The Narew (; ; or ) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is a tributary of the river

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

. The Narew is one of Europe's few

braided river A braided river (also called braided channel or braided stream) consists of a network of river channel (geography), channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called ''braid bars'' or, in British English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''. ...

s, the term relating to the twisted channels resembling braided hair. Around 57 kilometres (35 mi) of the river flows through western

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Etymology

The name of the river is from a

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

root ''*nr'' primarily associated with ''water'' (compare

Neretva The Neretva (, sr-Cyrl, Неретва), also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power plants with Dam, large dams (higher than 15 metres) provide flood ...

Neris The river Neris () or Vilija (, ) rises in northern Belarus. It flows westward, passing through Vilnius (Lithuania's capital) and in the south-centre of that country it flows into the Nemunas (Neman) from the right bank, at Kaunas, as its ma ...

Ner The Ner is a river in central Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Ru ...

and Nur) or from a

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

verb ''nerti'' associated primarily with ''diving'' and ''flood''.

Name of the lower portion

The portion of the river between the junctions with the

Western Bug The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

is also known as the Bugonarew, Narwio-Bug, Narwo-Bug, Bugo-Narew, Narwiobug or Narwobug. At the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

near

Zegrze Zegrze is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Serock, within Legionowo County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Serock, north-east of Legionowo, and north of Warsaw. The villa ...

the Bug is 1.6× longer, drains a 1.4× larger basin, and has a slightly greater average discharge (158 m³/s at Wyszków vs 146 m³/s at

Pułtusk Pułtusk () is a town in Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it has a population of 19,224 as of 2023. Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( in length), it is a po ...

for the Narew, both ~25 km above the junction). Thus the Bugonarew was often considered part of the Bug river and the Narew a right

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Bug. On December 27, 1962, Prime Minister

Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between 1 ...

abolished the name ''Bugonarew'' soon after the

Zegrze Reservoir The Zegrze Reservoir (or Zegrze Lake, in Polish officially ''Jezioro Zegrzyńskie'', unofficially ''Zalew Zegrzyński'') is a man-made reservoir in Poland, located just north of Warsaw, on the lower course of the Narew river. It is formed by a dam ...

was constructed. "Monitor Polski" 1963, nr 3, poz. 6 Since then the river Bug has officially been considered part of the river Narew's system, with the Bug being a left tributary of the Narew (by this classification, the River Narew is a right tributary of the River Vistula). The name Bugonarew however is still used in some areas along its course, especially by the inhabitants of local towns, such as Pułtusk.

Geography

The Narew flows through the geographical region of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

known as the ''Wysoczyzny Podlasko – Białoruskie'' (English: Plateau of Podlasie and Belarus) located within the

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...

and

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

and the Hrodna Voblast of

. The Narew is the fifth longest Polish river.

Cities and towns

Tributaries

History

On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, agreeing to divide Poland along the Narew, Vistula (Wisła), and San rivers. On September 6, 1939, Polish military forces attempted to use the Narew as a defense line against German attack during the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

. This was abandoned the next day in favor of the Bug as German forces had already penetrated the defenses. The

Battle of Wizna The Battle of Wizna was fought between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of the invasion of Poland, which marked the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. According to P ...

was fought along the banks of the river between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of Invasion of Poland. Because it consisted of a small force holding a piece of fortified territory against a vastly larger invasion for three days at great cost before being annihilated with no known survivors, Wizna is sometimes referred to as a Polish Thermopylae in Polish culture. On September 17, 1939, the USSR invaded Poland. By 28 September, the Soviet Army had reached the line of the rivers Narew, Bug River, Vistula and San – completing the division of Poland as negotiated in advance.

References

External links

Natural tourism (birdwatching) in Narew National Park
{{Authority control Rivers of Poland Rivers of Grodno region Rivers of Podlaskie Voivodeship Rivers of Masovian Voivodeship International rivers of Europe Rivers of Belarus