The
River Elbe (; ;
Low German:
de Ilv) is one of the major
rivers of
Central Europe. It originates in the
Krkonose Mountains of northwestern
Czech Republic before traversing much of
Bohemia (
Czech Republic), then
Germany and flowing into the
North Sea at
Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of
Hamburg. Its total length is .
The Elbe’s major tributaries include the
Vltava,
Saale,
Havel,
Mulde,
Schwarze Elster, and
Ohre rivers.
The Elbe River basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of , the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany (65.5%) and the Czech Republic (33.7%). Much smaller parts lie in
Austria (0.6%) and
Poland (0.2%). The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people.
Course
In the Czech Republic
The Elbe rises at an elevation of about in the
Krkonoše (also known as
Giant Mountains or in German as
Riesengebirge) on the north west borders of the Czech Republic. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, the most important is the
Bílé Labe, or White Elbe. After plunging down the of the
Labský vodopád, the latter stream unites with the steeply torrential
Malé Labe, and thereafter the united stream of the Elbe pursues a southerly course, emerging from the mountain glens at and continuing on to
Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At
Kolín some further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west.
At the village of
Káraný, a little above
Brandýs nad Labem it picks up the
Jizera.
At
Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the
Vltava, or Moldau, a river which winds northwards through
Bohemia. Although upstream from the
confluence Vltava is longer ( against ), has larger discharge and larger
drainage basin, due to historical reasons (at the
confluence the
Vltava meets the Elbe at almost a right angle, so it appears as a tributary) river continues as Elbe.
Some distance lower down, at
Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish
Ohře (Eger). Thus augmented, and swollen into a stream wide, the Elbe carves a path through the basaltic mass of the
České Středohoří, churning its way through a deep, narrow rocky gorge.
In Germany
Shortly after crossing the Czech-German frontier, and passing through the sandstone defiles of the
Elbe Sandstone Mountains, the stream assumes a north-westerly direction, which on the whole it preserves right to the North Sea.
The river rolls through
Dresden and finally, beyond
Meißen, enters on its long journey across the
North German Plain passing along the former border of
East Germany, touching
Torgau,
Wittenberg,
Dessau,
Magdeburg,
Wittenberge, and
Hamburg on the way, and taking on the waters of the
Mulde and
Saale from the west, and those of the
Schwarze Elster,
Havel and
Elde from the east. In its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile
marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked.
Soon the Elbe reaches
Hamburg. Within the city-state the Elbe has a number of branch streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe (Norderelbe), Reiherstieg, Southern Elbe (Süderelbe). Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the main stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe (literally in ) was separated from the main stream by a dike connecting the two then islands of
Kirchwerder and
Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe (literally in ) was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort. These
hydraulic engineerings were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation and to improve the water supply of the
Port of Hamburg. After the heavy inundation by the
North Sea flood of 1962 the western section of the Southern Elbe was separated becoming the Old Southern Elbe, while the waters of the eastern Southern Elbe now merge into the Köhlbrand, which is bridged by the
Köhlbrandbrücke, the last bridge over the Elbe before the North Sea.
The Northern Elbe passes the
Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the
old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel), both in Hamburg's city centre. A bit more downstream the Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite to form the Lower Elbe stream south of
Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right at its beginning the Lower Elbe is passed under by the
New Elbe Tunnel (Neuer Elbtunnel), the last solid road link crossing the river before the North Sea. Leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between
Holstein and the
Elbe-Weser Triangle until it flows into the North Sea at
Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the
Kiel Canal at
Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea.
Navigation
The Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as
Prague. The river is linked by
canals (
Elbe-Seitenkanal,
Mittellandkanal) to the industrial areas of Germany and to
Berlin. The
Elbe-Lübeck Canal links the Elbe to the
Baltic Sea, as does the
Kiel Canal, whose western entrance is near the mouth of the Elbe. The Elbe-Weser-Schifffahrtsweg connects the Elbe with the
Weser.
By the
Treaty of Versailles the navigation on the Elbe became subject to the International Commission of the Elbe, seated in Dresden. Following the articles 363 and 364 of the Treaty
Czechoslovakia was entitled to lease its own harbour bassin,
Moldauhafen in Hamburg. The contract of lease with Germany, and supervised by the
United Kingdom, was signed on February 14, 1929 and will end in 2028, since 1993 the Czech Republic holds the former Czechoslovak legal position.
Before Germany was reunited, waterway transport in Western Germany was hindered by the fact that inland navigation to Hamburg had to pass through the German Democratic Republic. The Elbe-Seitenkanal (Elbe Lateral Canal) was built between the West German section of the Mittellandkanal and the Lower Elbe to restore this connection. When the two nations were reunited, works began to improve and restore the original links: the
Magdeburg Water Bridge now allows large barges to cross the Elbe without having to enter the river. The often low water levels of the Elbe do not hinder navigation to Berlin any longer.
Islands
thumb|right|The biggest Elbe island of Wilhelmsburg between the Northern and the Southern Elbe in HamburgOuter Elbe (estuary)
- Nigehörn – an exclave Hamburg's borough of Mitte
- Scharhörn – an exclave Hamburg's borough of Mitte
Lower Elbe
Between Northern and Southern Elbe (Norderelbe/Süderelbe)
- Kaltehofe (also "Kalte Hofe") – in Hamburg's borough of Mitte
Middle Elbe
Upper reaches
Headwaters
Ferries
The Dolní Žleb Ferry.
The Wörlitz Coswig Ferry.
The Zollenspieker Ferry.
The Elbe is crossed by many ferries, both passenger and car carrying. In downstream order, these include:
Many of these ferries are traditional
reaction ferries, a type of
cable ferry that uses the current flow of the river to provide propulsion.
Etymology
First attested in Latin as
, the name
means "river" or "river-bed" and is nothing more than the
High German version of a word (
) found elsewhere in Germanic; cf.
Old Norse river name
,
Swedish "river",
Old English river name
, and
Middle Low German "river-bed".
History
The Elbe was recorded by
Ptolemy as
(
Germanic for "river") in
Germania Magna with its source in the
mountains (, or Giant Mountains), where the Germanic
lived.
The Elbe passing Dresden.
The Elbe has long been an important delineator of European geography. The
Romans knew the river as the
; however, they only attempted once to move the Eastern border of their empire forward from the
Rhine to the Elbe, and this attempt failed in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, after which they never seriously tried again. In the
Middle Ages it formed the eastern limit of the Empire of
Charlemagne. The river's navigable sections were also essential to the success of the
Hanseatic League and much trade was carried on its waters.
The Elbe delineated the western parts of Germany from the eastern so-called East Elbia, where
soccage and
serfdom were more strict and prevailed longer, than westwards of the river, and where feudal lords held bigger estates than in the west. Thus incumbents of huge land-holdings became characterised as East Elbian
Junkers. The
Northern German area north of the Lower Elbe used to be called Albingia in the Middle Ages. When the four
Lutheran church bodies there united in 1977 they chose the name
North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Other, administrative units were named after the river Elbe, such as the
Westphalian Elbe département (1807–1813) and the
Lower Elbe département (1810), and the French département
Bouches-de-l'Elbe (1811–1814).
In 1945, as
World War II was drawing to a close,
Nazi Germany was caught between the armies of the western Allies advancing from the west and the
Soviet Union advancing from the east. On 25 April 1945, these two forces linked up near Torgau, on the Elbe. The event was marked as
Elbe Day. After the war, the Elbe formed part of the border between
East Germany and
West Germany.
During the 1970s, it was widely believed that Adolf Hitler's ashes were scattered in the Elbe, by the Soviets.
See also
