The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...

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 ...

River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. It runs from the confluence of the rivers

Noord Noord () is a town and region in Aruba (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands). This town is known for its low rise and high rise hotels, restaurants, beaches, malls, the California Lighthouse, and other places of attraction. Places of interes ...

and Lek, and flows west through

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 ...

. It ends west of the city where it meets the Oude Maas ("Old Meuse"), near Vlaardingen, to form Scheur. After a few miles, the Scheur continues as the artificial

Nieuwe Waterweg The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from Scheur, het Scheur (a branch of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland: the #Maasmon, Maasmond, where the Nieu ...

. The total length of the Nieuwe Maas (excluding the Scheur) is approximately .

Geography

The Nieuwe Maas flows through some of the most densely populated and developed areas in the Netherlands. Along its shores are numerous harbours and industries.

History

During the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the river was considered to be the continuation of the

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

river (itself a distributary branch of the

) and was named accordingly. However, during the 13th century a series of floods forced the Maas to shift its main course north towards the Merwede. From then on, several stretches of the original Merwede were named Maas instead, including the current Nieuwe Maas. In the late 19th century the connection between the Maas and Rhine was closed off entirely (the current

Afgedamde Maas The Afgedamde Maas (; Dammed-up Meuse) is a former distributary of the Meuse, Maas River (French: Meuse) in the Netherlands, Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, provinces of North Brabant and Gelderland. The Maas splits near Heusden with one chan ...

) and the Maas was given a new, artificial mouth - 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 ...

. The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas reduced the risk of flooding and 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 ...

. From that moment on, the Nieuwe Maas is only fed by the Rhine.

River crossings

From west to east: * Beneluxtunnel (tunnel; motor vehicles, cyclists and metro) * Maastunnel (tunnel; motor vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians) * Erasmusbrug (bridge; motor vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, trams) * Maastaxi (ferry; pedestrians) * Metrotunnel (tunnel; metro) * Willemstunnel (tunnel; train) * Willemsbrug (bridge; motor vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians) * Van Brienenoordbrug (bridge; motor vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians)

References

{{Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Rivers of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Geography of Rotterdam Rivers of South Holland Distributaries of Europe IJsselmonde (island) Rivers of the Netherlands