Everything about Elbe totally explained
| other_name1 =
| other_name2 =
Low German:
Ilv
| country = Czech Republic
| country1 = Germany
| region = Hradec Králové Region
| region1 = Pardubice Region
| region2 = Central Bohemian Region
| region3 = Ústí nad Labem Region
| region4 = Saxony
| region5 = Saxony-Anhalt
| region6 = Brandenburg
| region7 = Lower Saxony
| region8 = Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
| region9 = Hamburg
| region10 = Schleswig-Holstein
| city = Pardubice
| city1 = Ústí nad Labem
| city2 =
Pirna,
Dresden,
Meißen,
Torgau,
Lutherstadt Wittenberg,
Dessau,
Magdeburg,
Hamburg,
Cuxhaven
| length = 1091
| length_imperial =
| watershed = 148268
| watershed_imperial =
| discharge_location = mouth
| discharge_average = 711
| discharge_average_imperial =
| discharge_max_month = April
| discharge_max = 1232
| discharge_max_imperial =
| discharge_min_month = September
| discharge_min = 493
| discharge_min_imperial =
| discharge1_location =
Děčín
| discharge1_average = 303
| discharge1_average_imperial =
| source_name = Bílé Labe
| source_location = Krkonoše
| source_region =
| source_country = Czech Republic
| source_country1 =
| source_elevation = 1386
| source_elevation_imperial =
| source_lat_d = 50
| source_lat_m = 46
| source_lat_s = 31
| source_lat_NS = N
| source_long_d = 15
| source_long_m = 32
| source_long_s = 16
| source_long_EW = E
| mouth_name = North Sea
| mouth_location =
| mouth_country = Germany
| mouth_region =
| mouth_country1 =
| mouth_elevation = 0
| mouth_elevation_imperial =
| mouth_lat_d =
| mouth_lat_m =
| mouth_lat_s =
| mouth_lat_NS =
| mouth_long_d =
| mouth_long_m =
| mouth_long_s =
| mouth_long_EW =
| tributary_left = Vltava
| tributary_left1 = Ohře
| tributary_left2 =
Mulde,
Saale,
Ohre, Tanger,
Ilmenau River,
Oste
| tributary_right =
Jizera
| tributary_right1 = Schwarze Elster,
Havel, Elde, Sude,
Alster, Stör
| image = Labe_udoli.jpg
| image_size =
| image_caption = The Labe near Děčín, Czech Republic
}}
The
Elbe (; ;
Low German:
de Ilv) is one of the major
rivers of
Central Europe. It originates in the northwestern
Czech Republic before traversing much of
Germany and flowing into the
North Sea. Its total length has been given as .
Geography
The Elbe rises at an elevation of about in the
Krkonoše (also known as
Giant Mountains or in German as
Riesengebirge) on the north west borders of the Czech Republic. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, the most important is the
Bílé Labe, or White Elbe. After plunging down the of the
Labský vodopád, the latter stream unites with the steeply torrential
Malé Labe, and thereafter the united stream of the Elbe pursues a southerly course, emerging from the mountain glens at and continuing on to
Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At
Kolín some further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west.
At the village of
Káraný, a little above
Brandýs nad Labem it picks up the
Jizera.
At
Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the
Vltava, or Moldau, a river which winds northwards through
Bohemia. Although upstream from the
confluence Vltava is longer (434 km vs. 294), has larger discharge and larger
drainage basin, due historical reasons (at the
confluence the
Vltava meets the Elbe at almost a right angle, so it appears as a tributary) river continues as Elbe.
Some distance lower down, at
Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish
Ohře. Thus augmented, and swollen into a stream wide, the Elbe carves a path through the basaltic mass of the
České Středohoří, churning its way through a deep, narrow 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 the
North German Plain passing along the former 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. Soon the Elbe reaches
Hamburg, and then passes through
Holstein until it flows into the North Sea at
Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes
Otterndorf,
Glückstadt,
Brunsbüttel and the entrance to the
Kiel Canal.
Navigation
The Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as
Prague. The river is linked by
canals 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.
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 Mittellandkanal and the lower Elbe to restore this connection. When the two nations were reunited, works began to improve and restore the original links: the
Elbe Canal Bridge near Magdeburg now allows large barges to cross the Elbe without having to enter the river. The often low water levels of the Elbe don't hinder navigation to Berlin any longer. (Source:
NoorderSoft Waterways Database
)
Etymology
First attested in Latin as
Albis, the name
Elbe means "river" or "river-bed" and is nothing more than the
High German version of a word (*
albiz) found elsewhere in Germanic; cf.
Old Norse river name
Elfr,
Swedish dialectal
älv "deep river-bed",
Old English river name
Ielf, and
Middle Low German elve "river-bed" .
History
The Elbe was recorded by
Ptolemy as
Albis (
Germanic for "river", see below) in
Germania Magna with its source in the
Asciburgis mountains (
Krkonoše, Riesengebirge or Giant Mountains), where the Germanic
Vandalii lived.
The Elbe has long been an important delineator of European geography. The
Romans knew the river as the Albis; however, they only attempted once to move the Eastern border of their empire forward from the
Rhine to the Elbe, and this attempt failed in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in
9 AD, after which they never seriously tried again. In the
Middle Ages it formed the eastern limit of the Empire of
Charlemagne. The river's navigable sections were also essential to the success of the
Hanseatic League and much trade was carried on its waters.
In
1945, as
World War II was drawing to a close,
Nazi Germany was caught between the armies of the western Allies advancing from the west and the
Soviet Union advancing from the east. On
April 25, these two forces linked up near Torgau, on the Elbe. The event was marked as
Elbe Day. After the war, the Elbe formed part of the border between
East and
West Germany.
According to Russian accounts, In April,
1970, when the
SMERSH facility in
Magdeburg was being transferred to the
East German government, the remains of
Adolf Hitler,
Eva Braun,
Joseph Goebbels,
Magda Goebbels and
the Goebbels' six children were reportedly exhumed, thoroughly cremated, and the ashes finally dumped unceremoniously into the Elbe.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Elbe'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://elbe.totallyexplained.com">Elbe Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
