The Boven Merwede (; "Upper Merwede") is a stretch of river in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, mainly fed by the river

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. The Afgedamde Maas river joins the

Waal WAAL (99.1 FM broadcasting, FM; "The Whale") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station licensed to Binghamton, New York. It airs a classic rock radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. WAAL is the oldest FM radio station continuou ...

Woudrichem Woudrichem (; Brabantian: ''Woerkum'') is a city and former municipality in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. History Woudrichem originated in the ninth century. A marketplace emerged on a riverbank where Hoogstraat and Mol ...

to form the Boven Merwede, which at

Hardinxveld-Giessendam Hardinxveld-Giessendam () is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is located about 10 km east of Dordrecht, on the river Beneden-Merwede. The municipality had a population of in and covers an are ...

splits into the Beneden Merwede river on the right and the Nieuwe Merwede river on the left. Its length is . The

Merwede The Merwede (; etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the Old Dutch ''merwe'' or ''merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrichem, Dordrecht and ...

is part of the main shipping route between

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. A road bridge connects the west side of

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( ), pronunciation respelling, also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The munici ...

on the north to the west side of

Sleeuwijk Sleeuwijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant and part of the municipality of Altena. History The village was first mentioned in 1268 as "Tyberio de Slewijck" and is a combination of neighbourhood and blunt. The village is know ...

on the south. There are several passenger ferries.

References

Rivers of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Distributaries of Europe Rivers of North Brabant Rivers of South Holland Rivers of the Netherlands Alblasserwaard Land van Heusden en Altena Geography of Altena, North Brabant Gorinchem Hardinxveld-Giessendam {{Netherlands-river-stub