RIVER DANUBE
River of Life River Danube In England it is known as the Danube, a French word that was imported into the english language during the Norman Conquest of 1066. Elsewhere, it is the Dunav, Dunaj, Donau, Duna, Danubio, Donava, Dunare or Dunarea. The dan- don-, danroot means ‘to flow’ or ‘to run’. The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany at the confluence of two streams, the Brigach and Brege, which join at Donaueschingen. At this point, the Danube (or Donau as it is there) is born. The river flows eastwards (uniquely for a major European river) for a distance of some 2,857 km (1,771 miles) before emptying into the Black Sea via a delta system. The Danube, the second largest river in Europe after the Volga, collects the waters from some 300 tributaries and runs through the most capital cities of any river: Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary – pictured below left) and Belgrade (Serbia). No other river in the world is so international in its reach. The Danube flows through, or forms a part of the borders of, ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition, the Danube’s drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania. More than 80% of the length of the Danube has been embanked, there are three major dams and fifty-eight locks and weirs along its length. But in the middle and lower stretches of the river, and in the spectacular Danube Delta, it is still largely untamed. Here are some of the richest wetland areas in Europe and these support unique habitats and globally important species of flora and fauna In recent years, the political landscape in the Danube basin has changed dramatically. In 1989, the area was largely were under Communist rule and Yugoslavia was still intact. Four Danube basin countries joined the European Union in 2004 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia); a further two in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania) and Croatia is currently a candidate country. River Danube was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2009 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org