The Elbe ( German: [ˈɛlbə] ; Czech : Labe [ˈlabɛ] ; Low German : Ilv or Elv ; Upper and Lower Sorbian : Łobjo , pronounced [ˈwɔbʲɔ] ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe . It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven , 110 kilometres (68 miles) northwest of Hamburg . Its total length is 1,094 km (680 mi).
43-517: Elbe Germanic , also called Irminonic or Erminonic , is a term introduced by the German linguist Friedrich Maurer (1898–1984) in his book, Nordgermanen und Alemanen , to describe the unattested proto-language , or dialectal grouping, ancestral to the later Lombardic , Alemannic , Bavarian and Thuringian dialects. During late antiquity and the Middle Ages , its supposed descendants had
86-553: A dowry town of Queen Barbara of Cilli , but the citizens did not want to give up its privileges and submit to the Queen. Barbara pledged the town to King George of Poděbrady in 1445. At the end of the 15th century, the town was badly damaged by a fire. After it recovered, it suffered during the Thirty Years' War . Despite the war, several Renaissance and Baroque monuments were created here at this time. In 1791, Jaroměř became again
129-597: A flat agricultural landscape of the East Elbe Table . The eastern tip of the municipal territory extends into the Orlice Table . The highest point is at 291 m (955 ft) above sea level. The town lies at the confluence of the rivers Elbe , Úpa and Metuje . There is also the confluence of the Metuje and Stará Metuje, which flows through the eastern part of the territory. There are several fishponds in
172-618: A profound influence on the neighboring West Central German dialects and, later, in the form of Standard German , on the German language as a whole. The term Irminonic is derived from the Irminones , a culturo-linguistic grouping of Germanic tribes that was mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania . Pliny the Elder further specified its meaning by claiming that the Irminones lived "in
215-579: A royal town. From 1780 to 1787, Emperor Joseph II had built the imperial fortress Ples on the left bank of the Elbe and Metuje rivers to prevent the threat of a Prussian invasion. Later this conurbation took the name of Josefstadt (Josefov in Czech, literally "Joseph's Town"). The fortress was never attacked and was closed in 1888. In the 19th century, industry and business developed in Jaroměř. The railway
258-813: A type of cable ferry that uses the current flow of the river to provide propulsion. Humans first lived in the northern Elbe region before about 200,000 years ago, during the Middle Paleolithic . Ptolemy recorded the Elbe as Albis ( Germanic for "river") in Germania Magna, with its source in the Asciburgis mountains ( Giant Mountains ), where the Germanic Vandalii then lived. The Elbe has long served as an important delineator of European geography. The Romans knew
301-798: Is bridged by the Köhlbrandbrücke , the last bridge over the Elbe before the North Sea. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel) , both in Hamburg's city centre. A bit more downstream, the Low Elbe's two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona -Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunite,
344-461: Is from 1126, when a fortress founded by Duke Jaromír is documented in the area of today's Church of Saint Nicholas. The village was probably promoted to a royal town by King Ottokar I of Bohemia and first referred to as a town in 1298. In 1307, it became a dowry town administered by Queen Elizabeth Richeza . During the Hussite Wars , the town surrounded to Hussites . In 1437, it became
387-641: Is linked by canals ( Elbe Lateral Canal , Elbe-Havel Canal , Mittellandkanal ) to the industrial areas of Germany and to Berlin . The Elbe-Lübeck Canal links the Elbe to the Baltic Sea , as does the Kiel Canal , whose western entrance is near the mouth of the Elbe. The Elbe-Weser Shipping Channel connects the Elbe with the Weser . By the Treaty of Versailles the navigation on the Elbe became subject to
430-505: Is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava , a major river which winds northwards through Bohemia . Upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer (434 kilometres (270 mi) against 294 kilometres (183 mi) of the Elbe so far), and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin . Nonetheless, for historical reasons the river retains the name Elbe, also because at
473-599: The High German version of a word ( *albī ) found elsewhere in Germanic; cf. Old Norse river name Elfr , Swedish älv "river", Norwegian elv "river", Old English river name elf , and Middle Low German elve "river-bed". The Elbe (Labe) rises on the slopes of Mt. Violík at an elevation of 1,386 metres (4,547 ft) in the Giant Mountains on the northwest borders of
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#1732758398924516-583: The Josefov Fortress . Josefov is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation , the historic town centre of Jaroměř is procected as an urban monument zone . The town parts of Cihelny, Jakubské Předměstí, Josefov and Pražské Předměstí and the villages of Dolní Dolce, Jezbiny, Semonice and Starý Ples are administrative parts of Jaroměř. Jaroměř is located about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Náchod and 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Hradec Králové . It lies mostly in
559-641: The North German Plain passing along the former western border of East Germany , touching Torgau , Wittenberg , Dessau , Magdeburg , Wittenberge , and Hamburg on the way, and taking on the waters of the Mulde and Saale from the west, and those of the Schwarze Elster , Havel and Elde from the east. In its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands ( Elbe Marshes ), former flood plains of
602-591: The U.S. Army . In 1945, as World War II drew to a close, Germany came under attack from the armies of the western Allies advancing from the west and those of the Soviet Union advancing from the east. On 25 April 1945 these two forces linked up near Torgau , on the Elbe. The victorious countries marked the event unofficially as Elbe Day . From 1949 to 1990 the Elbe formed part of the Inner German border between East Germany and West Germany . During
645-466: The Wendish Crusade of 1147. The Elbe delineated the western parts of Germany from the eastern so-called East Elbia , where soccage and serfdom were more strict and prevailed longer than westwards of the river, and where feudal lords held bigger estates than in the west. Thus incumbents of huge land-holdings became characterised as East Elbian Junkers . The Northern German area north of
688-659: The 1970s the Soviet Union stated that Adolf Hitler 's ashes had been scattered in the Elbe following disinterment from their original burial-site. Jarom%C4%9B%C5%99 Jaroměř ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaromɲɛr̝̊] ; German : Jermer ) is a town in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic . It has about 13,000 inhabitants. It is known for
731-587: The Church of Saint Nicholas. It was built in the early 14th century. The church is one of the most significant church buildings of the High Czech Gothic and it used to be part of the fortification. Next to the church is the Baroque building of the rectory from 1786. Near the village of Semonice is a conciliation cross . With a height of 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in), it is considered the largest in
774-798: The Czech Republic holds the former Czechoslovak legal position. Before Germany was reunited, waterway transport in Western Germany was hindered by the fact that inland navigation to Hamburg had to pass through the German Democratic Republic. The Elbe-Seitenkanal (Elbe Lateral Canal) was built between the West German section of the Mittellandkanal and the Lower Elbe to restore this connection. When
817-461: The Czech Republic. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river. After plunging down the 30 metres (98 ft) of the Elbe Falls , the latter stream unites with the steeply torrential Bílé Labe , and thereafter the united stream of the Elbe pursues a southerly course, emerging from the mountain glens at Jaroměř , where it receives Úpa and Metuje . Here the Elbe enters
860-550: The Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge , that carries a canal and its shipping traffic over the Elbe and its banks, allowing shipping traffic to pass under it unhindered. From the sluice of Geesthacht (at kilometre 586) on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides , the tidal Elbe section is called the Unterelbe (Low Elbe). Soon the Elbe reaches Hamburg. Within
903-666: The German Twelfth Army located to the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. But, as the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards, the German armies making up both fronts backed towards each other. As a result, the area of control of Wenck's army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for Germans fleeing from
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#1732758398924946-666: The International Commission of the Elbe, seated in Dresden. The statute of the commission was signed in Dresden on 22 February 1922. Following articles 363 and 364 of the Treaty of Versailles, Czechoslovakia was entitled to lease its own harbour basin, Moldauhafen in Hamburg. The contract of lease with Germany, and supervised by the United Kingdom , was signed on 14 February 1929, ending in 2028. Since 1993
989-650: The Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel (Neuer Elbtunnel) , the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe (here now the cut-off meander Old Southern Elbe) used to reunite, which is why the bay is seen as the starting point of the Niederelbe (Lower Elbe). Leaving
1032-630: The Lower Elbe used to be called North Albingia in the Middle Ages. When the four Lutheran church bodies there united in 1977 they chose the name North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church . Other, administrative units were named after the river Elbe, such as the Westphalian Elbe département (1807–1813) and Lower Elbe département (1810), and the French département Bouches-de-l'Elbe (1811–1814). On 10 April 1945, General Wenck of
1075-616: The approaching Soviet Army. Wenck took great pains to provide food and lodging for these refugees. At one stage, the Twelfth Army was estimated to be feeding more than a quarter of a million people every day. During the night of 28 April, Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front. According to Wenck, no attack on Berlin
1118-591: The basaltic mass of the České Středohoří , churning its way through a picturesque, deep, narrow and curved rocky gorge. Shortly after crossing the Czech-German frontier, and passing through the sandstone defiles of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains , the stream assumes a north-westerly direction, which on the whole it preserves right to the North Sea. The river rolls through Dresden and finally, beyond Meissen , enters on its long journey across
1161-473: The city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven . Near its mouth, it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea. The Elbe has always been navigable by commercial vessels, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague . The river
1204-653: The city-state the Unterelbe has a number of branch streams, such as Dove Elbe , Gose Elbe , Köhlbrand , Norderelbe (Northern Elbe), Reiherstieg , Süderelbe (Southern Elbe). Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the main stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe (literally in English: shallow Elbe ) was separated from the main stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme . The Dove Elbe (literally in English: deaf Elbe )
1247-408: The confluence point it is the Elbe that flows through the main, wider valley while the Vltava flows into the valley to meet the Elbe at almost a right angle, and thus appears to be the tributary river. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice , the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře . Thus augmented, and swollen into a stream 140 metres (460 ft) wide, the Elbe carves a path through
1290-638: The interior", meaning not close to the Rhine or North Sea . Maurer used Pliny to refer to the dialects spoken by the Suevi , Bavarii , Alemanni and Lombards around the Hercynian Forest and the Northeastern German plain . Maurer asserted that the cladistic tree model , which was used ubiquitously in linguistics in the 19th and the early 20th centuries, was too inaccurate to describe
1333-484: The municipal territory; the largest of them is Jaroměřský in the northern part. In the area between the Metuje and Stará Metuje rivers is the Josefov Meadows Bird Reserve. It is home to many rare and endangered species of birds and amphibians thanks to its returning wetlands ecosystem. The area around the local rivers was populated as early as 40,000 BC. The first written mention of Jaroměř
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1376-451: The nation's territory). On its southeastern edges, the Elbe river basin also comprises small parts of Austria (0.6%) and Poland (0.2%). The Elbe catchment area is inhabited by 24.4 million people; its biggest cities are Berlin , Hamburg , Prague , Dresden and Leipzig . First attested in Latin as Albis , the name Elbe means "river" or "river-bed" and is nothing more than
1419-598: The region. In Josefov there is also the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. It was built in the Empire style in 1805–1811. The historic centre of Jaroměř is located around the meander of the Elbe. On the square there is a Marian column designed by Matthias Braun from 1723–1727. The eastern side of the square is closed by the a town gate with bell tower, the last preserved element of town fortification, and by
1462-499: The relation between the modern Germanic languages, especially those belonging to its Western branch. Rather than depicting Old English , Old Dutch , Old Saxon , Old Frisian and Old High German to have simply 'branched off' a single common 'Proto-West Germanic', which many previous linguists equated to "Old German / Urdeutsch", he assumed that there had been much more distance between certain dialectal groupings and proto-languages. Elbe The Elbe's major tributaries include
1505-670: The river as the Albis ; however, they made only one serious attempt to move the border of their empire forward from the Rhine to the Elbe, and this attempt failed with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, after which they never seriously tried again. In the Middle Ages the Elbe formed the eastern limit of the Empire of Charlemagne (King of the Franks from 769 to 814). The river's navigable sections were essential to
1548-466: The rivers Vltava , Saale , Havel , Mulde , Schwarze Elster , and Ohře . The Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres (57,247 sq mi), the twelfth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries; however, it lies almost entirely just in two of them, Germany (65.5%) and the Czech Republic (33.7%, covering about two thirds of
1591-704: The success of the Hanseatic League in the Late Middle Ages , and much trade was carried on its waters. From the early 6th century Slavic tribes (known as the Polabian Slavs ) settled in the areas east of the rivers Elbe and Saale (which had been depopulated since the 4th century). In the 10th century the Ottonian Dynasty (dominant from 919 to 1024) began conquering these lands; a slow process of Germanization ensued, including
1634-416: The town lies on the line from Hradec Králové to Svoboda nad Úpou . Each summer, the town hosts the four-day Brutal Assault , the biggest central European extreme metal music festival. Over 10,000 metalheads from all over Europe attends the festival. Jaroměř is best known for the Josefov Fortress . The fortress with the underground system is accessible and is one of the main tourist destinations of
1677-444: The two nations were reunited, works were begun to improve and restore the original links: the Magdeburg Water Bridge now allows large barges to cross the Elbe without having to enter the river. The often low water levels of the Elbe no longer hinder navigation to Berlin. The Elbe is crossed by many ferries, both passenger and car carrying. In downstream order, these include: Many of these ferries are traditional reaction ferries ,
1720-412: The vast vale named Polabí (meaning "land along the Elbe"), and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové (where Orlice flows in) and then to Pardubice , where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres (27 mi) further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west. At the village of Káraný , a little above Brandýs nad Labem , the Jizera enters in. At Mělník its stream
1763-475: Was built in 1857. In 1948, the town of Josefov and the villages of Dolní Dolce and Jezbiny were incorporated into Jaroměř. There are no major companies. The largest employers are the companies of Gumotex Automotive Jaroměř and Karsit, both manufacturers of automotive parts and both employing more than 250 people. The D11 motorway runs west of the town. Jaroměř lies on the interregional railway lines Prague – Trutnov and Liberec – Pardubice . In addition,
Elbe Germanic - Misplaced Pages Continue
1806-419: Was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort. These hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg . After the heavy inundation by the North Sea flood of 1962 the western section of the Southern Elbe was separated, becoming the Old Southern Elbe, while the waters of the eastern Southern Elbe now merge into the Köhlbrand, which
1849-434: Was possible as support from Busse's Ninth Army could no longer be expected. Instead, starting April 24, Wenck moved his army towards the Forest of Halbe , broke into the Halbe pocket and linked up with the remnants of the Ninth Army , Hellmuth Reymann 's "Army Group Spree", and the Potsdam garrison. Wenck brought his army, remnants of the Ninth Army, and many civilian refugees across the Elbe and into territory occupied by
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