The Var (, ; it, Varo; la, Varus) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

located in the southeast of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. It is long. Its drainage basin is .Bassin versant : Var (Le)
Observatoire Régional Eau et Milieux Aquatiques en PACA The Var flows through the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediter ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety- ...

'' for most of its length, with a short (~15 km or ~9 mi) stretch in the

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the wes ...

département. It is a unique case in France of a river not flowing in the ''département'' named after it (see

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

). Until the beginning of the 19th century, the river had no bridges; it was the border between France and the

County of Nice The County of Nice (french: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, it, Contea di Nizza/Paese Nizzardo, Niçard oc, Contèa de Niça/País Niçard) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent t ...

, then part of

Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

Name

The river name is attested in Latin as ''Vārus'' and in Ancient Greek as ''Ouãros'' (Οὐᾶρος). It stems from the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, ...

root *''uōr''- (earlier ''*uer-''), meaning 'water, river' (cf. Sanskrit ''vār'', Old Norse ''vari'').

Hydrography

The Var rises near the

Col de la Cayolle Col de la Cayolle (el. 2,326 m) is a high mountain pass in the French Alps at the border between the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in France. It connects Barcelonnette in the Ubaye Valley and Saint-Martin-d'Entraune ...

(2,326 m/7,631 ft) in the

Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps (french: Alpes Maritimes ; it, Alpi Marittime ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy ...

and flows generally southeast to its outflow into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

between

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and

Saint-Laurent-du-Var Saint-Laurent-du-Var (; Occitan: ''Sant Laurenç de Var'', Italian: ''San Lorenzo del Varo'') is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera. History The town was founded in the ...

. Its main tributaries are the Cians, the Tinée, the

Vésubie The Vésubie is a river in the southeast of France. It is a left tributary of the Var in the Maritime Alps. It is long. Its drainage basin is .

, the Coulomp, the

Estéron The Estéron is a river that flows through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes departments of southeastern France. It is long. Its drainage basin is .Tuébi, the

Chalvagne The Chalvagne (; oc, Chalvanha) is a mountain river that flows through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department of southeastern France. It is long. Its source is in Val-de-Chalvagne, and it flows into the Var in Entrevaux Entrevaux (; oc, Entre ...

, the

Barlatte The Barlatte is a short mountain river that flows through the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France. It is long. Its source is in the Maritime Alps, and it flows into the river Var near Guillaumes Guillaumes (; oc, Guilherme; it ...

, the

Bourdous The Bourdous is a short mountain river that flows through the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France. It is long. Its source is in the Maritime Alps, and it flows into the river Var in Entraunes Entraunes (; oc, Entraunas) is a c ...

and the

Roudoule The Roudoule (; oc, Rodola) is a long river that flows through the Alpes-Maritimes department of south-eastern France. It flows into the Var in Puget-Théniers. The Mayola The Mayola (also: ''Mairola'') is a short mountain river that flows throu ...

. The Var flows through the following départements and towns: *

Guillaumes Guillaumes (; oc, Guilherme; it, Guglielmi) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. It was part of the historic County of Nice until 1860 as ''Guglielmi''. The Valberg ski resort is, in part, located on thi ...

Entrevaux Entrevaux (; oc, Entrevaus) is a commune (municipality), former episcopal seat (not bishopric in title, that remained the Diocese of Glandèves) and Latin Catholic titular see in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. ...

Puget-Théniers Puget-Théniers (; oc, Lo Puget Tenier; it, Poggetto Tenieri) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Geography It is situated on in the valley of the Var. History It was part of the historic County of Nice ...

Carros Carros (; oc, Carròs) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Carros is one of sixteen villages grouped together by the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur tourist department as the ''Route des Villages Perchés'' (Ro ...

References

Bibliography * Rivers of France Rivers of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Rivers of Alpes-Maritimes Rivers of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Braided rivers in France {{France-river-stub