The Meuse or Maas is a major European river , rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . It has a total length of 925 km (575 miles).
31-573: The Moerputten Bridge is a former railway bridge near the Dutch city 's-Hertogenbosch . It spans the peat lake 'Lange Putten'. Moerputten Bridge is located in the area between 's-Hertogenbosch and Vlijmen. Before World War II this was regularly flooded by the overflows in the Meuse dykes. An overflow ( overlaat ) is a stretch of dyke that is intentionally left lower than other sections. At exceptional or seasonal high water levels, it overflows and relieves
62-565: A connection between the Maas and the Merwede at the town of Woudrichem . From that moment on, the current Afgedamde Maas was the main branch of the lower Meuse. The former main branch eventually silted up and is today called the Oude Maasje . In the late 19th century and early 20th century the connection between the Maas and Rhine was closed off and the Maas was given a new, artificial mouth –
93-697: A key objective of the Battle of France , the Battle of Sedan and also for the last major German WWII counter-offensive on the Western Front , the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. The Meuse is represented in the documentary The River People released in 2012 by Xavier Istasse. In July 2021, the Meuse basin was one of the many regions in Europe to experience catastrophic flooding during
124-549: A major communication route the River Meuse is the origin of Mosan art , principally (Wallonia and France). The first landscape painted in the Renaissance was the landscape of Meuse by Joachim Patinir . He was likely the uncle of Henri Blès , who is sometimes defined as a Mosan landscape painter active during the second third of the 16th century (i.e. second generation of landscape painters). The main tributaries of
155-494: A population of 12,486 in 2021. Grave is a member of the Dutch Association of Fortified Cities. The former municipality included the following towns : Grave (capital), Velp , Escharen and Gassel . Grave, Boxmeer , Cuijk , Mill en Sint Hubert , and Sint Anthonis merged into the new municipality of Land van Cuijk on 1 January 2022. Grave received city rights in 1233. The former municipality of Grave
186-523: A railroad dyke. Two openings were planned in the dyke. The Moerputten Bridge of 510 m long, and the Venkant Bridge of 30 m long. The bridge was in use as railway bridge on the Lage Zwaluwe-'s-Hertogenbosch railway from 1887 until 1972. In 1995 Moerputten bridge became a monument. Two years later Staatsbosbeheer bought the bridge and the area around it. They restored the bridge to
217-631: Is joined by the Sambre . Beyond Namur the Meuse winds eastwards and passes Liège before turning north. The river then forms part of the Belgian-Dutch border, except that at Maastricht the border lies further to the west. In the Netherlands it continues northwards through Venlo closely along the border to Germany, then turns towards the west, where it runs parallel to the Waal and forms part of
248-543: Is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: 's-Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht , an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km (22.4 mi) Juliana Canal . South of Namur, further upstream,
279-675: The 2021 European floods . The name Meuse is derived from the French name of the river, derived from its Latin name, Mosa , which ultimately derives from the Celtic or Proto-Celtic name * Mosā . This probably derives from the same root as English " maze ", referring to the river's twists and turns. The Dutch name Maas descends from Middle Dutch Mase , which comes from the presumed but unattested Old Dutch form * Masa , from Proto-Germanic * Masō . Modern Dutch and German Maas and Limburgish Maos preserve this Germanic form. Despite
310-664: The Afgedamde Maas ) so that little water from the Meuse entered the old Maas courses or the Rhine distributaries. The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Meuse is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . In 1970 the Haringvlietdam has been finished. Since then the reunited Rhine and Meuse waters have reached
341-500: The Bergse Maas . The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas reduced the risk of flooding and was considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . The former main branch was, after the dam at its southern inlet was completed in 1904, renamed Afgedamde Maas and no longer receives water from the Maas. The Meuse and its crossings were
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#1732783619414372-591: The Beerse Maas. In January 1880 water from the Bokhoven Overflow entered the area with such force that the big bridge before the Vughterpoort (Vught gate) south of 's-Hertogenbosch was flushed away. From the first plans for the railroad, it was clear that to cross the area, the railroad would have to be constructed on a high solid dyke. This dyke could not be allowed to block the flood plain of
403-461: The Meuse are listed below in downstream-upstream order, with the town where the tributary meets the river: The mean annual discharge rate of the Meuse has been relatively stable over the last few thousand years. One recent study estimates that average flow has increased by about 10% since 2000 BC. The hydrological distribution of the Meuse changed during the later Middle Ages, when a major flood forced it to shift its main course northwards towards
434-494: The Meuse has the responsibility of the implementation of the treaty. The costs of this Commission are met by all these countries, in proportion of their own territory in the basin of the Meuse: Netherlands 30%, Wallonia 30%, France 15%, Germany 14.5%, Flanders 5%, Brussels 4.5%, Kingdom of Belgium 0.5%, and Luxembourg 0.5%. The map of the basin area of Meuse was joined to the text of the treaty. As for culture, as
465-503: The Meuse split near Heusden into two main distributaries, one flowing north to join the Merwede and one flowing direct to the sea. The branch of the Meuse leading direct to the sea eventually silted up (and now forms the Oude Maasje stream), but in 1904 the canalised Bergse Maas was dug to take over the functions of the silted-up branch. At the same time the branch leading to the Merwede was dammed at Heusden (and has since been known as
496-664: The Netherlands, and Belgium. Also participating in the agreement were the Belgian regional governments of Flanders , Wallonia , and Brussels (which is not in the basin of the Meuse but pumps running water into the Meuse). Most of the basin area (approximately 36,000 km ) is in Wallonia (12,000 km ), followed by France (9,000 km ), the Netherlands (8,000 km ), Germany (2,000 km ), Flanders (2,000 km ) and Luxembourg (a few km ). An International Commission on
527-474: The North Sea either at this site or, during times of lower discharges of the Rhine, at Hook of Holland . A 2008 study notes that the difference between summer and winter flow volumes has increased significantly in the last 100–200 years. It points out that the frequency of serious floods ( i.e. flows > 1000% of normal) has increased markedly. They predict that winter flooding of the Meuse may become
558-522: The annexation of the Three Bishoprics Metz, Toul and Verdun by King Henry II in 1552 and the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by the forces of King Louis XIII in 1633. Its lower Belgian ( Walloon ) portion, part of the sillon industriel , was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe. The Afgedamde Maas was created in the late Middle Ages, when a major flood made
589-570: The extensive Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta , together with the Scheldt to its south and the Rhine to the north. The river has been divided near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas on the right and the Bergse Maas on the left. The Bergse Maas continues under the name of Amer , which is part of De Biesbosch . The Afgedamde Maas joins the Waal, the main stem of the Rhine at Woudrichem , and then flows under
620-672: The name of Boven Merwede to Hardinxveld-Giessendam , where it splits into Nieuwe Merwede and Beneden Merwede . Near Lage Zwaluwe , the Nieuwe Merwede joins the Amer, forming the Hollands Diep , which splits into Grevelingen and Haringvliet , before finally flowing into the North Sea. The Meuse is crossed by railway bridges between the following stations (on the left and right banks respectively): There are also numerous road bridges and around 32 ferry crossings. The Meuse
651-490: The original state in 2004. Moerputten bridge is now part of a footpath which has been constructed on the former railroad dyke. It stretches from the Jeroen Bosch Hospital in 's-Hertogenbosch to Vlijmen . Grave, Netherlands Grave ( Dutch: [ˈɣraːvə] ; formerly De Graaf ) is a city and former municipality in the Dutch province of North Brabant . The former municipality had
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#1732783619414682-477: The overflows, because that would necessitate reinforcement of dykes in a very wide area. Therefore, the railroad would need to be constructed with so many openings that the overflows could flood the land without obstruction. In 1875 a law called for the construction of the Lage Zwaluwe-'s-Hertogenbosch railway . Between Vlijmen and 's-Hertogenbosch the railroad would be constructed at 7.5 m above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum . It meant that it would be constructed on
713-569: The pressure on other dykes, thereby preventing these from breaking. East of Vlijmen, water would enter the area from the seasonal river Beerse Maas, which was caused by the Beerse Overlaat near Grave (see map). It led to water entering the area from north, and sometimes from south of 's-Hertogenbosch. The second overflow that regularly flooded the area was the Bokhoven Overflow, even though it could also be used as an exit for
744-539: The river Merwede . From then on several stretches of the original Merwede were renamed "Maas" (i.e. Meuse) and served as the primary outflow of that river. Those branches are currently known as the Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas. However during another series of severe floods the Meuse found an additional path towards the sea, resulting in the creation of the Biesbosch wetlands and Hollands Diep estuaries. Thereafter
775-540: The river can only carry more modest vessels, although a barge as long as 100 m (328 ft). can still reach the French border town of Givet. From Givet, the river is canalized over a distance of 272 kilometres (169 mi). The canalized Meuse used to be called the "Canal de l'Est — Branche Nord" but was recently rebaptized into "Canal de la Meuse". The waterway can be used by the smallest barges that are still in use commercially almost 40 m (131 ft) long and just over 5 metres (16 ft) wide. Just upstream of
806-701: The similarity, the Germanic name is not derived from the Celtic name, judging from the change from earlier o into a , which is characteristic of the Germanic languages. The Meuse rises in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse on the Langres plateau in France from where it flows northwards past Sedan (the head of navigation ) and Charleville-Mézières into Belgium. At Namur it
837-563: The town of Commercy, the Canal de la Meuse connects with the Marne–Rhine Canal by means of a short diversion canal. The Cretaceous sea reptile Mosasaur is named after the river Meuse. The first fossils of it were discovered outside Maastricht in 1780. An international agreement was signed in 2002 in Ghent , Belgium, about the management of the river amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg ,
868-621: The western part of the County of Bar ( Barrois mouvant ) as a French fief from the hands of King Philip IV . In 1408, a Burgundian army led by John the Fearless went to the aid of John III against the citizens of Liège, who were in open revolt. After the battle , which saw the men from Liège defeated, John ordered the drowning in the Meuse of burghers and noblemen in Liège whose loyalties he suspected. The border remained relatively stable until
899-489: Was abolished and a part thereof, the parish Gassel , was also added to the municipality Grave. Near to Grave lies a bridge, now called John S. Thompsonbrug , built in 1929. It is the northern connection to Gelderland , spanning the river Maas . The bridge was one of the key strategic points in Operation Market Garden ; the city was liberated at 17 September 1944, suffering very little damage. The bridge
930-460: Was formed in the Napoleonic era (1810) and coincided with the fortified Grave and immediate surroundings. The history of the town was thus linked to that of the place. This changed in 1942. Then there was a reclassification place where the municipality Grave was expanded with the previously independent municipalities Velp and Escharen . Moreover, in 1994 the neighboring municipality of Beers
961-637: Was named in 2004 after Lieutenant John S. Thompson of the US Army 's 82nd Airborne Division , who commanded the platoon of the 82nd Airborne Division that captured the bridge. The Hampoort is the old entrance to the city, and it is still largely intact and can be visited. Meuse From 1301, the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France , after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive