The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is . It is ( with its longest source river

German Thaya The German Thaya or Austrian Thaya (german: Deutsche Thaya, cs, Rakouská Dyje) is a river in Lower Austria. Its drainage basin is . Despite its name, no part of the river is in Germany. It originates southwest of Schweiggers at an elevation of . ...

) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) and

South Moravia The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

(

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

), though the frontier does not exactly follow the river's course in most parts. Its source is in two smaller rivers, namely the

(''Deutsche Thaya'') and the

Moravian Thaya The Moravian Thaya ( cs, Moravská Dyje, german: Mährische Thaya) is a river in the Czech Republic and in Austria, and a left tributary of the Thaya. Its drainage basin is . The Moravian Thaya originates about southeast of Třešť near the ...

( cs, Moravská Dyje, german: Mährische Thaya), flowing together at

Raabs an der Thaya Raabs an der Thaya is a municipality with 3,114 inhabitants in Waidhofen an der Thaya (district) in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria, near the Austrian border with the Czech Republic. About 27.6 percent of the municipality is forested. The German ...

. The confluence of Thaya and Morava is the southernmost and the lowest point of

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

. Its name means "the inert". There is also a small village which bears the name Dyje, located near

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

Geography

In its upper reaches, the Thaya flows through deep gorges ( Podyjí), along which it passes many castles and chateaus. In Moravia, it has been dammed in several locations. Thaya gathers waters from the western half of

and the adjacent part of

. Its biggest tributaries are Svratka and

Jihlava Jihlava (; german: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 50,000 inhabitants. Jihlava is the capital of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava River on the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. Historically, Jihlava ...

, flowing together into the middle one of the Nové Mlýny reservoirs. Important cities and towns along the Thaya: *

Drosendorf-Zissersdorf Drosendorf-Zissersdorf is a town in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is ...

* Vranov nad Dyji *

Hardegg Hardegg () is a town in the district of Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, Austria. It is situated in the Waldviertel region on the river Thaya, directly on the border with the Czech Republic. The Thaya valley is protected as the Thayatal National Par ...

Laa an der Thaya Laa an der Thaya is a town in the Mistelbach District of Lower Austria in Austria, near the Czech border. The population in 2016 was 6224. Geography The town is located in the northern Weinviertel region, near the Thaya river, directly at th ...

Lednice Lednice (; german: Eisgrub) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. It is known as part of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritag ...

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

Dams

All the dams are situated in Czech Republic. They are used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

and

flood protection Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water levels ...

References

Rivers of the South Moravian Region Břeclav District Znojmo District Rivers of Lower Austria International rivers of Europe * Rivers of Austria {{CzechRepublic-river-stub