Well-maintained Danube embankment– an excellent place to explore the sights of more than 10 European countries. The river's length of almost 3,000 km makes it the second longest in Europe and the longest waterway in the EU.

According to scientists, the name appeared in the Proto-Slavic language from Gothic, where it was a transformed Celtic word “Danuvius”. Celtic tribes lived on the banks of the Danube, which was then known as the Ister, in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. The famous ancient Greek researcher Herodotus wrote about this in his “History”, dating back to the 5th century. BC e.

The depth in different parts of the Danube River ranges from 2 to 2.8 m, and its source is in the German Black Forest. In the state of Baden-Württemberg, near the town of Donaueschingen, at an altitude of about 700 meters above the plain, the confluence of the Breg and Brigach mountain streams occurs. It is here, near the fortifications of the local fortress, that a well-maintained spring gushes out, considered the source of the famous river.

Source of the river

General information about the Danube

The mouth of the Danube is a delta on the Ukrainian-Romanian border, where its waters mix with the waters of the Black Sea.

The river basin is more than 800 thousand km 2. Along its entire length, sharp turns of the channel are observed: first to the southeast in the German mountain range, and then to the northeast. Near Regensburg is the northernmost point of the river bed, after which it flows again in a south-easterly direction and passes through the Vienna Basin, the Middle Danube Lowland, the Southern Carpathians and the Lower Danube Lowland. The southernmost mark of the channel is located near the Bulgarian town of Svishtov.

Approximately 30 km from its source near Immedingen, this waterway almost completely disappears underground for almost 200 days each year, only seeping through the limestone rocks.

Depending on the terrain, season and climatic conditions, the level of the navigable Danube River fluctuates between 1-5 m.

Romania and Serbia

Geography of the river

Finding on the map where the Danube River is located is not difficult: it is an adornment of many European countries, as well as a natural border for some of them. People can admire its beauty:

• Germany
• Austria
• Slovakia
• Hungary
• Croatia
• Serbia
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Moldova
• Ukraine

It is also important to know which countries the Danube connects through its fairly extensive basin. Additionally, these include Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, certain regions of which are included in the river delta.

Nature

Major tributaries

To get an idea of ​​the importance of this waterway for the ecosystem of the entire European part of the continent, it is worth studying in more detail which rivers flow directly into the Danube. There are quite a lot of them, both on the right and left sides. The right tributaries are considered (the area of ​​flow is given in brackets):

• Iskar (Bulgaria);
• Iller and Isar (Germany);
• Morava (Serbia);
• Lech (Germany and Austria);
• Sava (Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia);
• Drava (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Hungary);
• Inn (Germany, Austria and Switzerland);
• Raba (Hungary and Austria);
• Enns (Austria).

The left tributaries of the river are (the territory of flow is given in brackets):

• Prut (Romania, Moldova and Ukraine);
• Morava (Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia);
• Siret (Romania and Ukraine);
• Vág i Hron (Slovakia);
• Tisza (Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania);
• Ipel (Slovakia and Romania).

The longest tributary of the Danube– Tisza, whose length is slightly more than 960 km. This river flows through the regions of five states.

Tisza River

Excursion along the Danube

River cruises on this majestic river are very popular due to the fact that in 7-8 days you have the opportunity to see at least half of Europe. The cost of such a trip on a comfortable ship, depending on the travel conditions, varies from 800 to 2000 euros. The standard route along the Danube includes visiting the following cities:

GDZ in geography. Answers to workbooks, outline maps and textbook questions. We have everything right!

First circumnavigation of the world

Test tasks

1. Ferdinand Magellan was
b) a Portuguese in the service of the King of Spain

2. The strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan
c) the Strait of All Saints

3. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition circled the globe, moving all the time
a) from west to east

4. The first circumnavigation of the world continued
a) 3 years

5. The captain who was the first to sail his ship around the world was called
a) Fernand

6. List geographical features in the order of their achievements by the expeditions of Ferdinand Magellan. Put the letters corresponding to them in the table.

Thematic workshop

Here are five excerpts from the recordings of Magellan's companion Antonio Pigafetta, which he wrote in the form of a letter to his patron, the councilor Philippe de Villiers L'Isle Adan.

Put them in the correct order and answer the questions.

1.How many times did Magellan’s expedition cross the equator?
The voyage was around the world, crossing the equator 4 times.

2. What in the above passages gives reason to consider Pigafetta’s assessment of Ferdinand Magellan to be fair?

3. What is the modern name of the strait from which the expedition left on November 28, 1520?
The Strait of Magellan is a strait separating the Tierra del Fuego archipelago from continental South America.

4. How many days did the voyage across the Pacific Ocean last?
3 months and 20 days

Cartographic workshop

Trace the route of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition on the map and name the geographical features through which he passed.

1 – Palos.
2 – Atlantic Ocean.
4 – Strait of All Saints.
5 – Pacific Ocean.
6 – Philippine Islands.
9 – Indian Ocean.

Oceans, lakes and rivers

Danube River

In Europe, the Danube River is the second longest after the Volga. Water flow length, carrying its waters across the lands of Central and Eastern Europe, equal to 2872 km. The area of ​​the water basin is 817 thousand square meters. km. The water drop from source to mouth is 678 meters. The river bed crosses or is the border of 10 states: Romania (29% of the basin area), Hungary (11.6%), Serbia (10.2%), Austria (10%), Germany (7%), Bulgaria (5. 9%), Slovakia (5.9%), Croatia (4.4%), Ukraine (3.8%) and Moldova (1.6%). If we take all the tributaries flowing into the river, then 9 more states are added, accounting for 10.6%.

From source to mouth

Source

The water flow originates in the Black Forest mountain range. It is located in the southwestern part of Germany. In these places is the small German city of Donaueschingen (population 21 thousand people). On the outskirts of the city, at an altitude of 678 meters above sea level, 2 mountain streams merge together: Breg and Brigach. It is they who unite into a river, which is gradually turning into one of the most important waterways in Europe.

Upper, middle and lower reaches

The river is conventionally divided into upper, middle and lower reaches. The upper one is considered from the source to Vienna. This is a real mountain river. It flows in a narrow valley between the Alps and the Bohemian Massif, which is characterized by steep slopes. The width of the water flow to the city of Ulm is 20-80 meters. Downstream the channel widens and reaches a width of 100-300 meters. The current speed reaches 2.8 m/sec. In many places the riverbed is fenced and straightened by dams.

The middle course is considered from Vienna to the gorge, called the Iron Gate. In this section the channel runs along the Middle Danube Plain. The river valley is wide and varies from 5 to 20 km. The riverbed is quite winding and branched. The current speed is 0.7-1.1 m/sec. In some places, the water flow breaks through the ridges and forms valleys. In such places it narrows to 150 meters, and the depth increases to 20 meters. In the Kazane gorge the maximum depth reaches 70 meters.

The lower reaches cross the Lower Danube Plain. It is considered from the Iron Gate gorge to the mouth. In this place the Danube River is flat. A wide floodplain valley, the width of which reaches 10-20 km, branches into channels and branches. The width of the water flow reaches 2 km, the depth is 5-7 meters with a flow speed of 1 m/sec.

Estuary

At the mouth, the river forms a delta, which in its area is second only to the area of ​​the Volga. Its area is 4150 square meters.

km. Of these, 3.5 thousand sq. km are located on the territory of Romania, and the rest belongs to Ukraine. The nature of the delta is marshy and cut by branches. There are 3 main sleeves or arms. These are Kiliyskoye, Georgievskoye and the main shipping route - Sulinskoye. The delta is 75 km long and 65 km wide. Each branch creates its own deltas and flows into the Black Sea separately.

Danube River on the map

Branches and tributaries

The river is characterized by branches. Some of them extend more than 10 km from the main water flow. The longest branches are considered to be the Moson branch, Dunera-Veke, Small Danube, Borcha and Shoroksharsky. As for the tributaries, there are 300 of them. Of these, 34 are navigable.

It should be noted that the water flow basin is asymmetrical. Its right-bank part accounts for 44%, and the right-bank part - 56%. Most of the tributaries are located in mountainous areas, and there are very few of them on the flat landscape. Most of the tributaries are navigable. Among them we can name Iller, Isar, Morava, Drava, Tisa, Prut, Siret and Gron.

Cities

Many European cities are located on the banks of the mighty water stream. Four of them are capitals. This is Vienna - the capital of Austria.

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and Budapest is the capital of Hungary. One of the German cities is Regensburg in Bavaria. It stands at the confluence of the Regen and Danube tributaries. In Bulgaria this is the city of Ruse, it is considered the 5th largest in the country.

Danube in Hungary

Shipping

Shipping is carried out all year round. In cold winters it stops for a couple of months. More than 100 million tons of transport cargo are transported along the river every year. In 1992, the Main-Danube Canal was built in Bavaria. He connected the Danube with the Rhine through the Main River, and the water flow became part of the waterway from the Black Sea to the North Sea. In the lower reaches there are Romanian and Ukrainian shipping canals. Through them, large ships get from the river to the Black Sea.

River feeding

Feeding is rain, snow, glaciers and groundwater. Flood and low-water regimes are traced. The maximum water level is recorded in June, the minimum in the winter months - December, January, February. In the lower reaches, the maximum water level is observed during the flood period. These are the months of April and May. The lowest is recorded in the autumn months - September and October. The annual flow is 210 cubic meters. km. Water consumption is 6.4 thousand cubic meters. m/sec.

The Danube River is the most important transport artery in Europe. It is of great economic importance for most countries and supplies water to a large number of cities. Without this water flow, life in a huge region would simply stop.

Alexander Arsentiev

Danube River

History of the Danube River

The earliest reliable information about the Danube is contained in the writings of the ancient Greek historian and scientist Herodotus (5th century BC), who wrote in the second book of “History” that the Istrian River (the ancient Greek name for the Danube) begins in the country of the Celts and flows across Europe in the middle. The Ister River flows into the Euxine Pontus (the name of the Black Sea in those days) with seven branches (in other words, this means that before the Danube flows into the Black Sea, it was divided into seven rivers, its continuations). Herodotus also made conclusions about the nature of the river’s feeding, its tributaries, and much more, which amaze even modern scientists and geographers with their accuracy. The modern name of the river was given by the Celts, who lived here in the first half of the first millennium BC. In 105, Emperor Trajan threw the first stone bridge across the Danube, for possible movement from one bank of the river to the other.

In the literary sources of ancient times, the river bore this name from its source to the Cataracts. The Lower Danube was called Istrom in ancient times. In some ancient sources, this name extended to the entire river.

The first navigators to explore the lower reaches of the river were the Phoenicians, followed by the Greeks, who founded on the banks of the Danube in the 11th-9th centuries. BC e. their colonies and trading posts on the territory of the present cities of Izmail, Kilia, Silistra, etc., in the second half of the 9th century. BC e. Macedonians appear on the Danube.

The Romans made detailed studies of the entire course of the Danube. They built dozens of fortifications along the banks of the river, paved roads, and created a river fleet. And the Danube became a busy trade route.

In the XI-XII centuries. Slavic and other tribes, having significantly displaced the Byzantines to the south, settled on the banks of the Lower Danube. The Middle Danube is occupied Western groups Slavs - Czechs, Slovaks. Here, as well as on the Upper Danube, Germanic tribes and Turkic newcomers firmly established themselves.

The emergence of Kievan Rus at the turn of the 9th-9th centuries. led to a revival of trade along the Danube, a natural waterway convenient for maintaining connections not only between the peoples who inhabited its banks, but also for trade with coastal states on the Black Sea and beyond. In the Russian chronicle of times Prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav says that here “...all good things come together: from the Greek gold, pavoloki (which means fabrics), wines and various vegetables, from the Czechs and Ugor silver and komoni (that’s what horses were called), from Rus' fast (that is, leather) and wax, honey and servants."

“All good things” whetted the appetites of many rulers. The Persian king Darius and Alexander the Great, the Roman emperors and Batu Khan sent their troops here. Detachments of crusaders moved along the Danube. For almost three centuries, the Ottoman Empire was the mistress of the Lower and Middle Danube. During periods of modern and recent history, Austria, Germany, England, France, and the Russian Empire competed here.

The rich nature of the region, its past and new buildings - all this is of great interest. Every year the flow of tourists traveling around the great river.

Thus, further, along with the history of Europe, the history of the international river also took shape, and now we can observe the Danube as it has already been formed over long periods of history. Today, the river can be said to have global significance, uniting European countries with its waters, with the possibility of various sea transportations.

Danube River

The river originates in the Black Forest mountains - Baden-Württemberg in Germany, where near the city of Donaueschingen at an altitude of 678 m above sea level, the Breg mountain streams, whose length is 48 km, merge. and Brigah, 43 km long.

About the direction of the river flow, we can say that along its path the Danube changes direction several times. First, it flows through the mountainous region of Germany to the southeast, and then at around 2747 km (the kilometer of the river is measured from the extreme point of the arm in the direction of the source) it changes direction to the northeast. This direction continues until the city of Regensburg (2379 km), where the northernmost point of the river flow is located (49°03′ N). Near Regensburg, the Danube turns southeast, then crosses the Vienna Basin, and then flows for more than 600 km along the Middle Danube Lowland. Having laid a channel through the mountain ranges of the Southern Carpathians along the Iron Gate gorge, it flows through the Lower Danube Lowland all the way to the Black Sea (more than 900 km). The deepest point of the river is located near the city of Svishtov (Bulgaria) - 43°38′ north latitude.

In the lower reaches of the Danube, branching, creates a large, swampy delta cut through by a dense network of branches and lakes, 75 km long from west to east and 65 km wide from north to south. The Danube has numerous branches, which sometimes diverge significantly (10 kilometers or more) from the main flow.

The longest on the right bank are the branches of the Moson or Gyor Danube (turn - 1854 km, arm - 1794 km) and Duneria-Veke (237 and 169 km); on the left bank - the Young Danube (source - 1868 km, flows into the Vag), Shoroksharsky Danube (1642 and 1586 km), Borcha (371 and 248 km). The top of the delta is located near Cape Izmail Chatal, 80 km away. from the branch, where the main channel of the Danube first splits into the Kiliya and Tulchinsky. Seventeen kilometers downstream, the Tulchinskoe arm is divided into the Georgievskoe arm and the Sulina arm, which flow into the Black Sea separately. The Kiliya branch within the borders of the territory of Ukraine creates the so-called Kiliya delta, which is the most fleeting part of the Danube delta. Most of the Danube delta is covered with floodplains - this is the second largest area of ​​this landscape in Europe (second only to the floodplains in the Volga delta). The Danube Biosphere Reserve is located in the Danube Delta.

Regarding the tributaries, it is worth adding that the Danube basin has an asymmetrical shape; its right bank part is smaller in size (accounting for 44% of the total catchment area), but on the right bank there are the most full-flowing tributaries, with which approximately 70% of the water enters the Danube.

About 120 tributaries of the Danube form the hydrographic grid of the basin. The tributaries are distributed unevenly: most of them are located in the foothills of the Alps and Carpathians; there are almost none of them in the territory of the Hungarian (Middle Danube) lowland. The tributaries of the Danube, which originate in the mountains, have a mountainous character in the upper reaches. Entering the plain, they acquire the typical features of lowland rivers and are navigable over a long distance. I would also like to add that in Slovakia the largest island, Žitný, is a river island of the Danube and at the same time of Europe.

On the banks of the Danube River there are dozens of large cities, including the capitals of four European countries: Austria - the city of Vienna (with a population of about 1600 thousand people), Serbia - the city of Belgrade (with a population of about 1200 thousand people), Hungary - the city of Budapest (whose population is 2016 thousand), Slovakia - Bratislava (with a population of about 430 thousand).

Characteristics of the territorial division of the river

The Danube from source to branch flows through the territory or along the border of 10 states (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine).

Also, the Danube basin fully or partially covers the territories of 17 countries of Central and Southern Europe (except for the 10 above - Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. For all Danube countries, the Danube in some areas is a natural state border with neighboring countries.Within the borders of the territories of individual countries, the length of the Danube ranges from 0.2 km, this is in Moldova, and up to 1075 km where the river flows in Romania.

According to the complex of physical and geographical characteristics, the Danube is divided into the following three parts, these are:

· the upper Danube, whose length is 992 km, flows from the source of the river to the village of Genyu;

· the middle Danube is 860 km long, flowing from the village of Genu to the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin (the city is located in the southwestern part of Romania;

· The Lower Danube flows over an area of ​​931 km. from the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin and right up to the confluence of the Danube into the Black Sea. The Danube provides almost half of the total flow into the Black Sea.

Development of sea freight along the Danube

The development of navigation on the Danube began in the 19th century. In 1834, Izmail merchants owned 20 ships, Reni merchants owned 5 fleet units. To transport goods abroad along the shortest route, transport with a small carrying capacity was used, since the Chilia branch of the Danube did not allow the passage of ships with a draft of more than 6 feet (1 foot - 33 cm).

IN mid-19th century century, the rise of the Danube ports has been observed. In 1846 alone, 138 ships visited Izmail, among them 50 Russian, 45 Turkish, 38 Greek, 8 Austrian, 2 English. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) became the main obstacle to the development of Danube trade and within 20 years Russia was virtually eliminated from the Danube. After the victory in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The state border of Russia was established along the Chilia arm of the Danube and the Prut River.

In the early 80s of the 19th century, the Russian government was faced with the task of creating a steamship company on the Danube. On July 3, 1881, the “Regulations on urgent goods and passenger steamship traffic between the cities of Odessa and Izmail with calls at Kiliya and Reni” were approved. Every two weeks, the entrepreneur's steamship made urgent trips to Izmail, then to Kiliya, from Kiliya to Reni, from Reni to Izmail and through Sulina to Odessa. The ship's speed was 7 knots. The second steamship of Yu. E. Gagarin “Fedor”, renamed in 1883. to Izmail, made 18 voyages to the port of Reni. His goal was noble - to open the way to the Danube for the Russian commercial fleet, and he spent all his capital on a new, still unknown business.

Regular cabotage transportation between Russian Danube ports was gradually established. However, the development of capitalist production and the growth of product output required new markets for goods. It was necessary to establish close trade ties with the Danube countries. Gagarin could not solve this issue alone. His personal funds were not enough for this.

In 1883, the business started by Gagarin grew into a trading company. 125 years ago, the first Russian shipping company, Prince Yuri Gagarin and Co., appeared. Since November 21, 1883, for the first time in the history of domestic commercial shipping on the Danube, Russia has established regular international trade relations with the Danube states.

To stay on the banks of the Danube in competition with shipping companies of other foreign powers, it was necessary to have a strong merchant fleet. Therefore, a few years later, in 1886, the shipping company of Prince Gagarin was transformed into a joint-stock company called the Black Sea-Danube Shipping Company. This society opened the way for Russian goods along the great European river and proved the profitability of steamship communication on the Danube.

October 14, 1944 by decision State Committee For the defense of the USSR, the Soviet Danube State Shipping Company was created in the city of Izmail to ensure the transportation of Soviet troops and equipment along the Danube, as well as national economic cargo.

The growth of trade turnover and the development of navigation along the Danube required equipping the shipping company with qualitatively new vessels. In the 50s – 60s, 75 new tugs and pushers of the following types were built: “Vladivostok”, “Kiev”, “Moscow”, “Riga”, “Ivanovo”, “Korneuburg”, and in the 70s – 80s the river fleet The shipping company was replenished with powerful pushers of the “Sergey Avdeenkov”, “Zaporozhye”, “Leningrad” types and 19 self-propelled dry-cargo vessels of the “Captain Antipov” series. Along with this, the outdated fleet was decommissioned.

In 1957, the deep-water Prorva Canal was opened in the Chilia part of the Danube Delta, which contributed to the development of maritime transport and the UDP fleet.

May 19, 1978 On the basis of an intergovernmental agreement between four countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia - an international economic shipping enterprise was created.

Since 1984 A lighter transport and technological system was in operation, serviced by the lighter carriers “Boris Polevoy”, “Pavel Antokolsky”, “Anatoly Zheleznyakov” and “Nikolai Markin”. The system worked in the following areas: ports of the Black and Mediterranean Seas, the Middle East, North and East Africa.

The Soviet Danube Shipping Company in the 80s was a large complex enterprise, the transport fleet of which alone numbered more than 1000 units with a deadweight of about 1 million tons. SDP provided transportation of the country's foreign trade cargo, cargo of foreign owners in the Danube River basin, as well as to the ports of the Black, Mediterranean, Red Seas of Southeast Asia, Western and Northern Europe.

In 1983, the Soviet Danube Shipping Company was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

Later, in the 90s, the fleet of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company was replenished with a series of six sea vessels built in Portugal.

In 2001, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company was the first in the country to be awarded the status of a national carrier.

It is worth adding that the priority activity of the Danube Shipping Company is the provision of transport services to legal entities and individuals with guaranteed quality of transportation, convenience and safety of delivery of goods and passengers. The main direction of the company is focused on meeting the needs and interests of the client, as well as on developing long-term cooperation.

The Danube is the largest Western European river with well-established navigation. Barges and bulk carriers operate on the river during the entire navigation period, and motor ships of tourist companies make tours along the Danube in the summer months, from May to September. The river is very picturesque, a gift for lovers of leisurely cruises and travelers who try to visit in one go maximum amount countries The Danube is quite suitable for such a purpose; ten European countries are located along its route.

The countries through which the Danube River flows begin in Germany, where the source is located. The mountains of the German Black Forest give rise to a great river. The birth of the Danube is surrounded by mystery. After traveling about thirty kilometers, the river suddenly disappears. All the water, up to last straw, goes underground, seethes there and rushes about, only to burst out after 12 kilometers in the form of a powerful spring, which was given the name Aach Spring. In 1876, this spring was tested; it turned out that it was fed entirely by water from the source of the Danube.

But the most interesting thing is that the Aach Spring gives all its water to the Radolfzeller Aach River, which carries it into Lake Boden, and from this lake originates one of the largest waterways in Germany. Nevertheless, the available water resources are quite sufficient for the Danube itself. After the turn near Regensburg, Germany, the river gains strength, gradually becomes full-flowing and slowly flows on. After passing through Austria and the Vienna Trench, the Danube River flows for some time along the border of Slovakia with Hungary. Or rather, it becomes a natural border between the two countries over a fairly long period. Then, in the Budapest area, it turns sharply to the south.

Now the path of the wonderful European river lies to the south, along the way the Danube divides the Hungarian capital - Budapest - into two cities, Buda and Pest. It must be said that Buda and Pest, together with the Danube, form one of the most beautiful places on the entire globe. The Hungarian capital is also the world capital of therapeutic and health baths. Many have brought Budapest to one of the first places in the medical recreation industry, and the Blue Danube helped the city in this.

Once the Danube crosses the southern border of Hungary, it again becomes a natural border between two countries, this time Serbia and Croatia. However, the Danube River soon turns sharply to the left, leaving the border and meeting the beautiful old city of Belgrade. There, the Danube receives one of its main tributaries. Having replenished its strength, it flows further towards Romania. And again, for the umpteenth time, the Danube River becomes a natural border between the two countries. Along the entire length of contact between Romanian territory and Bulgaria, the border runs along the Danube.

And only a little before reaching the shores of the Black Sea, the Danube River turns north to touch the southernmost point of Moldova and walk a little across Ukrainian soil. It divides into several branches, forming a classic triangle of a river delta, passes the last few kilometers and calmly pours its waters, tired from a long journey, into the hospitable Black Sea.

This one of the largest rivers in Europe is also the ancestral home of the birth of civilization. Danube - sacred river Slavs It is often mentioned in songs, fairy tales, legends and traditions of all Slavic peoples. In addition, the history of the Celts, Thracians, Illyrians and Greeks is connected with the history of the Danube. In ancient times, the Greeks called the Danube the same as the Thracians who lived along the banks of this river - Ister. And only later, already in Roman times, the river received its modern name, which was pronounced and written as Danubium. In the 7th century BC, the Greeks founded a colony south of the river delta and called it Istria.
The ancients first looked for the sources of the river near the Riphean Mountains. Then far to the north, and later in the land of the Celts in the Hercynian Forest. But already in 15 BC, during the reign of Tiberius, the true sources of the Danube were established: it begins on the massif now called the Black Forest with two sources at an altitude of 1 kilometer.
Since the reign of Augustus, the Danube became the border of the Roman state with the northern barbarians.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DANUBE
Danube (Romanian Dunărea, Hungarian Duna, German Donau, Serbian Dunav, Slovak Dunaj, Bulgarian Dunav, Croatian Dunav, Ukrainian Danube, Latin Danubius, Danuvius, other Greek Ίστρος) - the second largest longest river in Europe (after the Volga), an “international” river, the longest river in the European Union.
Length - 2960 km.

The river originates in Germany, in the Black Forest mountains. Further, the Danube flows or is the border of ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine; passing through the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe such as Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. In addition to these ten countries, the Danube drainage basin covers the territories of nine more European countries. The Danube flows into the Black Sea, forming a delta in Romania and Ukraine; the Romanian part of which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Russian name of the river goes back to Praslav. *Dunajь, which was borrowed through Gothic. *Dōnawi from Celtic. Dānuvius. Polish scientist Jan Rozwadovsky suggested that the Slavs originally used the word *Dunajь to refer to the Dnieper (as can be heard in Ukrainian and Belarusian folklore). K. Moshinsky supported this assumption, believing that when some of the Slavs migrated to the vicinity of the Danube, the name of which was originally borrowed as *Dunavъ/*Dunavь, the name was transferred from the previously known river. Moshinsky was objected to by T. Ler-Splavinsky, who pointed out that the word “Danube” and its derivatives are used to name a dozen rivers and streams in the territory of Slavic languages, in addition, this word functions as an appellative in Polish and Ukrainian dialects. In this regard, Ler-Splavinsky restores for the Proto-Slavic language common noun*dunaj « big water", derived from pra-i.e. *dhouna. Lehr-Splavinsky’s conclusions were ignored in the work of V. N. Toporov and O. N. Trubachev “Linguistic analysis of hydronyms of the Upper Dnieper region”, which derived the hydronym “Dunaec”, found on Slavic lands from the name of the Danube, for which this work was criticized by Z. Golomb .

Schlogen, Germany Danube River

Historical information
Early reliable information about the Danube is contained in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who wrote in the second book of “History” that the Ister River (the ancient Greek name for the Danube) begins in the country of the Celts and flows, crossing Europe in the middle (II :33). The Ister River flows into the Euxine Pontus (Black Sea) with seven branches. The modern name was given by the Celts, who lived here in the first half of the first millennium BC. In 105, Emperor Trajan built the first stone bridge across the Danube.

Physiography
Source

The river originates in the Black Forest mountains (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), where near the city of Donaueschingen at an altitude of 678 m above sea level the mountain streams Breg (length 48 km) and Brigach (length 43 km) merge.

source of the Danube

Near the walls of the local castle-palace in the city there is an architecturally designed spring, presented as the source of the Danube.

Underground part of the Danube
Near Immendingen, about 30 kilometers from the source, the Danube disappears underground and most of its water seeps through cracks, crevices and craters in the calcareous rocks that make up the river valley.

12 km south of the place where the Danube disappears, the Aach Spring, the most powerful in Germany, gushes out of the ground. The amount of flowing water reaches 8.5 t/sec. The Radolfzeller Aach river originates from it and flows into Lake Constance, from where the Rhine flows.

In 1877, for the first time, it was possible to prove that the Aach Spring is fed by the underground waters of the Danube: 100 centners of rock salt were dissolved in the upper reaches of the Danube, not far from the cracks absorbing it, and after 55 hours this salt appeared in the waters of the Aach. During the flood period, the underground stream travels this path in just 20 hours. It became clear that water flows underground in huge channels until it bursts out in the Aach Spring from the Vimzen Cave. The height difference between the disappearance of the Danube and the source of the Aach is 185 m.

Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany Danube River

Direction
On its way, the Danube changes direction several times. First, it flows through the mountainous region of Germany to the southeast, and then at around 2747 km (the kilometer of the river is measured from the extreme point of the arm in the direction of the source) it changes direction to the northeast. This direction continues to the city of Regensburg (2379 km), where the northernmost point of the river flow is located (49 ° 03 "N).
Near Regensburg, the Danube turns southeast, then crosses the Vienna Basin, and then flows for more than 600 km along the Central Danube Lowland.
Having laid a channel through the mountain ranges of the Southern Carpathians along the Iron Gate gorge, it flows through the Lower Danube Lowland all the way to the Black Sea (more than 900 km).

The southernmost point of the river is located near the town of Sweatshirt (Bulgaria) - 43°38"N.

Danube Delta
In the lower reaches of the Danube, branching, creates a large, swampy delta cut through by a dense network of branches and lakes, 75 km long from west to east and 65 km wide from north to south. The top of the delta is located near Cape Izmail Chatal, 80 km from the branch, where the main channel of the Danube first splits into the Kiliya and Tulchin branches. 17 kilometers downstream, Tulchinskoye is divided into the Georgievskoye branch and the Sulinskoye branch, which flow into the Black Sea separately. The Kiliya branch within the borders of the territory of Ukraine creates the so-called Kiliya delta, which is the most fleeting part of the Danube delta. Most of the Danube delta is covered with floodplains - this is the second largest area of ​​this landscape in Europe (second only to the floodplains in the Volga delta). The Danube Biosphere Reserve is located in the Danube Delta.

Sleeves
The Danube has numerous branches, which sometimes diverge significantly (10 kilometers or more) from the main flow. The longest on the right bank are the branches of the Moson or Gyor Danube (turn - 1854 km, arm - 1794 km) and Duneria-Veke (237 and 169 km); on the left bank - the Small Danube (source - 1868 km, flows into the Vag), Shoroksharsky Danube (1642 and 1586 km), Borcha (371 and 248 km).

Tributaries
The Danube basin has an asymmetrical shape. Its right bank part is smaller in size (44% of the catchment area). But on the right bank of the tributaries of the Danube, a hydrographic grid of the basin is formed. The tributaries are distributed unevenly: most of them are located in the foothills of the Alps and Carpathians; there are almost none of them in the territory of the Hungarian (Middle Danube) lowland.
The tributaries of the Danube, which originate in the mountains, have a mountainous character in the upper reaches. Entering the plain, they acquire the typical features of lowland rivers and are navigable over a long distance.

Danube, Germany

The largest island of the Danube is Žitny Island, located in Slovakia.

Other characteristics
At a straight line distance between the source (Donaueschingen) and the extreme point of the delta (mark “0 km” in the Ukrainian part of the delta below the city of Vilkovo on the island of Ankudinov) of 1642 km, the river tortuosity coefficient is 1.71. The average decline of the Danube is 24.4 cm per 1 km.

Parts of the Danube (Danube) According to the complex of physical and geographical characteristics, the Danube is divided into the following three parts:
Upper (992 km) - from the source to the village of Genyu;
Middle (860 km) - from Genho to the city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin;
Nizhny (931 km) - from the city of Turnu Severin to the confluence with the Black Sea.

Serbia, Golubac Fortress Danube River

Mode
The hydrological regime of the Danube is determined by three phases: spring flood, summer-autumn floods, autumn-winter low water. The annual amplitude of water level fluctuations ranges from 4.5-5.5 m (near Reni) to 6-8 m (near Budapest). Ordinary annual water flows upstream, currents are 420 m3/s, in the middle reaches - 1900 m3/s, at the mouth - 6430 m3/s. The maximum water flow in the lower reaches is 20 thousand m3/s, the minimum is 1800 m3/s. The annual flow is about 123 km3 per year. The Danube freezes only in cold winters for 1.5-2 months.

Temperatures
The temperature regime in the Danube basin is determined mainly by the nature of the circulation air masses and terrain features. Air temperature varies over a wide range. In winter, the average temperature of the coldest month, January, ranges from −1 to −5 °C. In summer, the average temperature of the warmest month - July - in the upper part of the basin is from +16 to +18 °C, in the central part of the basin - from +17 to +22 °C, in the lower part - from +22 to +26 °C.

The Danube basin is influenced by air masses penetrating from the Atlantic, eastern Europe and western Asia.

In the Upper Danube region, the prevailing winds in the cold season are winds from the west and north-west. On the Middle Danube the eastern and south-eastern winds predominate, on the Lower Danube - northern and north-eastern ones.

In the warm season, the direction of the prevailing winds is more constant and mainly falls on the western quarters. On the Middle and Lower Danube, the “koshava” (bora type) wind is very dangerous for navigation - it has a western and northwestern direction and reaches 20-30 m/s in some places.

In the coastal part of the Danube Delta, surge winds (a strong wind from the sea slows down the flow of the river, and sometimes even turns the flow back) pose a great danger to coastal settlements. With such winds, rapid flooding of coastal areas can occur.

Precipitation
The distribution of precipitation throughout the basin is uneven. The average annual precipitation on the plain is 400-600 mm, in the Carpathians - 800-1200 mm, in the Alps - 1800-2500 mm, and sometimes more. The least amount of precipitation falls in the Danube Delta. There are years when there is no precipitation here from early March to mid-November. Snow cover in the Danube basin is not established, with the exception of the mountainous parts of the Upper Danube basin.

A characteristic feature of the Danube ice regime is the extreme instability of ice phases and different time their offensive. Some years ice phenomena may be absent along the entire length of the river. On the Lower Danube, stable ice cover in the main channel appears once every 5-7 years.

Schönbuhel Castle, Austria Danube River

Political geography

From source to mouth, the Danube flows through the territory or border of 10 countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine).
Also, the Danube basin fully or partially covers the territories of 19 countries of Central and Southern Europe (except for the 10 listed above - Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia).
For all Danube countries, the Danube in some areas is a natural state border with neighboring countries. Within the territories of individual countries, the length of the Danube ranges from 1075 km (Romania) to 0.2 km (Moldova).

Budapest, Hungary Danube River

Major cities on the Danube River
On the banks of the Danube there are dozens of large cities, including the capitals of four European countries: Austria - Vienna (1,597 thousand inhabitants), Serbia - Belgrade (1,670 thousand), Hungary - Budapest (1,702 thousand), Slovakia - Bratislava (425 thousand). ).
On the tributary of the Isar stands the capital of Bavaria (federal state of Germany) Munich (1365 thousand).

Regensburg - Germany
Vienna, Linz - Austria
Vukovar - Croatia
Bratislava - Slovakia
Budapest, Hungary
Belgrade - Serbia
Ruse, Vidin - Bulgaria
Braila, Galati - Romania
Izmail - Ukraine

Shipping
The path from the North Sea to the Black Sea
Following the construction of the Main-Danube Canal in Germany in 1992, the river became part of the trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on the North Sea to Sulin on the Black Sea (3,500 km) (via the Rhine, of which the Main is a tributary). The volume of transport traffic along the Danube reached 100 million tons (1987).
In the lower reaches of the Danube there is a Romanian shipping canal (Danube-Black Sea Canal), and in the river delta there is a Ukrainian shipping canal "Danube-Black Sea". Both canals provide passage for large ships from the Danube to the Black Sea.
Shipping on the Danube continues for most of the year and is interrupted only for 1-2 months. In especially warm winters it does not stop all year round.
In 1999, shipping was difficult due to the destruction of three bridges as a result of NATO bombing of Belgrade. Cleaning of the riverbed was completed in 2002.

There are 19 locks on the river, the difference between the upper and lower pools can be from 5 to 34 meters.

Belgrade, Serbia Danube River

Legal status of shipping
IN international law The order of navigation on the Danube (the so-called “Danube regime”) was first established by the Austro-Turkish treaty of 1616. The Paris Treaty of 1856 declared the Danube an international river. In the same year, the European Danube Commission was formed (for 2 years, but its existence was repeatedly extended). After World War I, the Danube regime was established in 1921, which was signed by many European states except the USSR. These two commissions, the International Danube Commission and the European Danube Commission, regulated shipping and various issues related to it.

On August 18, 1948, the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia signed a new convention on the Danube regime. According to it, navigation on the Danube should be open to civil and commercial ships of all states. At the same time, military vessels of non-Danubian states do not have the right to navigate on the Danube, and military vessels of the Danube states can sail outside the waters of their state only with the consent of the interested parties. Danube River

catchment area

The total area of ​​the Danube drainage basin is 817 thousand km². Its extreme points are 42°12" and 50°05" N. latitude, 8°10" and 29°40" e. d. The length of the basin from west to east is 1690 km, width 820 km.

The Danube basin is bordered in the north by the drainage basins of the Weser, Elbe, Odra, and Vistula rivers, in the northeast by the Dniester, and in the west and northwest by the Rhine. To the south of the Danube basin are the basins of small rivers of the Adriatic, Aegean and Black Seas.
The Danube is fed by rainwater, melted snow and glaciers of the Alps and Carpathians, as well as groundwater.
Despite the complex regime of water levels, periods of flood, low water and winter are clearly visible on the Danube.

In the upper Danube, the highest water level occurs at the beginning of summer (June), the lowest in winter (December-February). In the section of the middle Danube, before the confluence of large tributaries (Drava, Tisza and especially Sava), the water level regime remains close to the upper Danube, but the amplitude of fluctuations is somewhat smoothed out.
In the lower Danube, the highest water level occurs during the flood period (April-May), the lowest occurs in the fall (September-October).
The annual flow of the Danube is about 210 km³ of water.
Water consumption - 6400 m³/s. Danube River

GEOGRAPHY OF THE DANUBE RIVER
Length of the Danube: 2,860 kilometers.
Area of ​​the Danube basin: 817,000 square kilometers.

Where the Danube flows: On the eastern slope of the Black Forest (Germany), the Breg stream originates, which, joining into one channel with another stream, the Brigach, takes the name Danube. The source of Breg lies 7 km north-northwest of Furtwangen, at an altitude of 1000 meters above the sea surface, between the Rossek and Brigbrain mountains, and Brigach begins almost 9 kilometers to the east, 4 kilometers southwest of St. George, flows through Billingen, which lies only 5 km from the sources of the Neckar, and under the city of Donaueschingen, receiving a stream flowing from the castle garden of this city and formerly considered the source of the Danube, it unites into one channel with the Breg stream. The area where these three streams merge is a marshy plain. From here the river takes the name Danube and flows first to the SE, maintaining the direction of Brega, but soon changes it to the SE, which it continues to the city of Regensourg, where it again turns to the SE and flows in this direction to the city of Passau. This city is generally considered to be the terminus of the Upper Danube; from here to the Iron Gates there is the Middle Danube, and from the Iron Gates to the mouth the Lower Danube.

Passau city, Germany

In the upper reaches of the Danube, it first runs from the southern foot of the Swabian Jura to the city of Donauwerth, from here to Regensburg - at the foot of the Frankish Jura. Flowing through this mountainous area, the Danube, with a large slope, is very fast, especially near Ulm, at an altitude of 469 meters. To Ulm, along the right bank of the river there are forested mountains, although in some places there are swampy and swampy small plains, and from Ulm, under which the Danube, having received its first alpine tributary Iller, becomes navigable (with a width of 78 meters), the right bank it becomes completely flat, while the left one remains mountainous and rocky.

The Middle Danube near Passau receives the Inn tributary, causing its water mass to almost double, and, leaving the elevated plains of Bavaria, enters the valley, with its right bank lying in Austrian possessions. Already beyond Passau, a gorge begins, stretching over an area of ​​about 120 kilometers to Krems and formed on one side by the southern spurs of the Bohemian Forest, Greinerwald and Mangartswald, and on the other by the northern spurs of the Alps (Sauwald). Here the Danube bed is littered with stones and cluttered with islands that form the famous Strudel rapids.
The water divides into frantic streams around the island, on which the ancient castle of Werfenstein stands in ruins, and rushes rapidly in the general channel, which narrows here to only 146 meters. In the past, a mass of water hit the large isolated rock of Gausstein and formed a terrible whirlpool, but in 1854 the rock was blown up and the path through the rapids ceased to be difficult. Not far from here, the Danube emerges from the mountain gorges, spreads out like a wide tablecloth and is divided into many branches, between which are low-lying islands, the so-called “Auen”, covered with thick grass and overgrown with willows, aspen and poplars. The river bed branches out in the form of many bends, some of which are convenient for navigation, others are cluttered with sandy shoals and gradually turn into swamps. Constrained once again by parts of the Vienna Woods, which it interrupted, the Danube enters the Lower Austrian Lowland, representing the bottom of the ancient lake through which it once flowed. Here it is as corrected in Lately The riverbed flows near the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna.
The southern part of this half has long been densely populated; manufacturing industry is in full swing everywhere, but the country along the northern bank of the river, towards Moravia, Marchfeld, only recently became covered with meadows and fields: in the Middle Ages, German emperors deliberately left these places uninhabited and uncultivated in order to be able to defend without It’s a lot of work to keep your limits from the invasion of wild hordes. From here, at the confluence of the Morava River, the Danube leaves Austrian-German soil and enters the borders of Hungary, where it is replaced by the last spurs of the Alps and the foothills of the Small Carpathians. Having passed the “Hungarian Gate” under Devin (130 m above sea level) and Presburg, the Danube enters the Hungarian Plain and spreads widely on its sloping banks.
Here it takes on the character of a real big river with changeable, indefinite banks, except in those places where mountains approaching the water itself cause the river to narrow again for a while. The Danube washes away the banks here, causing large masses of earth to collapse, which are then deposited in the riverbed or near the other shore in the form of numerous sandbanks, sandy arrows and spits, and even entire islands and islets. All this is overgrown with reeds, bushes and trees. Here the banks of the river are densely populated. Of the many islands, two large islands that lie below Pressburg stand out: Big and Little Schutte.
The first of them (87 kilometers long and about 25 kilometers wide) is called Tsalokez by its inhabitants, and by the Slovaks Zhitny Island and has about 200 villages. Petite Schuette is about 48 kilometers long. Divided into three channels, the Danube again unites into one channel near the city of Komorno and flows in an easterly direction to the city of Gran, again breaking through the “Visegrad Passage” between the protrusions of the Bacon Forest protruding to the south and the foothills of the Novograd Carpathians from the north under the mountains. Weizen D. turns quite sharply to the south and, having passed the Hungarian capital Budapest, where its height above sea level is 110 meters, enters the large Hungarian plain-lowland (Alfeld).
This area is of a steppe character: a huge low-lying plain, in which no significant elevations can be seen over a large area, strikes the observer with its monotony both in the nature of the area, both in the plant and animal kingdoms, even people here are the same throughout almost the entire space the same. In Alfeld, the Danube spreads widely and flows slowly between two sloping banks, in places forming real swamps and swamps; Otherwise, in a wide channel, islands rise from the earth deposited by river waters, or next to the main channel there are numerous branches separated from it, which subsequently merge again with the main river. The most significant of the islands on the Danube in this place are Szent András (between Weizen, Buda), then Csepel, Szar and Margita near Mogacs. Near Buda the depth is 8-12 meters, the width of the Danube here is about 1000 meters, and between Benek and Feldvar 570-1260 meters. Below the confluence of the Drava near Vukovar, the Danube is pushed to the ESE by the Sirmian hills (Fruska Gora, see) and flows to Peterwardein (82 m) and Slankamn. Here it receives the largest of its tributaries, the second artery of the Alfeld, the river. Tissu, and flows in the direction of the city of Zemlin, under which its width reaches 1560 m, depth up to 14 m; from here it goes to Belgrade and receives its main right tributary, the Sava; from this point it forms the border between Hungary and Serbia to Orsova, or Rshava.
Near the town of Bazias, the mountains squeezed the river into a gorge for about 130 km to the town of Kladova. This gorge is called Klissura, or the Iron Gate. In this gorge, the height of the Danube above sea level goes from 37.3 to 11 m; with such a strong slope, the river acquires extreme rapidity of flow and is compressed on both sides to the point of incredible (from 1900 meters, its width in the Iron Gate reaches 100 m, and in one place even up to 60 meters); its depth here from 20 meters reaches 50 m and even 75 meters, and the water fall, equal to 4 cm under Baziash. per 1 km, here in Iron Gate it reaches 540 m; These difficulties for navigation are also compounded by the fact that the river bottom is in many places strewn with underwater rocks and stones. Danube River

The Lower Danube begins at the river's exit from the Iron Gate. Here it again enters a more level area, flows with many bends, first to the south, and then, gradually turning to the east in an unbent semicircle, past the town. Vidin, Nikopol, Sistov, Rushchuk, Salistria with a width of 700-1000 meters. and a slight fall passes along the edge of the Great Wallachian Plain among a wide swampy lowland, cut by numerous branches, with huge puddles of stagnant water. At Cernavoda, separated from the sea by only 50 km, the Danube, meeting the flat hills of Dobrudzha, suddenly changes its east. direction and, bypassing it, turns through Girshova and Brailov to the north.
In this space it is divided into a whole labyrinth of branches. Only after the confluence of the Seret the Danube again takes its main eastern direction and receives the Prut on the left side. At a distance of about 7 km above Tulcea, the Danube forms its delta. This is a huge (about 2558 square kilometers) swampy plain, overgrown with high reeds (up to 3 meters in height), in which herds of buffalo and flocks of various water birds find shelter and wolves prowl. The extreme branches of this delta lie 89 km from one another.
Of these, the left (northern) one, divided into several parts and overflowing like a lake, passing through Izmail, flows into the Black Sea through the Chilia branch, covering 101 km and bringing with it 63% of all Danube water into the sea. The right branch beyond Tulcea is divided into Sulina (middle) and St. George (southern). The Sulina branch, after the second division, runs another 90 km, staying almost straight to the east, and flows into the Black Sea, bringing it only 7.4% of the Danube water. This is the most navigable of the Danube branches; its depth reaches 16 meters, on the shallows there are about 5 meters, and before it flows into the sea there is also a significant shallow.
This depth was achieved thanks to extensive hydraulic works carried out after Crimean War. The St. George's Arm stretches after the second division over a space of 110 kilometers, has a depth of 6 to 11 meters and before flowing into the sea there is a large shallow covered with water only one and a half meters.

Smederevo Fortress, Serbia Danube River

Method of feeding the Danube: the main role in feeding the river is played by water from the melting of mountain snows; Water from heavy rainfall and groundwater are of great importance.

Tributaries of the Danube: Iller (right), Lech (right), Isar (right), Inn (right), Enns (right), Morava (left), Raba (right), Vag (left), Gron (left), Ipel ( left), Drava (right), Tisa (left), Sava (right), Morava (right), Iskar (right), Siret (left), Prut (left).

Inhabitants of the Danube: sturgeon (beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon) and herring (herring, bellyfish), catfish, carp, asp, bream, silver bream, fisherman, pike perch, sterlet, roach, rudd, tench, crucian carp, perch, podust, gudgeon, bleak , ide, barbel, saberfish, pike, burbot and some others.

Freezing of the Danube: Flood occurs in the warm part of the year; it starts at the end of February and continues until August. The Danube is at its lowest in September and October. Freeze-up is not observed every year (in January-February).

DANUBE RIVER IN AUSTRIA
The drive through the magnificent Austrian part of the Danube Valley begins in the picturesque German town of Passau on the border of Germany and Austria. There the great Danube connects with the rivers Inn and Ilts.

Unique landscapes appear in the bends of the Danube near the town of Schlögen. Driving past the Wilhering monastery, you find yourself in the capital of Upper Austria, the city of Linz. Here the route briefly leaves the Danube towards the town of St. Florian with its impressive monastery, and then to the ancient Roman city of Enns and on to Steyr with its magnificent Old Town.

Through the fishing town of Grain, the road leads to the Wachau region, one of the most beautiful sections of the route, which has received the status of a UNESCO world cultural heritage. The local landscape is dominated by vineyards and apricot orchards, with picturesque towns and villages scattered throughout. Between them, as if on a throne, majestic monasteries and ancient ruins rise above the Danube.

The monasteries of Melk and Göttwai make an indelible impression. The monastery in Melk is a pearl of Austrian baroque architecture, state rooms, a library, frescoes, a collection of artistic treasures.

Göttweig Monastery is a beautiful Baroque monastery, within which there is a museum, an imperial highway, concerts, beautiful views of the Danube and the Wachau region, and opportunities for spiritual activities. From Göttweig to Melk - part of the Austrian section of the Way of St. James.

Further along the Danube, the towns of Spitz, Weissenkirchen and Durnstein amaze with their picturesque beauty, the latter with its famous ancient ruins. In the town of Klosterneuburg, northwest of Vienna, you can explore the majestic monastery. After this, the route will take you to the capital of Austria, the city of Vienna with its many attractions.

Leaving the city and continuing along the Danube to the east, you arrive at the Roman excavation site of Petronel Carnuntum, where you can take a trip to the ancient Romans in the archaeological park. History comes alive during exciting events such as gladiator fights, and summer camps are available.
Next, the Danube leads you to the town of Hainburg on the edge of the Donauauen National Park. Here the Danube leaves Austrian territory.

The Donauauen National Park is located on the outskirts of Vienna and is one of the last large undeveloped river valleys in Central Europe, providing an ideal habitat for numerous species of plants and animals. The valley's picturesque, idyllic landscapes can be enjoyed on foot, by bike or by boat.
In the Donauauen National Park there is the Orth Palace on the Danube with the multimedia permanent exhibition “DonAUräume” (Danube Spaces), an observation tower and the “Castle Island” area with typical animals and plants of the river valley.

The Danube, glorified by Johann Strauss, appears to us as a deep blue river, calmly carrying its waters among the spurs of the Vienna Woods. The Danube is closely surrounded by mountains, and silence reigns on its quiet and deserted banks, as, for example, in the Kazan gorge, where only the sound of the river is heard. But far from all its length it is calm and blue. Sometimes the Danube, compressed by the steep slopes of rocky mountains, angrily throws waves towards ships that can hardly overcome their pressure.

It is not customary to call the Danube a river on a ship: the Danube is the Danube, and the people involved in Danube transport are not rivermen, but sailors. Navigation on it is foreign, like on the sea, and the depths here are not large like a river: they allow sea ​​ships climb high up the Danube. And there is no need to talk about the difficulties of swimming, because sometimes the Danube wakes up so gloomy and preoccupied that even the sun’s rays do not make him happy

On the marble of Roman altars, the god Danube was depicted as an angry and scowling old man in long robes fluttering in the sharp wind. It is not difficult to imagine how fervently they offered prayer to such a god! But more than once people tried to argue with him: thousands of slaves, by order of Caesar, carved out depressions in the riverbed, in creeks and wherever smaller, in order to build canals convenient for ships.

Hungarian Vajdahuned Castle
The waves of the Danube know many languages: they hear the speeches of Hungarians and Czechs, Bulgarians and Romanians, the peoples of Yugoslavia and many others. Donau and Duna, Dunav and Dunerya - each nation has its own name for this second largest river in Europe. To those who know how to listen to its waves, the Danube will tell you a lot.

The river-border did not promise peace, and few people built a strong structure on its banks for a long time. home. But from time immemorial, fortresses and military camps grew here, first Roman, then Turkish and Austrian. Then they too were swept away by history, leaving jagged walls and towers erected by people on the vast expanses of the mountain shores.

In 513 BC, the Persian king Darius I Histapes launched a campaign against the inhabitants of the Danube region, but, having lost many of his soldiers, he fled shamefully. Not far from the modern village of Novoselskoye, located beyond Lake Yaltsukh, there is a mound on which, according to legend, the headquarters of King Darius was located. Here he received ambassadors from the Scythian leader Idanfirs, who handed him an ultimatum demanding that he leave the Danube steppes.

In 334 BC, Darius’s attempt was repeated by the famous ancient commander Alexander the Great. He crossed to the left bank of the Danube, ravaged the coastal settlements, but could not gain a foothold here and left with his army to the Balkans. And in Kilia, in memory of his stay, he erected a monument to the god Zeus.

In the 1st century, the Roman Emperor Tiberius built a road through the Cataract Gorge on the right bank of the Danube, but it acquired important strategic significance later when Emperor Trajan continued it further. At the entrance to Casani, on a steep rocky wall, there is a well-preserved memorial plaque of Emperor Trajan (103).

One of the many fortified points of the Romans on the right bank of the Danube was the Yatrus fortress, written sources about which are scarce and very fragmentary. The earliest mention of it occurs in the second half of the 2nd century and the first half of the 3rd century, when the fortress was under the command of the dux of the province of Second Moesia and it housed a garrison of shield-bearing cavalry. Subsequent events are unknown to historians, but in the 6th century, Emperor Justinian “renewed with new construction the damaged parts of the so-called fortifications of Yatrus and Tigas.” In the 8th century, Yatrus was not mentioned in written sources, since it had already been destroyed by the Avars and, probably, the Slavs.

Subsequently, the “Gorodishche” near the village of Krivina (as local residents call the ruins of Yatrus) served as a quarry, from where stone was taken for rural buildings and even for the construction of a pier in the city of Svishtov on the Danube. The most damaged were the fortress walls, made of well-hewn squares. There was no gate in either the southwestern or southeastern wall, but during excavations a tombstone with relief images of family members (father, mother, son and daughter) and with a Latin inscription was removed from the southwestern wall. A marble head of a man also comes from the ruins of Yatous.

The most dangerous for navigation on the Danube is the entrance to the Cataracts - a three-kilometer-long section, the so-called “Iron Gate”. This name is associated with the time when the Turks decided to close access to the Cataracts and blocked the riverbed in this place with iron chains. Here, near the Transylvanian Alps, the plain suddenly ends, and the Danube is forced to cut its way through the southern spurs of the mountains, forming its most magnificent gorge. Its banks suddenly rise to a height of 100 meters, and in the middle of the river a stone tooth sticks out above the breakers, looking like the remnant of a broken tower. In fact, this is the natural Babakai rock, reminding ships to be on alert...

On the steep cliffs, on the opposite banks of the Danube, you can see the ruins of two fortresses that once blocked the entrance to the valley. The Golubac fortress was built by the Serbian prince Brankovic, Laslovar by King Sigmund, but over time the Turks who captured them settled here. Golubac, which means “dovecote” in Russian, is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved fortresses of medieval Serbia. It is also known for the fact that poisonous flies, very dangerous for animals, lived in its caves. An old legend says that

In one of the fortresses there lived a young, beautiful Turkish woman, who left her master and went to the owner of the fortress on the opposite bank of the river. The enraged aga could not bear such deception and insult on the part of the harem concubine and calmed down only when the traitor was again in his hands. He chained her to the Babakay rock so that she, dying of hunger, would repent (“babakay” translated from Turkish as “repent”). But the beautiful Turkish woman was released, and the jealous aga subsequently died in one of the battles with Christians.

The island of Ada-Kale is born directly from the waters of the Danube, as if created by a theater artist. Here the mosque rises above the cinnabar tiles and above the apple thicket; and a lane running away from the mossy boat dock to God knows where; and the dilapidated walls of the ancient fortress overgrown with willow. There are 7 underground passages leading from it (one under the Danube), and the remains of ancient casemates in which children now play have also been preserved, so the fortress is not at all formidable, but more like a kind grandfather who is only pretending to be angry.

The island of Ada-Kale is not at all fabulous; Turks still live here - peaceful descendants of former conquerors: they live, work in a tobacco factory, fish and masterfully prepare Turkish delight. Translated from Turkish, Ada Kale means “fortress island.” Legend says that

The first settlement was founded here by the wandering dervish Mishkin Baba. He was poor, wore torn clothes and props, but was rich only in kindness and affection

to people. Yes, so rich that the sun shone in his eyes! All over the world Mishkin Baba searched for a place sheltered from anger, oppression and greed, and in the end he chose an island between the deserted banks of the Danube.

Until 1912, the island of Ada-Kale belonged to Turkey, and now to Romania, but whose water is here is difficult to determine, since the border of Romania and Yugoslavia passes here. On the Romanian side, the roofs of the city of Orsova are hidden behind the spurs of the mountains, in the vicinity of which Hercules lived, washing himself after his exploits in the sacred waters of the Danube. On the Hungarian coast stands the small and quiet town of Mohács, whose land became the scene of bloody battles three times in European history: twice with the Turkish Janissaries, and then with the Nazi invaders in the 20th century.

The wide Danube was divided into two branches by the gently sloping island of Szentendre, and it was difficult to find a more convenient place for crossing. That is why the paths of different peoples crossed here, and that is why a trading settlement appeared here. On the southern outskirts of Szentendre there are the ruins of the ancient Castra Constance, a Roman border fortress that for a long time bristled with arrows. In the 5th century, the fortress was destroyed by the Huns, and then the Danube bend passed from hand to hand - Celts, Romans, Huns, Germans, Avars, Slavs, Hungarians...

In 1009, even before the appearance of Buda and Pest, the Hungarian king Stephen I granted the village the name Szentendre, which has not changed since then. In 1146, by royal decree, the village was elevated to the rank of a city, 100 years later the Mongols besieged their horses near the Danube, and ashes remained in the place of Szentendre. Then the city was rebuilt, and it was no different from other Hungarian cities, and in the XFV century the first Serbian refugees came here...

The length of the Danube within Austria is 350 kilometers. The Austrians themselves say “The Danube flows not only through our territory, but also through our history.” There are still castles and fortresses on both banks of the river: Kreuzenstein - the former Roman fortress “Castellum Pergum”; Persenbeug Castle, which is mentioned in “ Song of the Nibelungs"; castles Spielberg, Tillisburg and many others

The waves of history swept away many conquerors and destroyed many of their castles and fortresses. Everything has passed, only the Danube remains - noisy and rumbling, gurgling and roaring. The Danube, which has long attracted people with its beauty and wildness, grandeur and treachery, the cold of its depths and the warm waters of its shallows...

DANUBE DELTA
“Paradise for birds”, “the newest land in Europe” are phrases that are often used when describing the Danube Delta.
A magical land where it seems that time has stood still. The bustling world of modern civilizations remains somewhere there, at the mouth of the delta.
The Danube Delta, a true museum of nature, is the lowest and newest land in Romania. Thanks to its flora and fauna, it is unique in Europe. The Danube Delta was formed in a place where there was once a sea bay, later an estuary, then it turns into a delta.

For 5,000 years, a small community of people, the people of the Danube Delta, lived in complete harmony with the delta's exceptional ecosystem, subsisting on fishing, animal husbandry and reed gathering. Small, archaic villages have not been touched by time and have retained their original appearance. The villages are isolated, the only access to them is through the delta canals. A traveler can explore this natural refuge by boat, find a world of peace and quiet, and admire the unique landscapes.

Danube Delta.
Area and structure.

The Danube Delta is located in the east of Romania and the southeast of Ukraine. The shape of the Danube Delta is similar to the classic letter of the Greek alphabet Δ “delta”.
The area of ​​the Danube Delta is approximately 4170 km hectares, of which 3445 km (82%) belong to Romania (in Tulcea County) and the remaining 18% to Ukraine. In terms of area, it ranks second in Europe, after the Volga River delta (15,000 sq km), which flows into the Caspian Sea.

Before the place where the Danube flows into the Black Sea, the Danube Delta expands to 100 km long x 100 km wide, and continues into the sea, at a distance of 10-15 km.

The Danube Delta is the result of the meeting between Europe's second longest river, the Danube, and the Black Sea. As a result of this contact, based on the deposition of sediment, sand and silt, the marshy soil of the Danube Delta was formed and this process continues to this day. In some places, the Danube Delta is expanding at a rate of 120 meters per year.
The Danube is divided into 3 large branches, Chilia, Sulina and Sfintul Gheorghe, from which numerous branches also originate, winding in labyrinths of water channels, feeding lakes with water or flowing again into the main branches and into the sea.
The most important lakes of the Danube Delta are located between the Kiliya and Razelmn branches: Tatanir, Furtuna, Matita, Babina, Dranov. The largest lake in the Danube Delta is Lake Dranov (27.1 sq km).
When the water level in the Danube is low, the Chilia, Sulina and Sfintul Gheorghe branches transport 60%, 21% and 19% of the Danube waters, and when the water level rises, 72%, 11% and 17% of the Danube water volume is obtained.

Climate and seasons in the Danube Delta
The climate here is maritime continental, the Danube Delta is the driest and sunniest part of Romania. In winter, the average temperature in the coldest month is
in January -10 ̊ C. In spring, the months of March-April are dry and cool, but sometimes during the day the temperature can already rise to 20-25 ̊ C. In May, the average temperature is +15. Summer in the delta is warm and dry. Autumn begins in October and ends in the second half of December. The second half of autumn is rainy.

Danube Delta, flora and fauna.
The constant presence of water certainly affects the plant world. The Danube Delta is famous for its rich plant and animal life.
The predominant areas are reed beds, sometimes up to 6 meters high, reeds, forests, and meadows.
The Danube Delta Nature Reserve is a paradise for birds. In summer, 320 species of birds are found here, of which 166 constantly nest in the delta, and 159 species migrate from such distant places as the Arctic, Siberia, the Mediterranean and rest in the delta during migration, for example the Siberian swan, flamingos Nile Valley and others. More than a million birds fly here to overwinter. Rare species of birds that are on the verge of extinction are found here: Dalmatian pelican, pink pelican, small cormorant, red-breasted goose. The pelican colony is considered the largest in Europe.
In addition to birds, there are foxes, wolves, wild boars, deer, hare, and snakes.
In the Danube Delta there are 75 species of fish, of which 44 are freshwater species, the rest migrating from the Black Sea. Unfortunately, intensive commercial fishing in recent years has led to negative consequences and now the situation of fish resources is quite critical.

The population of the Danube Delta is about 18-20 thousand inhabitants, among them about 3-4 thousand Russian Old Believers Lipovians. 4 thousand inhabitants live in the port city of Sulina. The Danube Delta is a region of Romania where the population density is lowest, with an average density of 5 inhabitants/sq km.
The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The excursion to the Danube Delta can be started from the city of Tulcea. The distance from the main city of the Romanian coast, Constanta, to the city of Tulcea is 131 km.

FISH IN THE DANUBE RIVER
Huge rocks that rise in the middle of the river bed give rise to almost insurmountable whirlpools and waterfalls. One of these giants, the Pregrada rock, reaches 250 m in width and almost 2 km in length. Here the Danube rushes with incredible speed and turbulence. The width of the channel here is only 108 m.

The Danube basin, especially its delta, is inhabited by almost all species of European fish. Among them are the small silver bleak (Alburnus alburnus); During the breeding season, these fish gather in large schools; females glue small clusters of eggs to any underwater rock or plant they like.

Bream (Abramis brama), a large fish from the carp family with a humpbacked back and a small mouth adapted for eating small invertebrates that live on silty bottoms. The long-whiskered gudgeon (Gobio urano-scopus) is also a member of the cyprinid family; unlike the other three species of minnows found here, it lives only in the Danube basin.

Carp (Cyprinus carpio), very big fish with a dark gray or brown back, golden sides and yellow belly. Before the Great Glaciation, this fish was widespread throughout Europe; when the glacier advanced from the north, it retreated to the south. Later, when the glacier retreated, the carp recovered almost everywhere in the Black Sea and the Danube basin.

Now it is cultivated in many other reservoirs. In the Danube, carp migrate little; only during spring floods does it enter the floodplain to lay eggs. When the water subsides, juveniles and adults return back to the river. These are persistent and prolific fish, laying one and a half million eggs each at a time.

One of the most interesting fish Danube - common, or European, catfish (Siluris glanis); Some giant catfish reach 5 m in length and weigh 300 kg. The lifestyle of this calm, slow-moving fish has been little studied, despite the fact that it has always been readily caught. The catfish has a dark gray, scaleless body with a large wide head, a huge bulldog mouth, decorated with two long whiskers hanging from the upper jaw, and four more antennae from the lower jaw.

The eyes are tiny. The most important sensory organs are concentrated in the catfish in the antennae and in the lateral line of the body. It has a ridiculously small dorsal fin, resembling a small flag, but a very long anal fin that reaches the base of its laterally flattened tail. It is not surprising that it was sometimes mistaken for a giant broad-headed eel.

Catfish build rather primitive nests, erecting a kind of wall around them. Once the eggs are laid and fertilized, the male takes guard and continues to guard his nest even after the tadpole-like fry hatch. When the juveniles are ready to independent life, she leaves the nest and the male’s duties end there. Catfish are a desirable catch for fishermen.

The Danube and its delta are home to some species of sturgeon, such as the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), reaching a maximum length of 100 cm and a weight of 15 kg or more. The Russian sturgeon subspecies (A guldenstaedti cochlicus) is distributed all the way to Bratislava; another species, the stellate sturgeon (A. stellatus), migrates as far as Tokaj and Komaron in Hungary.

Bratislava, Slovakia

The Danube is also home to such a widespread species as the Atlantic sturgeon (A. sturio). Here it reaches 3.5 m in length and 200 kg in weight.
The most amazing fish of the Danube and the largest of freshwater fish in Eastern Europe it is the beluga sturgeon (Huso huso), which is said to be 8.5 m long and weigh 1300 kg! Once upon a time, this giant fish traveled throughout the river and, as soon as the ice began to drift, it left the delta and went upstream to Bavaria.

Today, beluga numbers have declined and they do not rise above the Iron Gates in Romania. One large female can contain more than 100 kg of eggs. Sturgeon are a very ancient group of species that arose 200 million years ago. Their appearance corresponds to their antiquity. An elongated armored body with bony plates protruding along the back and sides distinguishes them from any other fish.

There are scales only on the upper side of the tail. Even internal structure sturgeons are primitive: the skeleton is cartilaginous, there is no real vertebral column. Their intestines are equipped with a spiral valve, which only lobe-finned fish from North America and sharks have. Without a doubt, the Danube was an extremely favorable environment for these largest inland fish.

However, overfishing in the middle of the 18th century. led to a sharp decline in the population. Today, giant European sturgeons persist in the Danube Delta and other large rivers flowing into the Black Sea, only thanks to strict protective measures.

JOURNEY ALONG THE DANUBE RIVER
He is called the king among rivers. It is similar to the Amazon and flows through half of the European continent. The Danube is a haven for many species of animals. Next to it grow the oldest forests in Europe. For thousands of years, the life-giving river has attracted people. The Danube crosses 10 countries and passes through four vibrant capitals: Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. This is truly an international river.

You will not find this cruise on the Danube in any reference book. river cruises, since this tour is not connected by one river boat, but has an educational meaning. And to learn about this river you need to go a long way, visiting each country separately through which the Danube flows.

U mighty river confusing origins. Officially, the Danube begins here between the river and the sea.

This old lighthouse in the port of Sulina is the zero mark of the Danube.

Unlike all other rivers in the world, the length of the Danube is measured from its mouth. Crossing half of Europe, the Danube is almost 3 thousand kilometers long. It crosses various territories and changes its appearance in accordance with its surroundings. Before reaching the pristine waters of the delta, it flows through the plains of Romania. At the “iron gates” of the Carpathians, he made caves in the Carpathian Mountains. The Danube crosses the lowlands of Hungary and, not far from Budapest, abruptly changes direction, skirting the foot of the Alps from the north. Its origins are hidden in the romantic Black Forest of Germany's Black Forest. And every kilometer of the river is a 25-century culture of European civilization.

Alpine waters turn the Danube into a wide river as it reaches Austria's Wachau Valley, the most beautiful valley in the world. This region is famous for its vineyards, which owe their mild, ideal climate. Here, the cool, moist air of the shady forests downstream collides with the dry, warm air rising across the plains.

The Wachau Valley leads to a city inextricably linked with the great Danube - Vienna. This is the largest capital on the river, but from here the Danube itself is practically invisible. The river flowing through Vienna is the man-made Danube Canal. One of the symbols of the city is the Ferris wheel. Vienna is undoubtedly the music capital of Europe. Here Johann Strauss composed a symbol of Vienna's long history, but it was only in Paris, which prefers everything extravagant, that it became successful. It is impossible to leave Vienna without visiting one of the Goinigen taverns, where young wines are served. There is an atmosphere of spiritual familiarity here. The sounds of the accordion remind everyone of the fleeting nature of life. In Vienna, music is everywhere.

Let's continue our cruise along the Danube. Just a few kilometers from the bustling center on the far outskirts of the city lies a completely different world - national park Danube Auen. Here the Danube is as wild as the similar South American Amazon. In the national park you can find a wide variety of habitats for different species of animals.
Small cruise ships intended for river routes regularly “snoop” along the Danube. The river has the only fast boat that plies the Danube between Vienna and Budapest. Many people enjoy this river walk. The journey to the east by high-speed boat takes 5 hours. The path runs along historical sites to the banks of the deep Danube towards the Slavic side.

The great river has one unpleasant feature - due to the strong current, the waters of the Danube independently transport gravel, which plays an important role in the river’s ecosystem. To combat this phenomenon, dredgers are deployed, which annually remove more than 100 thousand tons of gravel from the lower reaches and pour them upstream. The fight against riverbed shallowing will never end. This is endless work, but the life of the riverine forest depends on it.

Danube in Bratislava
After Bratislava, a barrier of concrete and steel appears, causing a lot of controversy. This is the Dobchik hydroelectric power station. The construction of this huge structure destroyed kilometers of wetlands. Here the water is measured and separated. Water is also separated here for entertainment. But this is no longer a river, but simply water distributed by artificial barriers. The water management project has completely changed the Danube. For sixty kilometers it flows along an unnaturally straight path towards Hungary.
The mighty Danube enters Budapest - its main pearl. It circled the previous two capitals, but in Budapest it goes right to the heart. The East of Europe begins here. On the embankment near Pest there is an unusual memorial - a lot of shoes.
To some extent the river divides, and to some extent it unites. This river divides not only Buda and Pest, but the entire country. This division is already 2000 years old, it has not disappeared to this day. The right and left banks look across the Danube at each other. The magnificent alliance of the river with Budapest is not inferior to the Parisian marriage with the Seine. Budapest is the only city in the world that welcomes the Danube with such grandeur and nobility. He seems to be admiring his reflection in the water, with ancient bridges and piers. Here you can visit the Turkish baths, play chess right in the water, and drink coffee by the cool fountains. In this stunning city, they honor unknown writer instead of the unknown soldier.
Next, the Danube River embarks on a lonely journey, crossing the vast Hungarian plain, bathed in the scorching summer sun and endless open spaces. The river stubbornly goes south exactly 200 km. This region is inhabited by free gypsies. The soul of the mysterious people is kept by the villages that stretch along the river. The Danube crosses a third border, continuing its journey through the breadbasket of Croatia. Then in Belgrade it merges with the Saba River and flows for another 300 km. This area is very flat - like damn, local people say that the highest mountain here is cabbage.
There is the Vukovar Museum-Hospital, in which everything is done as it was during the war - there are screens everywhere broadcasting documentary chronicles and videos, bandaged mannequins lying on beds representing the consequences of the bombing. The new buildings look touching among the houses torn apart by shells. Vukovar is ready to regain its name as an elegant town with its beautiful galleries. There is also an unusual cinema, located on a barge, showing shows on both banks of the Danube.

Now the Danube rushes towards the Carpathian Mountains. As history progressed, he made his way through this mountain range and gorge, which became known as the Iron Gate. Here the Danube seeps through high gorges. The cliffs rise 300 meters up from the water, and the river is only 150 meters wide but 90 meters deep. For river navigation, this is considered the most difficult and dangerous section of the river. Turns, bends, rocks that form dangerous rapids, floating debris and rip currents. And fishermen at all times, throwing their nets into the Iron Gate gorge, dream of catching the most valuable fish in the world, the beluga, which reaches a length of 8 meters. A family can live on the proceeds from the sale of black caviar for many years.

Below the surface of the water lie villages that were flooded after the construction of the dam for the Turnu Severin hydroelectric power station. From here to the Black Sea is 900 km. Here the Danube divides three countries with its course: Romania - along the border of which it continues its path, Serbia - which it leaves behind and Bulgaria lying on the right. Next comes Bulgaria and the city of Rousse, somewhat reminiscent of modern Europe. In these parts you can admire the waters of the Danube, despite the pollution from factories.
After 2000 km of wandering by water, we arrive in Tulcea. This is the last port on the river, since the Black Sea is only 70 km from here.

Now the Danube flows widely and calmly across the plains of Romania until it reaches the Black Sea. There the river divides into three main currents and many branches, forming a delta. It is here that sand and gravel washed away from the Alps end their journey.
Delta is a strange dream-like world. Here the river seems to have lost its land. Many types of flora and fauna, the calls of countless flocks of birds and many smells. There is also a nature reserve inhabited by pelicans and other birds. This is a unique place and a paradise for birds, fish and people. On the border with Ukraine, the Danube is gradually disappearing.

The Danube easily draws borders between countries, dividing and at the same time uniting them. He introduces us to Schubert and gypsies, mountains and open spaces, but this river belongs to no one.

Esztergom, Hungary, St. Adalbert's Basilica

Slavic mythology. Danube Ivanovich. THE BIRTH OF THE DANUBE

Danube Ivanovich is a Russian epic hero. IN Ancient Rus' the word “Danube” was not only the name of the river (and even the designation of the river in general), but also a man’s name. In the epic about the hero, as we will see, the name of the river and the name are linked together. In the image of Danube Ivanovich, mythological and historical features coexist quite organically. Several epics about him allow us, with some degree of convention, to reconstruct the main episodes of his life. Unlike the heroes who came to Kiev from Russian cities and began to serve here, Danube Ivanovich once went to Lithuania and served the king there in various court positions: “departures” of service people to neighboring lands were common in feudal times. Then the Danube finds itself in a clean saw, and here he meets Dobrynya.

Bylina:
In the capital in the city of Kyiv,
What does gentle sir Prince Vladimir have?
And there was a feast, an honorable feast,
There was a table of honour,
There were many princes and boyars at the feast
And Russian mighty heroes.
And there will be a day at half a day,
Princely table in a half-table,
Vladimir the Prince was amused,
Walks along the bright grid,
He combs his black curls,
He said, gentle sir Vladimir-Prince
This is the word:
"Goy Axis, you princes and boyars
And mighty heroes!
All of you in Kyiv are remarried,
Only I, Vladimir the Prince, am single,
And I go single, I go unmarried.
And who knows my opponent?
He knows the opponent, the beautiful maiden, -
How stately the girl was,
I would be stately in stature and perfect in mind,
Her white face is like white snow,
And the buttocks are like the color of poppies,
And black eyebrows like sables,
And the clear eyes are like those of a falcon.”
And here the greater is buried for the lesser,
From the least, there is no answer to him, the prince.
From that was the prince's table,
From that heroic bench
Ivan Gostiny son speaks,
He jumped to the heroic place,
He shouted, Ivan, in a loud voice:
“Hey you are, gentle sir Vladimir-Prince!
Bless the word before you,
And one word is safe,
And even without that the great one fell.
Have I, Ivan, been to the Golden Horde?
From the formidable Tsar Etmanuil Etmanuilovich
And I saw his two daughters in his house:
The first daughter is Nastasya the Queen,
And the other is Afrosinya the Queen;
Afrosinya sits in a high chamber,
Behind thirty damask castles,
And the violent winds will not blow against her,
And the red sun does not bake your face;
And that’s why, sir, the girl has a stately figure,
Stately in stature and perfect in mind,
The white face is like white snow,
And the buttocks are like the color of poppies,
Black eyebrows, like sable,
Clear eyes like a falcon.
Send, sir, the Danube to woo."
Vladimir the capital prince of Kiev,
Ordered to pour a glass of green wine
One and a half buckets,
Present to Ivan Gostiny
For those good words of his,
What did the betrothed tell him?
He calls, Prince Vladimir,
Danube Ivanovich into his bedroom
And he began to tell him in words:
If you serve me, I will deserve it -
Go, Danube, to the Golden Horde
To the formidable king Etmanuil Etmanuilovich
About a good deed - about matchmaking
On him, on his beloved, on his daughter,
On honest Afrosinya the Queen.
Take my golden treasury,
Take three hundred stallions
And mighty heroes."
Brings green wine to the Danube
One and a half buckets,
Turium horn sweet honey
Half a third bucket.
He drinks, Danube, the charm of that green wine
And the turium horn is sweet to honey.
The heroic womb flared up,
And the mighty shoulders parted
How young Danube Ivanovich is,
He says, Danube, this is the word:
“And the sun is gentle, you are Vladimir the Prince!
I don't need your gold treasury,
There is no need for three hundred stallions,
And there is no need for mighty heroes, -
And perhaps only one good guy for me,
No matter how young Ekima Ivanovich is,
Who serves Alyoshka Popovich.”
Vladimir the capital prince of Kyiv
Immediately he himself brought Ekim with his hands:
“There, on the Danube, there will be a little steam.”
And soon the Danube will be equipped,
Soon the heroes are repairing the trip
From the capital city of Kyiv
To the distant horde of gold land.
And off we went, good fellows,
And they go for a week straight,
And they’ve been traveling for another week now,
And they will be in the Golden Horde
From the formidable king Etmanuel Etmayauilovich;
In the middle of the royal court
The fellows galloped from good horses,
They tied the good horses to an oak post,
We walked into the white stone chamber.
The Danube says this word:
“Go you, king of the Golden Horde!
Do you have white stone chambers?
There is no image of Savior,
There is no one to pray to,
And there’s nothing to bow to you for.”
The king of the Golden Horde speaks here,
And he himself, the king, grins:
“Go you, Danube son Ivanovich!
Ali you came to me
Should we continue to serve as before?”
Danube’s son Ivanovich answers him:
“Hey art thou, king of the Golden Horde!
And I came to you too
Not to serve as before and not as before, -
I came about a matter of kindness to you,
About a good deed - about matchmaking:
On yours, sir, your beloved daughter,
On honest Afrosinya the princess,
Vladimir the Prince wants to get married.”
And then the king got into trouble,
And tears at the head of black curls
And throws it on the brick floor,
And at the same time he says this word:
“Hey you are, Danube son Ivanovich!
If he had not served me faithfully and faithfully before,
He would have ordered them to be planted in deep cellars
And he would starve to death
For those idle words of yours.”
Here the Danube became in trouble,
His heroic heart flared up,
He took out his saber sharply,
He spoke this word:
“Go you, king of the Golden Horde!
If only I had not been in your house,
I didn’t eat bread and salt,
I would cut off the head of the violent man at the shoulders.”
Then the king roared in a loud voice,
Greyhounds came in on chains, -
And he wants to pit the Danube alive
Those Medellian males,
The Danube son Ivanovich shouts here:
What have you become and why are you looking?
Greyhounds came in on chains,
The king wants to pit you and me alive.”
Ekim's son Ivanovich rushed,
He rushed into the wide yard,
And those Murza-Ulans
They won’t allow Ekim to see the good horse,
To his heavy club,
And heavy clubs, copper casts,—
They were three thousand pounds.
The iron club did not hit him,
That cart axle hit him,
And Ekim began to wave,
He killed the forces of seven thousand Murza-Ulans,
He killed five hundred Medellian males.
The king shouted here in a loud voice:
“Go you, Danube Ivanovich!
Quiet your faithful servant,
Leave me the strength to at least take Seeds,
And take my beloved daughter,
Afrosinya the Queen."
He calmed down his faithful servant,
I came to a high tower,
Where Afrosinya sits in a high chamber,
Behind thirty damask locks.
The violent winds will not blow against her,
The sun doesn't make your face red.
The doors to the chambers were iron,
And the punching hooks on damask steel are gilded.
Here the Danube spoke the following word:
“You can even break your leg and open the doors!”
Kicks at the iron doors,
He broke the damask hooks,
All the wards here were shaking.
The girl rushed, got scared,
It's like she's all gone crazy
Wants to kiss Danube on the mouth.
Danube son Ivanovich will say:
“Hey you, Afrosinya the princess!
And the mummer’s cous is not for the betrothed to eat.
I don't kiss you on your sugary lips,
And God has mercy on you, beautiful maiden, -
Prince Vladimir will get you.”
I took her right hand,
He led from the chambers to a wide courtyard,
And they want to mount good horses, -
The king in the Golden Horde came to his senses,
He himself said this:
“Hey you are, Danube Ivanovich!
Perhaps wait for Murza-Ulanov.”
And the king sends his Murza-Ulans
Carry the treasury of gold beyond the Danube.
And those Murza-Ulans
Thirty Orda carts were poured
Gold and silver and sandy earth,
And on top of that, the stones are semi-precious.
Soon the Danube will be equipped,
And they went to the city of Kyiv.
And they’ve been going for a week now,
And they’re already on their way to another one,
And then they bring the treasury of gold.
And the Danube ran over a wandering trail,
Not having reached Kyiv a hundred miles away,
He himself began to punish Ekima:
“Goy you, Ekim son Ivanovich!
Take Afrosinya the princess
To the capital city to Kyiv,
To the affectionate Prince Vladimir
Honestly, laudably and joyfully,—
It would be something for us to boast about
To the Grand Duke in Kyiv."
And he himself, the Danube, followed that trail
In the fresh, wandering way.
And he’s been traveling for another day,
On the fourth day the trail reached
In those amusing meadows,
Where did affectionate Vladimir the Prince go?
Always on the hunt.
There is a white tent standing in the meadows,
In that tent the fair maiden rests,
Is that Nastasya the queen?
Young Danube he was quick-witted,
I pulled out a tight bow from the deck,
He took a red-hot arrow from his quiver,
And he pulled the bow behind his ear,
I am shooting an arrow,
Which is an arrow of seven quarters.
He, the Danube, will lash the cheese oak,
But the string of the bow sang,
And mother cheese earth will tremble
From that heroic blow,
The arrow hit the mallet oak cheese,
She broke it into knife blacks,
The girl rushed out of the white tent, as if mad,
And the Danube was young and he was shrewd,
He rode off the Danube from a good horse,
He will thrust a spear into the damp earth,
He tied the horse by the spear,
And he’s so good at fighting with girls,
He hit the girl on the cheek,
And he kicked the girl in the gut, -
The female sex lives from this plumpness,
He knocked the girl off her quick feet,
He pulled out the damask chingalishka,
And he wants to cut off the white breasts.
The vtapora girl prayed:
“Hey you are, you brave, good fellow!
Don't stab me, girl, to death,
I asked my father-sir for permission, -
Who will beat me in an open field,
I, the girl, should marry him.”
And here is the Danube son Ivanovich
I was glad at her word,
He thinks to himself with his mind:
“I served, Danube, in seven hordes,
In seven hordes to seven kings,
But the red maiden could not survive,
None I found in an open field
Betrothed Resistance."
Here they got engaged.
A circle of broom bushes got married.
And soon he gave her the order to get ready
And he stole all the harness from the girl -
Kuyak and armor with chain mail.
He ordered the girl to dress up
In a simple white uniform.
And we went to the city of Kyiv.
Only Vladimir the capital of Kyiv
Vtapory rides from the golden crown,
And the prince arrived at his princely court,
And in the bright days they cleaned up,
They sat down at the cleaned tables.
And young Danube Ivanovich
I arrived at the cathedral church,
To those priests and deacons,
He came to the cathedral church,
Asks for honest favors
That bishop of the cathedral -
To marry that red maiden.
The cathedral priests were glad of this,
In those years there was no oath,
They married Danube Ivanovich,
The Danube gave the wedding five hundred rubles
And he went to Prince Vladimir.
And the prince will have it in a wide courtyard,
And they jumped off their good horses with their young wife,
And he spoke this word:
“Report to Prince Vladimir
It’s not about going to the bright grid, -
About the fact that the young princess has nothing to wear,
There is only one woman’s dress and that is the white one.”
And Prince Vladimir was shrewd,
He knows who to send -
He sent Churil Plenkovich
Issue women's dresses in color.
And here they gave out soyan of crispy damask
For that newlywed princess,
To Nastasya the Queen,
And the price for that is one hundred thousand.
And they equipped the newlywed princess,
They were led to the princely chambers,
In those bright grids,
They were seated at tables that had been cleared,
For eating sugar and drinking copper,
Two sisters already sat down at the same table.
And young Danube son Ivanovich
He married Prince Vladimir
Yes, and he got married right away,
There was a meal at the same table.
And they lived for a long time,
At Prince Vladimir's,
At the sun Seslavevich
It was a fun party
Here the drunken Danube boasted:
“What is there against me in Kyiv is the Sagittarius -
Shoot from a long bow according to signs.”
What will the young princess Apraksevna say:
“Why are you, my beloved son-in-law,
Young Danube son Ivanovich!
That there is no Sagittarius in Kyiv,
As to my dear sister Nastasya the Queen.”
Here the Danube became in trouble,
They cast lots
Who should shoot from a long bow first?
And his young wife got to shoot
Nastasya the Queen,
And the Danube got to keep the gold ring on its head.
They measured out a place for a thousand miles,
Holds the Danube at the head of a gold ring,
Nastasya pulled out a red-hot arrow,
The string of the bow has sung,
Knocked the gold ring off my head
That red-hot arrow.
Princes and boyars rushed about here,
We saw a red-hot arrow, -
That on those feathers lies that gold ring.
The Danube took note of the vtapores
His young wife.
Princess Apraksevna began to persuade him:
“Hey you are, my beloved son-in-law,
Young Danube son Ivanovich!
It’s a joke, after all.”
Yes, his young wife also said:
“Let’s leave the shooting until another day,
There is a mighty hero in my womb.
You can't finish shooting with the first arrow,
And you’ll shoot the other one,
And the third arrow will hit me.”
Vtapory princes and boyars
And all the mighty heroes are strong
He, the young Danube, was persuaded.
Vtapory Danube became excited
And he shot at the sign a mile away
In gold ring,
He began to stand for his young wife.
And vtopory his young wife
I started to bow to him
And kill yourself in front of him:
“Hey you are, my dear dear,
Young Danube son Ivanovich!
Leave the joke for three days
If not for me,
But for his unborn son.
Tomorrow I will give birth to a hero for you,
That there will be no opponent for him.”
That's why the Danube didn't steal,
Became his young wife
Nastasya the Queen
On the spot with a golden ring,
And they ordered to keep the ring on the violent head.
Shot the Danube a mile away from a heavy bow,—
And he didn’t even finish shooting with the first arrow,
He shot with another arrow,
And the third one hit her with an arrow.
The Danube came running to his young wife,
He pulled out the damask chingalishche,
Soon he ripped open her white breasts,—
The brave fellow jumped out of the womb,
He himself says this:
“Hey, my sir, my father!
As if he gave me three hours,
And I would be in the world too
I will jump and reach seven times the size of you.”
And here the young Danube son Ivanovich became sad,
He poked himself in the white breasts with a chingal,
In the heat of the moment he rushed into the fast river, -
That is why the Danube River is known to be fast,
With its mouth it fell into the blue sea.
And that’s an old thing, that’s a deed.

________________________________________________________________________________________

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Danube // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Small Soviet Encyclopedia / ed. V. Vvedensky. - M., 1959. - T. 3. - P. 741. - 1277 p.
Kravchuk P. A. Records of nature. - L.: Erudite, 1993. - 216 p. — 60,000 copies. — ISBN 5-7707-2044-1.
Countries of the Danube River Basin. International Commission for the protection of the Danube River.
Danube Delta
Vasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. - Progress. - M., 1964-1973. - T. 1. - P. 552-553.
Rozwadowski J. Studia nad nazwami wód słowiańskich. - Kraków: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 1948. - P. 251.
Moszyński K. Pierwotny zasiąg języka prasłowiańskiego. - Wrocław - Kraków: Zakład narodowy imienia Ossolińskich - Wydawnictwo PAN, 1957. - P. 153.
Lehr-Spławiński T. O pochodzeniu i praojczyźnie Słowian. - Poznań: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Zachodniego, 1946. - pp. 73-75.
Trubachev O. N. Works on etymology. - M.: Manuscript monuments of Ancient Rus', 2009. - T. 4. - P. 317. - ISBN 978-5-9551-0324-2.
Gołąb Z. O pochodzeniu Słowian w świetle faktów językowych. - Kraków: Universitas, 2004. - pp. 213-215. — ISBN 83-242-0528-4.
Springs of Germany: Aachquelle (English)
Danube Commission. General information about the Danube River.
Travels along the Danube

The Danube was and remains primarily a natural border. In former times, it served as the northern border of the Roman Empire. On its banks the Romans built a defensive rampart against barbarian attacks from the north. In 1683, the future of Christian Europe was decided here: the Austrians near Vienna inflicted a final defeat on the troops of the Ottoman Empire, displacing Muslims from Western Europe.
Since the Danube has always been a navigable river, a variety of tribes and peoples constantly met each other on its banks. They all left behind masterpieces of art and culture - buildings in the Rococo and Baroque, Gothic and Classicist styles are located along the river side by side with Art Nouveau buildings and ancient ruins. Water united people: the Balkans are the largest “melting pot” of Europe; in the Banat between the former Yugoslavia and Romania, Hungarians, Romanians, Serbs, Spaniards, Italians and many other peoples live together amicably. Alas, they do not always get along peacefully with each other. A terrible example of what conflicts between neighbors lead to was the war in the former multinational state of Yugoslavia, the consequences of which are still felt today.

River connecting peoples

The Danube is the only river in Europe that flows through so many different countries.

The Danube is formed from the confluence of the Brigach and Breg rivers near the city of Donaueschingen in the Upper Rhine graben. On its 2860 km long path, the second largest (after the river) European river flows through four capitals: Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. In Romania it flows into the Black Sea, forming a giant delta. The Danube probably served as a transport artery thousands of years ago, and since the beginning of the era of steamships in 1830, its economic importance has constantly increased. In the mid-19th century, neighboring states began to regulate and lock the river. It was necessary to mitigate the effects of periodic floods - for example, in 1830, Vienna was half flooded with water. The Danube has always been also a source of drinking water. Disputes about the use of this precious resource periodically arise today. For example, Slovakia is building a system of hydroelectric power plants south of Bratislava to generate electricity. Hungary initially participated in this project, but now it categorically refuses to continue construction: the existence of the reservoir reduces the water level to a dangerous level and Budapest is already worried about the stability of supply drinking water. Intensive use of the river has disrupted the ecological balance of vast territories: little remains of the former abundance of fish, floodplain forests are drying up, and many species of animals that traditionally lived on the banks of the Danube are becoming extinct.

general information

Flows through the territory of the following countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine.
Forms a boundary between: Austria and Slovakia, Slovakia and Hungary, Croatia and Serbia, Serbia and Romania, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Romania and Ukraine.
Source of the Danube: located in the Black Forest mountains (Germany) near the city of Donaueschingen at an altitude of 678 m.

Numbers

Length: 2860 km.

Catchment area: 817 thousand km 2.

Water consumption: 6400 m 3 /s (second highest in Europe after the Volga).
Delta area: 4152 km2.

Attractions

In Germany: Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Castle, Ulm Cathedral, Regensburg