The Merwede (; etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch ( Modern Dutch: ') or Old Low Franconian (Modern Dutch: ') is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th Page 55: "''Uit de zesde eeu ...

''merwe'' or ''merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the

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

, between the cities of Woudrichem,

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

and Papendrecht. The river is part of the

Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta The Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta is a river delta in the Netherlands formed by the confluence of the Rhine, the Meuse () and the Scheldt rivers. In some cases, the Scheldt delta is considered a separate delta to the Rhine–Meuse delta. The resu ...

and is mostly fed by the river

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

. At first, a disconnected branch of the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

joins the

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

at Woudrichem to form the Boven Merwede (Upper Merwede). A few kilometers downstream it splits into the Beneden Merwede (Lower Merwede) on the right and the Nieuwe Merwede (New Merwede) on the left. All these rivers are tidal. The Nieuwe Merwede joins the

Bergse Maas The Bergsche Maas (; History of Dutch orthography, current spelling: Bergsche Maas) is a canal that was constructed in 1904 to be a branch of the river Meuse, Maas (French: Meuse) in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The Maas splits near Heusde ...

near Lage Zwaluwe to form the

Hollands Diep The Hollands Diep ( pre-1947 spelling: Hollandsch Diep) is a river in the Netherlands, and an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Through the Scheldt-Rhine Canal it connects to the Scheldt river and Antwerp. The Bergse Maas river and the N ...

estuary, and separates the Island of Dordrecht from the Biesbosch National Park. The Beneden Merwede splits into the Noord River and Oude Maas near Papendrecht.

History

In medieval times the name Merwede (or "Merwe" in Middle Dutch) was the name of a continuous stretch of river, considered to be the lower part of the river

(a major distributary branch of the

), and carried on its name all the way to the sea. Later on, the name Merwede was discarded downstream of the town of Papendrecht and replaced with Noord river and, even further downstream, Nieuwe Maas. Only the part of the river between Woudrichem en Papendrecht retained its name. The confusing river names are the result of two major flood events, which both resulted in a significant shift in the course and flow of the lower rivers. The first of these events forced the river

(Maas) to take a more northerly course and created a direct connection between the Meuse and the Merwede at the town of Woudrichem. The names of several stretches of the lower rivers were then changed to reflect this, for example the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas. During a second flooding event (the St. Elizabeth floods) a major breach in the coastal dunes of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

created an inlet that would eventually reach the Merwede, thus creating a new, more southerly and shorter path to the sea. Most of the flow of the river

, and a considerable part of the flow of the

(by means of the

), were rerouted to this new pathway (the current Biesbosch,

and Haringvliet). From that time on, the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas received little water from the Meuse. In recent centuries the influence of the Meuse has decreased even further, to the point that the major stretches of river called Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas have been essentially cut off from the river Meuse completely. Both the current Merwede and all of its lower stretches (now called Noord river, Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas) are now consequently almost exclusively fed by the Rhine, while the Meuse has been given its own artificial mouth,

, and the two rivers Rhine and Meuse are now mostly separated to reduce the risk of flooding. This separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the

Zuiderzee Works The Zuiderzee Works () is a system of dams and Levee, dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, which was the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the dammin ...

and

Delta Works The Delta Works () is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works consist of dams, slu ...

. The

Merovingian dynasty The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

probably derived its name from this river.

Sources

{{Authority control Rivers of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Distributaries of Europe Rivers of North Brabant Rivers of South Holland Rivers of the Netherlands Alblasserwaard Drechtsteden Land van Heusden en Altena