The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

south into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. In the 21st century, it connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals:

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, and

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. Its drainage basin amounts to and extends into nine more countries. The Danube's longest headstream, the Breg, rises in

Furtwangen im Schwarzwald Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (; Low Alemannic: ''Furtwange im Schwarzwald'') is a small city located in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Together with Villingen-Schwenningen, Furtwangen is part of the district (German: Kreis) of Sch ...

, while the river carries its name from its source confluence in the

palace park Palace Park () is a public park in the center of Oslo, Norway, surrounding the Royal Palace, Oslo, Royal Palace. It is . History The park was built during the 1840s and was designed by Hans Ditlev Franciscus Linstow, who was the main archit ...

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the States of Germany, federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar ''Districts of Germany, Kreis''. It ...

onwards. Since ancient times, the Danube has been a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, of its total length are navigable. The Danube is linked to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

via the

Rhine–Main–Danube Canal The Rhine–Main–Danube Canal ( German: ''Rhein-Main-Donau-Kanal''; also called Main-Danube Canal, RMD Canal or Europa Canal), is a canal in Bavaria, Germany. Connecting the Main and the Danube ri ...

, connecting the Danube at

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the Kelheim (district), district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). His ...

with the

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

. The river is also an important source of

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

and drinking water. The Danube river basin is home to such fish species as

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Percidae, which also includes perch, Gymnocephalus, ruffe and Darter (fish), darter. It is found in freshwater and brackis ...

huchen The huchen (''Hucho hucho'') (, from German), also known as Danube salmon or redfish (), is a large species of freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae native to the Danube basin in Central and Eastern Europe. It is the type species of genus ...

Wels catfish The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been intro ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...

and

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...

. It is also home to numerous diverse

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

and

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

, as well as

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

. A few species of

euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the short-finned molly, '' Poecilia sphenops'', which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab ('' Carcinus m ...

fish, such as European seabass, mullet, and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, inhabit the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

and the lower portion of the river.

Names and etymology

Today the river carries its name from its source confluence in

, Germany, to its discharge into the

via the

in Romania and Ukraine. The river was known to the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

as the () from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

( in Latin, in Greek) and akin to

Iranic Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, are the collective ethnolinguistic groups who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the Iranian languages, which are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages within the Indo-European langu ...

'swift' and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

() 'swift', from the

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...

, 'to flow'. In the Middle Ages, the Greek was borrowed into Italian as and into Turkic languages as ; the latter was further borrowed into Romanian as a regionalism (). The Thraco- Phrygian name was , "the bringer of luck". The

Middle Mongolian Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian was a Mongolic languages, Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of Northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the coll ...

name for the Danube was transliterated as ''Tho-na'' in 1829 by

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (; 5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treati ...

. The modern languages spoken in the Danube basin all use names derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name :

Etymology

''Danube'' is an Old European river name derived from the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

' Danu' or ' Don'Triad 35. Bromwich, ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', pp. 280–285. (both Celtic gods), which itself derived from the

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 ...

. Other European river names from the same root include the Dunaj, Dzvina/

Daugava The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of ...

, Don,

Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

Dniestr The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Ukr ...

Dysna The Dysna (; ) is a river that flows through Lithuania and Belarus into the Daugava River near the town of Dzisna. The river originates from Lake Parsvėtas, near Dūkštas, Ignalina district municipality. It flows through Lake Dysnai and La ...

and Tana/Deatnu. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, ''danu'' (दनु) means "fluid, dewdrop" and ''danuja (दनु-ज)'' means "born from ''danu''" or "born from dew-drops". In

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

, the same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is , which is most likely derived from the name of the river in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, . Its

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

name means "Great River". It is possible that in

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": ''Dnieper'' and ''Dniestr'', from ''Danapris'' and ''Danastius'', are presumed to continue Scythian "far river" and "near river", respectively.. In Latin, the Danube was variously known as , , or ''Hister''. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

names, except Slovene (the name of the

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 ...

is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German (

Early Modern German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650, developing from Middle High German and into New High German. The term is the s ...

, ,

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

) is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix '' -ouwe'' "wetland".

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, (). This form was not inherited from Latin, although Romanian is a Romance language. To explain the loss of the Latin name, scholars who suppose that Romanian developed near the large river propose that the Romanian name descends from a hypothetical

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

. The Proto-Indo-European root of this presumed name is related to the Iranic word ""/"", while the supposed suffix is encountered in the ancient name of the

Ialomița River Ialomița may refer to: * Ialomița County, Romania * Ialomița (river) The Ialomița ( ) is a river of Southern Romania. It rises from the Bucegi Mountains in the Carpathians. It discharges into the Borcea branch of the Danube in Giurgeni.

, ''Naparis'', and in the unidentified ''Miliare'' river mentioned by

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

in his

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

. Gábor Vékony says that this hypothesis is not plausible, because the Greeks borrowed the ''Istros'' form from the native Thracians. He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language (

Cuman The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as " ...

Pecheneg The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic: , , , , , , ka, პაჭანიკი, , , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia who ...

Geography

Classified as an

international waterway The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

, it originates in the town of

, in the

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 ...

, 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 ...

of the rivers

Brigach The Brigach is the shorter of two streams that jointly form the river Danube in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Brigach has its source at above sea level within St. Georgen in the Black Forest. The Brigach crosses the city Villingen-Schwenning ...

and Breg. The Danube then flows southeast for about , passing through four capital cities (

, and

) before emptying into the

via the

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

International status

Once a long-standing frontier of the

, the river passes through or touches the borders of 10 countries. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...

extends into nine more (ten if

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

is included).

Drainage basin

In addition to the bordering countries (see above), the

includes parts of nine more countries:

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

(4.6% of the basin area), the

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

(2.9%),

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

(2.0%),

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

(0.9%),

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

(0.2%),

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(<0.15%),

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 ...

(<0.1%),

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

(<0.1%) and

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

(<0.1%). The total drainage basin is in area, and is home to 83 million people. The highest point of the drainage basin is the summit of ''

Piz Bernina Piz Bernina (Romansh language, Romansh, , ) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It rises and is located south of Pontresina in the Bernina Region and ne ...

'' at the

Italy–Switzerland border The border between the modern states of Switzerland and Italy extends for , from the French-Swiss-Italian tripoint at Mont Dolent in the west to the Austrian-Swiss-Italian tripoint near Piz Lad in the east. Much of the border runs across the ...

, at . The Danube river basin is divided into three main parts, separated by "gates" where the river is forced to cut through mountainous sections: * Upper Basin, from the

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

to the

Devín Gate Devín Gate, Hainburger Gate or Hungarian Gates (, ; ) is a natural gate in the Danube valley at the border of Slovakia and Austria. It is one out of four geomorphological areas of the Devín Carpathians, part of the Little Carpathians mountain r ...

. * Middle Basin, usually called the

Pannonian basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...

or Carpathian Basin, between the

and the

Iron Gates The Iron Gates (; ; ; Hungarian: ''Vaskapu-szoros'') is a gorge on the river Danube. It forms part of the boundary between Serbia (to the south) and Romania (north). In the broad sense it encompasses a route of ; in the narrow sense it only ...

. It includes the Hungarian plains

Kisalföld The Little Hungarian Plain or Little Alföld (Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kisalföld'' , Slovak language, Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'', German language, German: ''Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene'') is a plain (tectonic Depression (geology ...

and

Alföld The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not part ...

. * Lower Basin, from the

to the

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current, reducing the carryin ...

, including the

Discharge

Mean annual discharge on the hydrological stations (period from 2000 to 2024); Multiannual average, minimum and maximum discharge (water period from 1876 to 2010) Simulated water and suspended sediment results from climate-driven decadal study (with STD through specific decade): P – Simulated average

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

in the Danube basin; T – Simulated average

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

in the Danube basin; Q – Simulated average discharge in the river Danube at delta; S – Simulated

sediment load {{page numbers needed, date=November 2020 Stream load is a geologic term referring to the solid matter carried by a stream (Strahler and Strahler, 2006). Erosion and bed shear stress continually remove mineral material from the bed and banks of ...

in the river Danube at

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

;

Discharge chronology

Historical average flow to the present day; Measured and reconstructed average water flows from 1742. The reconstructed and observed streamflow (Q – m³/s) at Ceatal Izmail for the 1742 to 2022:

Tributaries

The land drained by the Danube extends into many other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges and other shallow-draught boats. From its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are (as they enter): File:Donaueschingen Donauzusammenfluss 20080714.jpg, The Danube's source confluence in

: the ''Donauzusammenfluss'', the confluence of Breg and

. File:Дунайський біосферний заповідник 2.JPG, 0 km,

File:Danube Delta ESA23450088.jpeg, Where the Danube meets the

(

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

Sentinel-2 Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission from the Copernicus Programme that acquires optical imagery at high spatial resolution (10 m to 60 m) over land and coastal waters. The mission's Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B satellites were joined in or ...

image) File:The Danube Spills into the Black Sea.jpg, The Danube discharges into the

(the upper body of water in the image).

Cities and towns

The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals (shown below in bold), more than any other river in the world. Ordered from source to mouth they are: *Germany **

in the

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

– rivers

and Breg join to form the Danube **

Möhringen an der Donau Tuttlingen (; Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia e ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Tuttlingen Tuttlingen (; Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Riedlingen Riedlingen () is a town in the district (''Kreis'') of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of Germany. It is one of the destinations of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. Riedlingen has approximately 11,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Munderkingen Munderkingen (; ) is the smallest town in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the Danube, 9 km southwest of Ehingen Ehingen (Donau) (; ) is a town in the Alb-Donau (district), Alb-Donau district ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Ehingen Ehingen (Donau) (; ) is a town in the Alb-Donau (district), Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, situated on the left bank of the Danube, approx. southwest of Ulm and southeast of Stuttgart. The city, like the entire district o ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Erbach, Baden-Württemberg Erbach (; ) is a town on the Danube River in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Located in the Alb-Donau (district), Alb-Donau District, Erbach lies between Ulm and Ehingen, Ehingen an der Donau on the southern edge of the Swabian Jura. History The o ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

in Baden-Württemberg **

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm (, ; Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the seat of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 Decembe ...

in Bavaria **

Günzburg Günzburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Genzburg'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' and the capital of the Swabian Günzburg (district), district Günzburg. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city ...

in Bavaria **

Dillingen an der Donau Dillingen an der Donau (; officially Dillingen a.d.Donau; ) is a Town#Germany, town in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative center of the district of Dillingen (district), Dillingen. Besides the town of Dillingen ...

in Bavaria **

Donauwörth Donauwörth (; ) is a town and the capital of the Donau-Ries district in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is said to have been founded by two fishermen where the rivers Danube (Donau) and Wörnitz meet. The city is part of the scenic route called "R ...

in Bavaria **

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, N ...

in Bavaria **

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

in Bavaria **

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

in Bavaria **

Straubing Straubing (; Central Bavarian: ''Strauwing'') is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the Districts of Germany, district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Ba ...

in Bavaria **

Deggendorf Deggendorf (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards ...

in Bavaria **

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

in Bavaria Linz Ars electronica center lila DL

*Austria **

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, capital of

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

** Krems in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

Tulln Tulln an der Donau () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, the administrative seat of Tulln District. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln is often referred to as ''Blumenstadt'' ("City of Flowers"), and "The ...

– capital of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the most populous city on the Danube, where the Danube floodplain is called the ''

Lobau The Lobau () is a floodplain in Vienna, Austria. Located in the south-east of the city, on the northern bank of the Danube, it is a part of the Danube-Auen National Park. History Before 1870 The Danube meandered through the flat Marchfeld ...

'', though the ''

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; ; "Inner City") is the 1st municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...

'' is situated away from the main flow of the Danube (it is bounded by the

Donaukanal The Donaukanal (, ''Danube Canal'') is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel (since 1598), within the city of Vienna, Austria. It is long and, unlike the Danube itself, it borders Vienna's city centre, Innere St ...

– 'Danube canal'). Danube Bratislava 6

*Slovakia **

– capital of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Komárno Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...

Štúrovo Štúrovo (, ) is the southernmost town of Slovakia, situated on the river Danube not far from the mouth of the Hron. Connected by the Mária Valéria Bridge it forms a cross-border urban area with the city of Esztergom in Hungary. In 2023 the tow ...

*Hungary **

Mosonmagyaróvár Mosonmagyaróvár (; ; also known by other alternative names) is a town in Győr-Moson-Sopron County in northwestern Hungary. It lies close to both the Austrian and Slovak borders and has a population of 32,752 (). Mosonmagyaróvár used ...

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

Komárom Komárom (Hungarian: ; or ; , later ; ) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárom fortress played an important role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and many contemporary English sources r ...

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

** Visegrád – This section of the river is also called

Danube Bend The Danube Bend () is a curve of the Danube in Hungary, close to the town of Visegrád. Geology The present-day U-shaped loop is probably the result of an eruption of the volcano stretching over the whole area some 15 million years ago. The ...

. **

Vác Vác (; ; ; ) is a thousand-year old city in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spelling of the name is ''Vácz''. Location Vác is located north of Budapest on the eastern bank of the Danube river, below t ...

Szentendre Szentendre, also known as Saint Andrew is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis Mountains, Pilis-Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the :hu: Szentendrei Szabadtéri ...

Göd Göd () is a small city in Pest County, Hungary. Location The city is northeast of Budapest. Economy Göd has a thriving tourist trade. It has a thermal spa open almost 365 days a year with water rich in minerals. Along the M2 motorway Göd ...

Dunakeszi Dunakeszi () is a city in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is located to the north of Budapest on the left bank of the Danube. Politics The current mayor of Dunakeszi is Csaba Dióssi (Fidesz-KDNP). The local Municipal As ...

– capital of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, the largest city and the largest agglomeration on Danube (about 3,300,000 people). **

Szigetszentmiklós Szigetszentmiklós ( /nowiki>; German language, German: ''Nigglau'') is a city in Pest County, Hungary, with around 40,000 inhabitants. Name * Sziget – island: Szigetszentmiklós is a town on Csepel Island * Szent Miklós – Saint Nichol ...

Százhalombatta Százhalombatta (; ; ; ) is a town in Pest County, Hungary. The name of this town in Hungarian literally means "One hundred tumuli" referring to the tumulus field at the edge of the town. History Groups of people had already settled in this ar ...

Ráckeve Ráckeve ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српски Ковин, Srpski Kovin) is a town on Csepel Island in the county of , Hungary. Its residents are mainly Hungarians, Magyars, with a minority of Serbs. The Serbian Kovin Monastery, the oldest in Hungary and ...

** Adony **

Dunaújváros Dunaújváros (; also known by #Etymology and names, alternative names) is an industrial city in Fejér County, Central Hungary. It is a city with county rights. Situated 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Budapest on the Danube, the city is best ...

Dunaföldvár Dunaföldvár is a town in Tolna County, Hungary. Its residents are Hungarian people, Hungarians, with minority of Serbs. History A Bronze Age gold hoard of jewellery was found between Paks and Dunaföldvár on the banks of the Danube in the n ...

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna (county), Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian Paks Nuclear Pow ...

Kalocsa Kalocsa (; or ''Kalača''; or Калоча; ) is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It lies south of Budapest. It is situated in a marshy but highly productive district, near the left bank of the Danube River. Historically it had greater ...

** Baja **

Mohács Mohács (; Croatian: ''Mohač''; ; ; ; ) is a town in Baranya County, Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube. Etymology The name probably comes from the Slavic ''*Mъchačь'',''*Mocháč'': ''mъchъ'' (moss, Hungarian ''moha'' is a loanword ...

*Croatia **

Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...

Ilok Ilok () is the easternmost town in Croatia forming a geographic salient surrounded by Vojvodina. Located in the Syrmia region, it lies on the Fruška Gora hill overlooking the Danube river, which forms the border with the Bačka region of Serbi ...

*Serbia **

Apatin Apatin ( sr-Cyrl, Апатин, , ) is a town and municipality located in the West Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022 census, the population of the town is 14,613, while the municipality has 23,155 inhabita ...

Bačka Palanka Bačka Palanka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка Паланка, ; ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Danube. In 2022 the town had a total ...

Čerević Čerević () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Beočin municipality, in the Vojvodina province. Although, the village is geographically located in Syrmia, it is part of the South Bačka District. The village has a Serb ethnic majority ...

Futog Futog (, German and ) is a village of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia, with a population of 18,642 according to the 2011 census in Serbia. It is situated in southern Bačka, 7 km away from Novi Sad. Name ''Terra que Futog et a quibusdam Batkay no ...

Veternik Veternik ( sr-cyr, Ветерник) is a suburban settlement of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Over the years, especially in the 1990s, it grew with size and inhabitants thus merging with Futog to the west and Novi Sad to the east. Name The set ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

– regional capital of

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

Sremski Karlovci Sremski Karlovci ( sr-Cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka Districtautonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danube, from Novi Sad. According to the 202 ...

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

– capital of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...

Kovin Kovin (, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 11,623, while the municipality has 28,141 inhabitants (2022 census). Other names In Rom ...

Veliko Gradište Veliko Gradište ( sr-cyr, Велико Градиште, ; ) is a town and municipality located in the Braničevo District of eastern Serbia. It is located on the right bank of the Danube River and left bank of the Pek River. In 2022, the town ...

Golubac Golubac ( sr-Cyrl, Голубац, ; ) is a village and municipality located in the Braničevo District of eastern Serbia. Situated on the right side of the Danube river, it is bordered by Romania to the east, Veliko Gradište to the west and ...

Donji Milanovac Donji Milanovac ( sr-cyrl, Доњи Милановац, ) is a town in eastern Serbia. It is situated in the Majdanpek municipality, in the Bor District. It is located on the right bank of Lake Đerdap on the Danube. The population of the tow ...

Kladovo Kladovo ( sr-Cyrl, Кладово, ; or ) is a town and municipality located in the Bor District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube river. Name In Serbian language, Serbian, the town i ...

*Bulgaria **

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

** Lom **

Kozloduy Kozloduy ( ) is a town in northwest Bulgaria, located in Vratsa Province, on the Danube River. The city was liberated from Ottoman rule on 23 November 1877 by the Romanian Army under the command of the Imperial Russian Army. Kozloduy is best know ...

Oryahovo Oryahovo ( ) is a port city in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Vratsa Province. It is located in a hilly area on the right bank of the Danube, just east of the mouth of the river Ogosta, a few more kilometres downstream from where the Jiu flows i ...

** Nikopol **

Belene Belene ( ) is a town in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belene Municipality. The town is situated on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the town of Svishtov. Geography Locati ...

Svishtov Svishtov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous S ...

** Ruse **

Tutrakan Tutrakan ( , , ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Oltenița (to which it was l ...

Silistra Silistra ( ; ; or ) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Silistra is the administrative center of the ...

*Romania **

Moldova Nouă Moldova Nouă (; ; ; or ''Bošňák''; ) is a town in southwestern Romania in Caraș-Severin County (the historical region of Banat), in an area known as '' Clisura Dunării''. The town administers three villages: Măcești (, ), Moldova Veche ...

Orșova Orșova (; ; ; ) is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the Banat historical region situated just above the Iron Gates where the Cerna River meets the Danube. History ...

Drobeta-Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. It is one of six Romanian county seats List of cities and towns on the river Danube, lyin ...

Calafat Calafat () is a city in Dolj County, southern Romania, in the region of Oltenia. It lies on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Vidin, to which it is linked by the Calafat-Vidin Bridge, opened in 2013. After the destruction of the b ...

Bechet Bechet is a town in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania, on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Oryahovo. Demographics At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 4,355, of which 77.98% were Romanians and 18.37% Roma. Points of ...

Dăbuleni Dăbuleni () is a town of Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania. It was declared a town in 2004 (Law no. 83/2004). One village, Chiașu, is administered by the town. Dăbuleni is known for the sandy areas surrounding it; since the 1980s, those areas ha ...

Corabia Corabia () is a small Danube port located in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania, which used to be part of the now-dissolved Romanați County before World War II. Across the Danube from Corabia lies the Bulgarian village of Gigen. History Beneath Co ...

Turnu Măgurele Turnu Măgurele () is a municipiu, city in Teleorman County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. Developed nearby the site once occupied by the medieval port of Turnu fortress, Turnu, it is situated north-east of the confluence between ...

Zimnicea Zimnicea () is a town in Teleorman County, Romania (in the historic region of Muntenia), a port on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov. Geography Zimnicea is situated on the left bank of the Danube river. It is the southernmost pla ...

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; ; ) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Ruse on the op ...

Oltenița Oltenița () is a Municipiu, city in Călărași County, Muntenia, Romania, on the left bank of the river Argeș (river), Argeș, where its waters flow into the Danube. Geography The city is located in the southwestern part of the county; it sta ...

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. It is one of six Romanian county se ...

Fetești Fetești () is a city in Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located in the Bărăgan Plain, on the of the Danube. Fetești has the second largest population in Ialomița County, after Slobozia. In 1895, the King Carol I railway bridge ...

Cernavodă Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania with a population of 15,088 as of 2021. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' ( in Cyrillic), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by some s ...

Hârșova Hârșova (also spelled ''Hîrșova''; ; ; , ''Harsovo'') is a town located on the right bank of the Danube, in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The village of Vadu Oii is administered by the town. The village is linked with Giurge ...

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

– limit of the maritime sector of the Danube **

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

– largest port on the Danube **

Isaccea Isaccea () is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 4,408. The town has been inhabited for thousands o ...

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

Sulina Sulina () is a town and free port in Tulcea County, Northern Dobruja, Romania, at the mouth of the Sulina branch of the Danube. It is the easternmost point of Romania. History During the mid-Byzantine period, Sulina was a small cove, and in th ...

*Moldova **

Giurgiulești Giurgiulești () is a commune in the Cahul District of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania, located from Galați. Geography The locality is in the southernmost point of Moldova, at the confluence of the river Prut with th ...

*Ukraine ** Reni **

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

Kiliia Kiliia or Kilia (, ; ; ) is a city in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern ...

Vylkove Vylkove (, ; ; ) is a small city located in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, at utmost southwest of Ukraine, on the border with Romania. Administratively, it is part of Izmail Raion (district) of Odesa Oblast (region). Vylkove hosts the a ...

Islands

* Ada Kaleh Island *Ostrovul Mare, Gogoșu *

Balta Ialomiței Balta Ialomiței is an island on the Danube, located in Ialomița County and Călărași County, Romania. It is surrounded by two branches of the Danube, named "Borcea" and "Dunărea Veche". The island has an area of , with a length of and a width ...

Belene Island Belene Island () or Persin Island () is the biggest island in Bulgarian waters. The island is formed by the Danube River splitting into two branches passing north and south of it. The international frontier between Bulgaria and Romania follows t ...

Csepel Island Csepel Island (, ) is an island in the Danube in Hungary. It is long; its width after sections of bifurcation and rejoining (confluence) varies from . It has an area of and its population is 165,000. The isle extends south from Budapest; its ...

* Čakljanac Island *

Donauinsel The Donauinsel (Danube Island) is a long, narrow artificial island in central Vienna, Austria, lying between the Danube and the New Danube. The island is in length, but is only wide. It was constructed from 1972 to 1988 primarily as a measur ...

* Forkontumac Island *

Great Brăila Island The Great Brăila Island () is an island on the Danube river in the Brăila County, Romania. It has on average length and width, with a total area of . The two river branches which separate it from the mainland are and . Adjacent to the west a ...

Great War Island Great War Island () is a river island in Belgrade, capital of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. Though uninhabited, the island is part of the Belgrade City proper, and belongs to the city municipality of Zemun ...

Island of Mohács An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

*Koh Chang Island,

Kozloduy Island Kozloduy Island (, ''ostrov Kozloduy'') is the second largest Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube rive ...

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( ; ) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its impo ...

Ostrovo (Kostolac) Ostrovo may refer to: *Arnissa, a town in Greece formerly called Ostrovo * Ostrovo, Croatia, a village near Markušica, Vukovar-Syrmia County, Croatia * Ostrovo, Veliko Gradište, a village in Serbia * Ostrovo, Požarevac, a village in Serbia * Ost ...

* Ostrovul Ciocănești * Ostrovul Mare, Islaz * Paradajz Island *,

Island of Šarengrad Island of Šarengrad (, sr-Cyrl, Шаренградска ада, or ) is a Danube river island situated close to the village of Šarengrad in Croatia. It covers an area of . The old riverbed of the Danube caused problems for navigation due to ...

Szigetköz The Szigetköz (literally "island alley"; ; ) is a flat alluvial region in northwestern Hungary, situated between the Danube River's main branch and its Mosoni-Duna branch, part of the Little Hungarian Plain. It is the largest island or inlan ...

Island of Szentendre An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Vardim Island Vardim Island (, ''ostrov Vardim'') is the third largest Bulgarian Danubian island (after Belene Island and Kozloduy Island). Located east of the town of Svishtov, opposite the village of Vardim (in Svishtov municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Provinc ...

* Island of Vukovar *

Žitný ostrov Žitný ostrov (), also called Veľký Žitný ostrov (; , ) to differentiate it from Szigetköz, Malý Žitný ostrov (; ; ), is a river island in southwestern Slovakia, extending from Bratislava to Komárno. It lies between the Danube, its tribu ...

Sectioning

*Upper Section: From spring to

, at the border of Austria and Slovakia. Danube remains a characteristic mountain river until

, with average bottom gradient 0.12% (1200 ppm), from Passau to Devín Gate the gradient lessens to 0.06% (600 ppm). *Middle Section: From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania. The riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0.006% (60 ppm). *Lower Section: From Iron Gate to Pătlăgeanca, with average gradient as little as 0.003% (30 ppm). *Delta: From Pătlăgeanca to

, where the Danube meets the Black Sea. The river splits into three main distributaries.

Modern navigation

The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to

in Romania (the maritime river sector), and further on by river ships to

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

, Germany. About 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. Since the completion of the German

in 1992, the river has been part of a trans-European waterway from

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 ...

on the

on the Black Sea, a distance of . In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

. Clearance of the resulting debris was completed in 2002, and a temporary

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

that hampered navigation was removed in 2005. At the Iron Gate, the Danube flows through a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains the

Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station The Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station (, /Đerdap I) is the largest dam on the Danube river and one of the largest hydro power plants in Europe. It is located on the Iron Gate gorge, between Romania and Serbia. The Romanian side of the po ...

dam, followed at about downstream (outside the gorge) by the

Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station The Iron Gate II (, ) is a large dam on the Danube River, between Romania and Serbia. Characteristics The dam is built at the Danube's . The project started in 1977 as a joint-venture between the governments of Romania and Yugoslavia for the ...

. On 13 April 2006, a record peak discharge at Iron Gate Dam reached . There are three artificial waterways built on the Danube: the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal (DTD) in the

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

and

Bačka Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...

regions (

, northern province of Serbia); the Danube-Black Sea Canal, between

and

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

(Romania) finished in 1984, shortens the distance to the Black Sea by ; the

is about , finished in 1992, linking the North Sea to the Black Sea. A Danube-Aegean canal has been proposed. Cruising on the Danube is a popular sightseeing activity, especially between

, Germany, to

, Hungary.

Piracy

In 2010–12, shipping companies, especially from Ukraine, claimed that their vessels suffered from "regular pirate attacks" on the Serbian and the Romanian stretches of the Danube. However, the transgressions may not be considered acts of piracy, as defined according to the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

, but rather instances of "river robbery". On the other hand, media reports say the crews on transport ships often steal and sell their own cargo and then blame the plundering on "pirates", and the alleged attacks are not piracy but small-time

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

theft along the river.

Danube Delta

The Danube Delta ( ; ) is the largest

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). The approximate surface is , of which are in Romania. If one includes the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe ( of which water surface), which are located south of the delta proper, but are related to it geologically and ecologically (their combined territory is part of the World Heritage Site), the total area of the Danube Delta reaches . The Danube Delta is also the best-preserved river delta in Europe, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

(since 1991) and a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

pygmy cormorant The pygmy cormorant (''Microcarbo pygmaeus'') is a member of the Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant) family of seabirds. It breeds in south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia. It is partially migratory, with northern populations wintering further ...

(''Phalacrocorax pygmaeus''). These are threatened by rival canalization and drainage schemes such as the Bystroye Canal.

International cooperation

Ecology and environment

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an organization that consists of 14 member states (Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine) and the

. The commission, established in 1998, deals with the whole Danube river basin, which includes tributaries and groundwater resources. Its goal is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention by promoting and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, improvement, and rational use of waters and the implementation of the EU

Water Framework Directive The Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60/EC) is an EU directive to establish a framework for the protection of all water bodies (including marine waters up to one nautical mile from shore) by 2015. The WFD establishes a programme and timeta ...

and the

Danube Strategy The Danube Strategy of the European Union aimed at closer cooperation between the states along the Danube. The focus is on the areas of infrastructure, environmental protection, wealth creation and good governance. History of the Danube Strategy ...

Navigation

The Danube Commission is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of the river's navigation conditions. It was established in 1948 by seven countries bordering the river. Members include representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia; it meets regularly twice a year. It also convenes groups of experts to consider items provided for in the commission's working plans. The commission dates to the Paris Conferences of 1856 and 1921, which established for the first time an international regime to safeguard free navigation on the Danube. Today the Commission include riparian and non-riparian states.

Geology

Although the

headwater The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

s of the Danube are relatively small today, geologically, the Danube is much older than the

, with which its catchment area competes in today's southern Germany. This has a few interesting geological complications. Since the Rhine flows north towards the North Sea, a

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

beginning at

Piz Lunghin Piz Lunghin (2,780 m) is a mountain in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Graubünden, located in the Albula range, overlooking the Maloja Pass. It is considered as the "roof of Europe" as the peak is nearby the triple watershed of the Lunghin pas ...

divides large parts of southern Germany, which is sometimes referred to as the European Watershed. Before the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, the Rhine started at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the so-called ''Urdonau'' (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which was much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless) canyons in today's landscape of the

Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

. The erosion of the

Upper Rhine valley Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain (). Most of its upper section m ...

led to

stream capture Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows down to the bed of a neighbouring stream. This ...

; waters from the Alps changed their direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is thus an

underfit stream A misfit stream is a river that is either too large or too small to have eroded the valley or cave passage in which it flows. This term is also used for a stream or river with meanders that obviously are not proportional in size to the meanders ...

Since the Swabian Alb is largely shaped of porous

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, and since the Rhine's level is much lower than the Danube's, today subsurface rivers carry much water from the Danube to the Rhine. On many days in the summer, when the Danube carries little water, it completely sinks into these underground channels at two locations in the Swabian Alb, which are referred to as the Donauversickerung ( Danube Sink). Most of this water resurfaces only south at the

Aachtopf The Aachtopf () is Germany's biggest karst spring, south of the western end of the Swabian Jura near the town of Aach, Baden-Württemberg, Aach. It produces an average of 8,500 litres per second. Most of the water stems from the River Danube whe ...

, Germany's wellspring with the highest flow, an average of , north of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

—thus feeding the Rhine. The European Water Divide applies only for those waters that pass beyond this point, which only occurs during the days of the year when the Danube carries enough water to survive the sinkholes in the Donauversickerung. Since such large volumes of underground water erode much of the surrounding limestone, it is predicted that the Danube upper course will one day disappear entirely in favor of the Rhine, an event called stream capturing. The hydrological parameters of Danube are regularly monitored in Croatia at

Batina Batina (, sr-Cyrl, Батина) is a port village on the right bank of the Danube () river in Baranja region, Baranja, Croatia. It developed into the local center of the northeastern part of Baranja, in the part of Bansko brdo hill where the slo ...

Dalj Dalj ( sr-Cyrl, Даљ, , , ) is a village on the Danube in eastern Croatia, near the confluence of the Drava and Danube, on the border with Serbia. It is located on the D519 (Croatia), D519 road, south of its intersection with the D213 road and t ...

and

History

The Danube basin was the site of some of the earliest human cultures. The Danubian Neolithic cultures include the

Linear Pottery culture The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing . Derived from the German ''Linearbandkeramik'', it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incis ...

s of the mid-Danube basin. Many sites of the sixth-to-third millennium BCE

Vinča culture The Vinča culture , also known as Turdaș culture, Turdaș–Vinča culture or Vinča-Turdaș culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe, dated to the period 5400–4500 BC. It is named for its type site, Vinča-Belo B ...

(Vinča, Serbia), are sited along the Danube. The third millennium BCE

Vučedol culture The Vučedol culture (Croatian: ''Vučedolska kultura'') flourished between 3000 and 2200 BC (the Chalcolithic period of earliest copper-smithing and arsenical bronze-smithing), centered in Syrmia and eastern Slavonia on the right bank of the Dan ...

(from the Vučedol site near

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

) is famous for its ceramics.

Darius the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

king of Persia The monarchs of Iran ruled for over two and a half millennia, beginning as early as the 7th century BC and enduring until the 20th century AD. The earliest Iranian king is generally considered to have been either Deioces of the Median dynasty () ...

, crossed the river in the late 6th century BCE to invade European Scythia and to subdue the

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

defeated the Triballian king Syrmus and the northern barbarian Thracian and Illyrian tribes by advancing from Macedonia as far as the Danube in 336 BCE. Under the Romans, the Danube formed the border of the Empire with the tribes to the north almost from its source to its mouth. At the same time, it was a route for the transport of troops and the supply of settlements downstream. From 37 CE to the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I (364–375) the Danubian Limes was the northeastern border of the Empire, with occasional interruptions such as the fall of the Danubian Limes in 259. The crossing of the Danube into Roman Dacia, Dacia was achieved by the ''Imperium Romanum'', first in two battles in 102 and then in 106 after the construction of a bridge in 101 near the garrison town of Drobeta Turnu Severin, Drobeta at the Iron Gate. This victory over Dacia under Decebalus enabled the Province of Dacia (province), Dacia to be created, but in 271 it was abandoned by emperor Aurelian. Avar Khaganate, Avars used the river as their southeastern border in the 6th century. File:Trajan's Bridge Across the Danube, Modern Reconstruction.jpg, Trajan's Bridge, The oldest bridge across the Danube, constructed by Apollodorus of Damascus between 103 and 105 Common Era, CE, directed by Trajan, modern

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

and

File:Mária Valéria´s bridge.jpg, At

and

, the Danube separates

from

. File:Vena 06.jpg, The Danube in

File:Danube at belene.jpg, The Danube between

and

, Bulgaria File:Frozen Danube Reichsbrücke.JPG, A look upstream from the

in Vienna,

during an unusually cold winter (February 2006). A frozen Danube usually occurs just once or twice in a lifetime. File:Bratislavaminorflood.jpg,

does not usually suffer major floods, but the Danube sometimes overflows its right bank.

Ancient cultural perspectives of the lower Danube

Part of the rivers Danubius or Istros was also known as (together with the Black Sea) the ''Okeanos'' in ancient times, being called the ''Okeanos Potamos'' (Okeanos River). The lower Danube was also called the ''Keras Okeanoio'' (Gulf or Horn of Okeanos) in the ''Argonautica'' by Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodos (Argon. IV. 282). At the end of the ''Okeanos Potamos'', is the holy island of Alba (Leuke, Pytho Nisi, Snake Island (Ukraine), Isle of Snakes), sacred to the Pelasgian (and later, Greek) Apollo, greeting the sun rising in the east. Hecateus Abderitas refers to Apollo's island from the region of the Hyperboreans, in the Okeanos. It was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that the hero Achilles was buried (to this day, one of the mouths of the Danube is called Chilia). Old Romanian folk songs recount a white monastery on a white island with nine priests.''Dacia Preistorica''
, Nicolae Densusianu (1913).

Rivalry and trade along the Danube

Between the late 14th and late 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire competed first with the Kingdom of Serbia (medieval), Kingdom of Serbia, Second Bulgarian Empire, Kingdom of Hungary, Principality of Wallachia, Principality of Moldavia and later with the Habsburg monarchy, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Russian Empire for controlling the Danube (طونه, ''Tuna'' in Turkish language, Turkish), which became the northern border of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Many of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars (1366–1526) and Ottoman–Habsburg wars (1526–1791) were fought along the river. The most important Ottoman wars in Europe, wars of the Ottoman Empire along the Danube include the Battle of Nicopolis (1396), the Siege of Belgrade (1456), Siege of Belgrade (1456), the Battle of Mohács (1526), the first Turkish Siege of Vienna (1529), Siege of Vienna (1529), the Siege of Esztergom (1543), Siege of Esztergom (1543), the Long War (Ottoman wars), Long War (1591–1606), the Battle of Vienna (1683), the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), the Crimean War (1853–1856) and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). In the 19th century the beaver was hunted to extinction along the Danube in

. The Beluga (sturgeon), Beluga sturgeon population also collapsed, Danube sturgeons had been commercially exploited for meat and caviar since the 5th century BC. River regulation schemes commenced in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century. The Danube river has a total of 18 major dams, including Melk and Freudenau in

Second World War

During the 2011 renovation of the Margaret Bridge,

, human remains were discovered. The mostly Jewish remains were victims of the far-right Arrow Cross Party, who briefly governed Hungary from 1944.

Economics

Drinking water

Along its course, the Danube is a source of drinking water for about 20 million people. In

, almost 30 percent (as of 2004) of the water for the area between Stuttgart, Bad Mergentheim, Aalen and Alb-Donau (district) comes from purified water of the Danube. Other cities such as

and

also use some water from the Danube. In

and

, most water is drawn from ground and spring sources, and only in rare cases is water from the Danube used. Most states also find it too difficult to clean the water because of extensive pollution; only parts of Romania where the water is cleaner still obtain drinking water from the Danube on a regular basis.

Navigation and transport

In the 19th century, the Danube was an important waterway but was, as ''The Times'' of London put it, "annually swept by ice that will lift a large ship out of the water or cut her in two as if she were a carrot." Today, as Pan-European corridors, "Corridor VII" of the

, the Danube is an important transport route. Since the opening of the

, the river connects the Port of Rotterdam and the industrial centers of Western Europe with the

and, also, through the Danube – Black Sea Canal, with the Port of Constanța. The waterway is designed for large-scale inland vessels () but it can carry much larger vessels on most of its course. The Danube has been partly canalized in Germany (5 locks) and Austria (10 locks). Proposals to build a number of new locks to improve navigation have not progressed, due in part to environmental concerns. Downstream from the Freudenau locks in Vienna, canalization of the Danube was limited to the Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams, Gabčíkovo dam and locks near Bratislava and the two double Iron Gates, Iron Gate locks in the border stretch of the Danube between Serbia and Romania. These locks have larger dimensions. Downstream of the Iron Gate, the river is free flowing all the way to the Black Sea, a distance of more than . The Danube connects with the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal at

, with the

in Vienna, and with the Danube–Black Sea Canal at

. Apart from a couple of secondary navigable branches, the only major navigable rivers linked to the Danube are the Drava, Sava and Tisza, Tisa. In Serbia, a canal network also connects to the river; the network, known as the Danube–Tisa–Danube Canals, links sections downstream. In the Austrian and German sections of the Danube, a type of flat-bottomed boat called a Zille (boat), Zille was developed for use along the river. Zillen are still used today for fishing, ferrying, and other transport of goods and people in this area.

Fishing

The importance of fishing on the Danube, which was critical in the Middle Ages, has declined dramatically. Some fishermen are still active at certain points on the river, and the

still has an important industry. However, some of the river's resources have been managed in an environmentally unsustainable manner in the past, leading to damage by pollution, alterations to the channel, and major infrastructure development, including large hydropower dams. The

stocks associated with the Danube river basin have, over the centuries, formed the basis of a large and significant commercial fishery, renowned throughout the world. The construction of the dams, besides overfishing and river pollution, has a significant role in sturgeon population decline because it creates a barrier for fish migratory species that usually spawn in the upper parts of the river. The spawning areas of migratory fishes species has been dramatically reduced by the construction of hydropower and navigation systems at Iron Gates I (1974) and Iron Gates II (1984). The initial design of these dams has not included any fish passage facility. The possibility of building a human-made fish pass enabling migration for fish species including the sturgeon, is currently under review by projects such as We Pass. The Upper Danube ecoregion alone has about 60 fish species and the Lower Danube–

ecoregion has about twice as many.Hales, J. (2013).
Upper Danube
'. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Retrieved 25 February 2013. Among these are an exceptionally high diversity of sturgeon, a total of six species (Beluga (sturgeon), beluga, Russian sturgeon, bastard sturgeon, sterlet, starry sturgeon and European sea sturgeon), but these are all threatened and have largely–or entirely in the case of the European sea sturgeon–disappeared from the river. The

, one of the largest species of salmon, is Endemism, endemic to the Danube basin, but has been Introduced species, introduced elsewhere by humans.

Tourism

Important tourist and natural spots along the Danube include the Wachau Valley, the Nationalpark Donau-Auen in Austria, Gemenc in Hungary, the Naturpark Obere Donau in Germany, Kopački rit in Croatia, Iron Gate in Serbia and Romania, the

in Romania, and the Srebarna Nature Reserve in Bulgaria. Also, leisure and travel cruises on the river are of significance. Besides the often frequented route between Vienna and Budapest, some ships even go from

in Germany to the

and back. During the peak season, more than 70 cruise liners are in use on the river, while the traffic-free upper parts can only be discovered with canoes or boats. The Danube region is not only culturally and historically of importance, but also important for the regional tourism industry due to its fascinating landmarks and sights. With its well established infrastructure regarding cycling, hiking, and travel possibilities, the region along the Danube attracts every year an international clientele. In Austria alone, there are more than 14 million overnight stays and about 6.5 million arrivals per year. The Danube Banks in

are a part of Unesco World Heritage sites, they can be viewed from a number of sightseeing cruises offered in the city. The Danube Bend is also a popular tourist destination.

Danube Bike Trail

Donauradweg Schloegener Schlinge - Aschach

The Donauradweg, Danube Bike Trail (also called Danube Cycle Path or the ''Donauradweg'') is a bicycle trail along the river. Especially the parts through Germany and Austria are very popular, which makes it one of the 10 most popular bike trails in Germany. The Danube Bike Trail starts at the origin of the Danube and ends where the river flows into the Black Sea. It is divided into four sections: #

–

() #

–

() #

–

() #

–

()

Sultans Trail

The Sultans Trail is a hiking trail that runs along the river between

and

in Serbia. From there the Sultans Trail leaves the Danube, terminating in Istanbul. Sections along the river are as follows. #

–

() #

–

()

Donausteig

In 2010, the Donausteig (Danube Trail), Donausteig, a hiking trail from Passau to Grein, Austria, Grein, was opened. It is long and it is divided into 23 stages. The route passes through five Bavarian and 40 Austrian communities. A landscape and viewpoints, which are along the river, are the highlights of the ''Donausteig''.

The Route of Emperors and Kings

The Route of Emperors and Kings is an international touristic route leading from

to Budapest, calling in Passau, Linz and Vienna. The international consortium ''ARGE Die Donau-Straße der Kaiser und Könige'', comprising ten tourism organisations, shipping companies, and cities, strives for the conservation and touristic development of the Danube region. In medieval Regensburg, with its maintained old town, Stone Bridge (Regensburg), stone bridge and Regensburg Cathedral, cathedral, the Route of Emperors and Kings begins. It continues to Engelhartszell an der Donau, Engelhartszell, with the only Engelszell Abbey, Trappist monastery in Austria. Further highlight-stops along the Danube, include the "Schlögener Schlinge", the city of Linz, which was European Capital of Culture in 2009 with its contemporary art richness, the Melk Abbey, the university city of Krems and the cosmopolitan city of Vienna. Before the Route of Emperors and Kings ends, you pass Bratislava and Budapest, the latter of which was seen as the twin town of Vienna during the times of the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Since Ancient Rome, ancient Roman times, famous emperors and their retinue traveled on and along the Danube and used the river for travel and transportation. While traveling on the mainland was quite exhausting, most people preferred to travel by ship on the Danube. So the Route of Emperors and Kings was the setting for many important historical events, which characterize the Danube up until today. The route got its name from the Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I of Barbarossa and the Crusades, crusaders as well as from Richard I of England who had been jailed in the Burgruine Dürnstein, Dürnstein Castle, which is situated above the Danube. The most imperial journeys throughout time were those of the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg family. Once crowned in Frankfurt, the emperors ruled from Vienna and also held in Regensburg the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg. Many famous castles, palaces, residences, and state-run convents were built by the Habsburger along the river. Nowadays they still remind us of the bold architecture of the "Donaubarock". Today, people can not only travel by boat on the Danube but also by train, by bike on the Danube Bike Trail or walk on the "Donausteig" and visit the World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage cities of Regensburg, Wachau and Vienna.

Important national parks

* Naturpark Obere Donau (Germany) * Donauauen zwischen Neuburg und Ingolstadt (Germany) �
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* Nature protection area Donauleiten (Germany) * Nationalpark Donau Auen (Austria) �
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* Chránená krajinná oblasť Dunajské luhy (Slovakia) �
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* Danube-Ipoly National Park (Hungary) �
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* Danube-Drava National Park (Hungary) �
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* Naturalpark Kopački Rit (Croatia) �
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* Gornje Podunavlje Nature Reserve (Serbia) �
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* Fruška Gora National Park (Serbia) * Koviljsko-petrovaradinski rit Nature Reserve (Serbia) *

Nature Reserve (Serbia) * Đerdap National park (Serbia) * Iron Gates Natural Park (Romania) * Persina Nature Park (Bulgaria) �
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* Kalimok-Brushlen Protected Site (Bulgaria) �
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* Srebarna Nature Reserve (Bulgaria) �
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* Măcin Mountains Natural Park (Romania) * Balta Mică a Brăilei Natural Park (Romania) *

Biosphere Reserve (Romania) �
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* Danube Biosphere Reserve in Ukraine File:Gornje Podunavlje.jpg, Gornje Podunavlje Special Nature Reserve in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

File:Golubac Fortress (град Голубац).jpg, Golubac Fortress in Đerdap National park, Serbia

In folklore and literature

* The Danube is mentioned in the title of a famous waltz by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, Johann Strauss, ''The Blue Danube Waltz'' (''On the Beautiful Blue Danube''). This piece is well known across the world and is also used widely as a lullaby. ''The Waves of the Danube'' () is a waltz by the Romanian composer Iosif Ivanovici (1845–1902); as the Anniversary Song, Anniversary Song, it has been performed by many vocalists, such as Al Jolson, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Lynn, Tom Jones (singer), Tom Jones, and countless others. It is most commonly known as the Waves of the Danube, Anniversary Waltz, though that is actually a different song and melody. Joe Zawinul wrote a symphony about the Danube called ''Stories of the Danube''. It was performed for the first time at the 1993 Anton Bruckner, Bruckner festival, at

. * The Danube figures prominently in the Mila Rodino, Bulgarian National Anthem, as a symbolic representation of the country's natural beauty. In Lithuanian folklore songs, the appearance of Danube (Dunojus, Dunojėlis) is more common than the appearance of the longest Lithuanian river Neman. * The German and Austrian tradition of landscape painting, the Danube school, developed in the 16th century Danube valley by artists who worked autonomously. * One of Claudio Magris's masterpieces is called ''Danube'' (). The book, published in 1986, is a large cultural-historical essay, in which Magris travels the Danube from the first sources to the delta, tracing the European ethnic and cultural heritage, literary and ideological history. * ''The Great Danube Adventure'' was published in 1838 as epic travel diary. * Jules Verne's ''The Danube Pilot'' (1908) (''Le Pilote du Danube'') depicts the adventures of fisherman Serge Ladko as he travels down the river. * Algernon Blackwood's short story "The Willows (story), The Willows" mostly takes place on the river.

The Danube in popular culture

* In the ''Star Trek'' universe, the Danube class starship, ''Danube''-class runabout is a type of starship used by the United Federation of Planets, Federation Starfleet, featured prominently in the ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Deep Space Nine'' series. * Miklós Jancsó's film the ''Blue Danube Waltz'' (1992)

References

Notes

Sources

* * * *

External links

*
Danube watershed map and information from the World Resources Institute

Danube Panorama Project

сайт о Дунае

Danube and the sport of rowing

Danube image pool on Flickr

Danube Tourist Commission

International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
*
Description of the Danube estuary in June 1877, ''The Times'' of LondonOld maps of the Danube
Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The National Library of Israel {{Authority control Danube, Danube basin, * International rivers of Europe Geography of Bács-Kiskun County Geography of Europe Geography of Vojvodina Rivers of Austria Rivers of Bavaria Rivers of Bulgaria Rivers of Croatia Rivers of Germany Rivers of Hungary Rivers of Moldova Rivers of Romania Rivers of Serbia Rivers of Slovakia Rivers of Ukraine Rivers of Odesa Oblast Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of Upper Austria Rivers of Lower Austria Rivers of Vienna Bačka Banat Syrmia Border rivers Bulgaria–Romania border Croatia–Serbia border Hungary–Slovakia border Romania–Ukraine border Romania–Serbia border Federal waterways in Germany Articles containing video clips

Names and etymology

Etymology

Geography

International status

Drainage basin

Discharge

Discharge chronology

Tributaries

Cities and towns

Islands

Sectioning

Modern navigation

Piracy

Danube Delta

International cooperation

Ecology and environment

Navigation

Geology

History

Ancient cultural perspectives of the lower Danube

Rivalry and trade along the Danube

Second World War

Economics

Drinking water

Navigation and transport

Fishing

Tourism

Danube Bike Trail

Sultans Trail

Donausteig

The Route of Emperors and Kings

Important national parks

In folklore and literature

The Danube in popular culture

See also

Further reading

References

Notes

Sources

External links