass beyond this point, and only during the days of the year when the Danube carries enough water to survive the sinkholes in the Donauversickerung. Since such large volumes of underground water erode much of the surrounding limestone, it

4386-402: The large river, the other rivers which are well known are the In the lower reaches of the Wutach in the Bade region of Klettgau it is joined by the following streams: Not until the last eight kilometres of the Wutach is it joined by its three largest tributaries: The following settlements lie on or near the Wutach: The upper Wutach area (Seebach valley, Titisee, Schluchsee, Hochfirst )

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4472-408: The maintenance of roads and tracks, and even of hiking trails, expensive. The Aitrach flows in the former riverbed of the old Feldberg Danube from its stream capture point to the mouth of the present-day Danube near Kirchen-Hausen . In its uppermost, very flat valley section at Blumberg raised bogs were formed. In its upper course, the Wutach (as the "Gutach") forms another knee; it flows into

4558-404: The morning, butchers begin producing the region's traditionally seasoned cold cuts, sausages, and terrines, as well as fresh meat and Silesian specialties . Blumberg is set in the center of one of the most scenic areas of Germany, with everything from castles, nature parks, forests, lakes and mountains, to skiing, sailing, spas and tourist routes. While close by are historic cities. It is also

4644-412: The names of many rivers in the region, comes from an old Celtic word for water, cognate with Latin aqua . The river changes its name twice before it discharges into the High Rhine near Waldshut : It rises in the Southern Black Forest as the Seebach in a highland hollow known as the Grüble , only a few metres below the summit of the Seebuck , a subpeak of the Black Forest's highest mountain,

4730-409: The northern barbarian Thracian and Illyrian tribes by advancing from Macedonia as far as the Danube in 336 BCE. Under the Romans, the Danube formed the border of the Empire with the tribes to the north almost from its source to its mouth. At the same time, it was a route for the transport of troops and the supply of settlements downstream. From 37 CE to the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I (364–375)

4816-426: The opposite direction. At the turn of the Miocene / Pliocene epochs, at a time when the Black Forest was already being uplifted but the Rhine Graben was not as low as it is today, the Danube had its source in the area of what is today the upper Rhone . This river system fragmented and most of it gradually became a network of tributaries of the Rhine river system (For more information, see Wutach Gorge ). Latterly,

4902-413: The other side to the east and parallel to the High Rhine, follows an ice age Rhine channel (the Klettgaurinne ). The Wutach only drains parts of the Black Forest and thus resembles the Enz in this respect. The average annual discharge depths of the catchment area vary considerably; ranging from over 1,100 mm in the High Black Forest to less than 300 mm in the Klettgau . The visible depth of

4988-410: The power of which is why the Lauffenmühle was built here, the largest industrial concern on the Wutach. The largest town in the Wutach valley is nearby Tiengen , where the Wutach is joined by the Kotbach from the Black Forest as well as its most important tributaries, the Steina and Schlücht . The Wutach finally empties into the High Rhine between Küssaberg -Kadelburg and Koblenz , a little below

5074-429: The practice was widespread at the time in Germany and German-occupied Europe . Blumberg has a memorial honoring these workers. As it shed its status as a primarily agricultural town, Blumberg's population increased rapidly, from 700 in 1935 to 7,000 in 1945. During World War II, Sophie Scholl , one of the founders of the anti-Nazi White Rose group, spent time in Blumberg. In her memory, the Sophie Scholl Kindergarten

5160-497: The princely Fuerstenberg family, who owned a brewery from 1283 until 2004. Blumberg was elevated from a town ( Städtle ) to a city in 1559. During the Thirty Years' War from 1618 to 1648, the castle was destroyed. Thanks to its Doggererz iron ore reserves, the town experienced a short-lived expansion after the war's end. The Doggererz mine was reopened, and the ore was extracted once again from 1934 to 1942 under Nazi Germany Many of these workers were forced labourers, as

5246-417: The railway's tunnels. The municipality of Blumberg is made up of the districts of Blumberg Achdorf, Blumberg, Epfenhofen, Fützen, Hondingen, Kommingen, Nordhalden, Riedböhringen and Riedöschingen, and with the exception of Blumberg itself, each of these has its own district council, which is the custom in Baden-Württemberg. The village of Achdorf is the only one remaining of the original settlements alongside

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5332-408: The relatively steep gradient in its new direction of flow towards the Rhine, the river carved out the deep, roughly 30-kilometre-long, Wutach Gorge into the plateau, a process that continues today. It has excavated about two cubic kilometres of rock. The valley slopes tend to slip; this makes the Wutach Gorge even more of a transportation obstacle than its, in places, steep relief would suggest and makes

5418-520: The river Wutach . Even after the Reformation , the Blumberg region remained predominantly Roman Catholic, and produced a cardinal , Curial cardinal Augustin Bea . A museum exists in the house where he was born. Today the area has four Roman Catholic parishes, two parishes of the Old Catholic Church that follows Ultrajectine theology, as well as a Protestant church and a New Apostolic church. Danube The Danube ( / ˈ d æ n . j uː b / DAN -yoob ; see also other names )

5504-403: 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, 2,415 km (1,501 mi) 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

5590-465: The river has been part of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on the North Sea to Sulina on the Black Sea, a distance of 3,500 km (2,200 mi). In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors , routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on

5676-410: The river is very close to the headwaters of the Danube , until the last glacial period the upper course of the Wutach was the headstream of the Danube catchment (called Feldbergdonau ). The lower Wutach valley is straight, wide-bottomed and very densely populated. The river forms the border between Germany and Switzerland for two sections that total about 6 kilometres in length, after which it

5762-481: The river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War . Clearance of the resulting debris was completed in 2002, and a temporary pontoon bridge that hampered navigation was removed in 2005. At the Iron Gate , the Danube flows through a gorge that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station dam, followed at about 60 km (37 mi) downstream (outside

5848-426: The river. The Danube Delta ( Romanian : Delta Dunării pronounced [ˈdelta ˈdunərij] ; Ukrainian : Дельта Дунаю , romanized :  Del'ta Dunayu ) is the largest river delta in the European Union . The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). The approximate surface

5934-486: The river. 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 ( Ἴστρος ) from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the Dniester ( Danaster in Latin, Tiras in Greek) and akin to Iranic turos 'swift' and Sanskrit iṣiras ( इषिरस् ) 'swift', from

6020-443: The river. Members include representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia; it meets regularly twice a year. It also convenes groups of experts to consider items provided for in the commission's working plans. The commission dates to the Paris Conferences of 1856 and 1921, which established for the first time an international regime to safeguard free navigation on

6106-491: The same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava , 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,

6192-644: The sixth-to-third millennium BCE Vinča culture (Vinča, Serbia), are sited along the Danube. The third millennium BCE Vučedol culture (from the Vučedol site near Vukovar , Croatia ) is famous for its ceramics. Darius the Great , king of Persia , crossed the river in the late 6th century BCE to invade European Scythia and to subdue the Scythians . Alexander the Great defeated the Triballian king Syrmus and

6278-577: The south they say Chind and Chuchi , which is closer to the dialect of neighbouring Switzerland. The locals call those living on the other side of the gorge, the Enne-Wiätler ("far side of the Wutachers"). For two short sections – between Grimmelshofen and Eggingen – the Wutach is the border river between Germany and Switzerland. The economic heart of the Wutach region is the town of Waldshut-Tiengen. The major industrial enterprises in

6364-475: The starting point for the Wutach Valley Railway , known as the Sauschwänzlebahn ('Pigtail Line'). It is an old-fashioned steam locomotive with original carriages, running on a railway line that curves and loops around Blumberg like a curled pigtail. It is run as a railway museum and travels on elevated tracks across the countryside throughout the summer months. Service was disrupted from November 2013 to March 2014 due to endangered Barbastella bats quartering in

6450-537: The streams reach the edge of the Black Forest and the sandstone , limestone and mudstone series of the South German Scarplands . The lower course of the Wutach, which bends to head southwest, runs past the foot of the dominant White Jurassic step of the Swabian Jura and of Randen , at right angles to the dip slope and thus collects several Black forest rivers. The Kotbach, flowing from

6536-415: The suffix -ouwe "wetland". Romanian differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, Dunărea ( IPA: [ˈdunəre̯a] ). 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

6622-708: The technically remarkable Black Forest lines. The Wutach area below Stühlingen is part of the Klettgau and the High Rhine region. In the area of the gorge, the Wutach separates the Lake Constance Alemannic German dialect region north of the gorge, from the High Alemannic German -speaking region south of it. This is particularly noticeable in the different way the letter k is spoken. On the northern side they say Kind ("child") and Kuchi (= Küche or "kitchen"), whilst in

6708-551: The total area of the Danube Delta reaches 5,165 km (1,994 sq mi). The Danube Delta is also the best-preserved river delta in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1991) and a Ramsar Site . Its lakes and marshes support 45 freshwater fish species. Its wetlands support vast flocks of migratory birds of over 300 species, including the endangered pygmy cormorant ( Phalacrocorax pygmaeus ). These are threatened by rival canalization and drainage schemes such as

6794-634: The town is a thriving tourist area. Nevertheless, Blumberg has retained a small town sense of community and traditional character, with seasonal festivities, customs, street parties, and parades such as those for the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht (carnival) continuing to take place. Small specialized local stores that go back generations still exist, and for a few weeks, multi-colored, decorated, and filled carnival doughnuts can be found at artisanal bakers, where handmade bread, cake and cookie specialties are freshly baked daily. Early in

6880-570: The upper and middle reaches of today's Wutach formed the Feldberg Danube , the upper course of the Danube. But after the watershed between the aggraded Feldberg Danube and the downward-cutting Ancient Wutach, which existed until the last ice age , had been severely eroded, the Feldberg Danube broke out to the south-west into the Rhine valley some 20,000 to 70,000 years ago, forming the striking Wutachknie at Blumberg . Because of

6966-515: The valley floor at the Stühlinger Zwirnerei completely covered by water. Its lower reaches were therefore canalised and dyked in order to provide flood protection at the beginning of the 20th century. In the meantime, even former floodplains have been utilised for new construction and industrial areas. The lower Wutach flows along the line of the valley once occupied by the much more powerful upper Ancient Danube ( Urdonau ), but in

7052-438: The waters of the Wutach into the muschelkalk . At low water, the river can be dry up completely for a 1.3 kilometre stretch, until its waters appear, cataract -like (probably completely) again. Further river sections, which are protected, are the natural river meadows above Stühlingen on the border with Switzerland (extensive horsetail colonies) and its estuary on the Rhine. From a natural region perspective, only part of

7138-811: The well-known Rhine Falls there. At Rheinau Abbey the meander known as the Rheinschlaufen ("Rhine Loop") was formed. About a third of the course of the Wutach is protected for conservation reasons. The river rises in the nature reserve of Feldberg, the largest in Baden-Württemberg. One of the oldest nature reserves in the country has been the Wutach Gorge , one of the last wild river landscapes of Central Europe, which have major historical, geological and ecological significance. Nearly every rock occurring in Southern Germany

7224-504: The world. Ordered from the source to the mouth they are: The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to Brăila in Romania (the maritime river sector), and further on by river ships to Kelheim , Bavaria , Germany; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to Ulm , Württemberg , Germany. About 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. Since the completion of the German Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in 1992,

7310-532: Was much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless) canyons in today's landscape of the Swabian Alb . After the Upper Rhine valley had been eroded, most waters from the Alps changed their direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is thus an underfit stream . Since the Swabian Alb is largely shaped of porous limestone , and since the Rhine's level is much lower than

7396-502: Was opened on February 28, 1992. When World War II ended in 1945, the town and surrounding region were occupied by French forces as part of South Baden , as the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been divided into US and French occupation zones under the Allied occupation of Germany . Blumberg expanded during the 1950s as various industrial works became established in the district and now has around 10,800 inhabitants, while

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