The the Danube is the longer second the River of Europe (after the the Volga) and longest traversing the European Union. It takes its source in the Black Forest in Germany when two small rivers, the Brigach and the Breg, meet with Donaueschingen   ; it is starting from this point that the river takes its name of the Danube. It runs out then towards the Is on a distance of approximately 2,850 kilometers (1,771 miles), and crosses several Capitale S of the Central Europe and Eastern (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade). It throws in the Black Sea by the Delta of the Danube located in Romania and Ukraine and which appears in the Liste of the world heritage of UNESCO.

The Danube is since centuries important a waterway. Known in the history like one of the Border S of the Roman Empire, the river runs out along the borders of ten pays : the Germany (7,5  %), the Austria (10,3  %), the Slovakia (5,8  %), the Hungary (11,7  %), the Croatia (4,5  %), the Serbia, the Bulgaria (5,2  %), the Romania (28,9  %), the Moldavie (1,7  %) and the Ukraine (3,8  %). Its Bassin pouring comprises part of nine others pays : the Italy (0,15  %), the Poland (0,09  %), the Swiss (0,32  %), the Czech Republic (2,6  %), the Slovenia (2,2  %), the Bosnia-Herzégovine (4,8  %), the Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia and the Albania (0,03  %).

Etymology

The Rumanian name of the Danube east Ru Dunărea , in Bulgarian, Serb and Croatian, it is called bg Dunav , in Hungarian hu Duna , in Slovaque Dunaj , in Russian and Ukrainian Ru Дунай , in German of Donau , in English (as in French) the Turkish Danube and in tr Tuna . All these names come from Latin Danubius , the name of a Roman god of the rivers. This étymon is a cognate of the name Farsi F dānu, meaning river or running , also indicating the Danube. Other great European rivers are named starting from this root Indo-European for “river”   thus can one count the Donetsk, the Dniepr, the Dniestr, the Don in Russia and the Don in England.

In German, the termination with the comes from Germanic the ouwe (river) and the term Donau is used since 1763. In older German documents, one finds also the terminologies 1= of Tonach and later 1= of Donaw .

Other names are in Latin old Danuvius and in Greek el Ἴστρος Istros .

Hydrography

The Danube is the only large European river which runs out of west in east. It reaches, after a course of 2850 kilometers, the Black Sea in the area of the Delta of the Danube (4  300 km ²), in Romania and Ukraine. Contrary to the other rivers, the kilometers of the Danube are entered since the mouth until the source, the point “zero” official being materialized by the headlight of Sulina in edge of the Black Sea. The catchment area of the Danube has a surface of approximately 805000 km2, is the resultant of the flow of the Précipitations on the whole of sound area catchment varying from 2000 mm to 3000 mm in the alpine part to 600 mm in Moravie for an average of approximately 800 mm. The various affluents of the Danube have a great heterogeneity in their mode: rain Mode oceanic in Bavaria Western, nivo-rain of mountain in Austria, pluvio-nival of plain in Hungary, nival of plain in Valachie - Moldavie. The pluvio-nival mode complexes of the Danube gives an account of these various influences. Until Ulm, it is subject to the oceanic influence with a maximum of winter abundance. Then, these alpine affluents - the Lech, the Isar, the Inn, the Enns, the Ybbs - make the Danube Alpine to 80%. The two brooks meet in Donaueschingen where, in the park of the castle, the monumental fountain of the 19th century is, known as “  Donauquelle  ”, symbolizing the official source. The Danube crosses then the Bavaria, sprinkling the towns of Sigmaringen, of Ulm, Ratisbon and Passau, then the north of the Austria (while passing by Linz and Vienna), skirts the South of the Slovakia while passing by Bratislava, crosses the Hungary of North to the South while passing by Budapest, skirts the Croatia to the East, crosses the North of the Serbia while passing by Belgrade, mark the border between Serbia and Romania then between Romania and Bulgaria before throwing in the Black Sea in Romania, by forming broad a delta which borders the border with the Ukraine. The République of Moldavie obtained in 1990 an access of a few 300 meters to left bank of the river to Giurgiuleşti (between Galaţi and Reni).

The Delta of the Danube is a natural area protected in Romania, in particular for the Letea forest of tropical aspect. It is classified with the world heritage by UNESCO since 1991. The Romania, which inaugurated in 1984 a channel of 64 kilometers starting from Cernavodă directly towards the Black Sea like short cut of 400 kilometers, worries about the effects on the environment of the installation of the Canal of Bystroe by the Ukraine.

The contribution of the various bordering countries to the flow of the Danube is the suivante : Austria (22,1  %), Romania (17,6  %), Germany (14,5  %), Serbia (11,3  %), Bosnia (8,8  %), Croatia (6,4  %), Hungary (4,3  %), Ukraine (4,3  %), Bulgaria (3,7  %), Slovenia (3,1  %), Slovakia (1,9  %), Czech Republic (1,2  %), Moldavie (0,7  %).

Ten countries are in edge of the Danube. The river is used as border over a 1,070.9 kilometers length is 37% its overall length. Four countries are located only on one shore (the Croatia, the Bulgaria, the Moldavie and the Ukraine).

Detailed course of the Black Forest to the Black Sea

Germany

The Danube is really formed to 1,4 kilometer in the east of Donaueschingen, in Germany, with the confluence of the two brooks the Brigach and the Breg, which points out the school rengaine “'' Brigach und Breg bringen die Donau zu Weg ''” (Brigach and Breg start the Danube), which is equivalent to the French proverb the small brooks make the large rivers .

The Danube traverses more than 687 kilometers in Germany, since its source until the germano-Austrian border, and is of this fact the third longer river of this country. More the big cities located in edge of the river are Tuttlingen, Sigmaringen, Ulm, Neu-Ulm, Ingolstadt, Ratisbon, Straubing and Passau.

Its right affluents are the Iller in Neu-Ulm, the Lech close to Marxheim (in the east of Donauwörth) and the Isar close to Deggendorf as well as the Inn with Passau   ; its left affluents are the Wörnitz with Donauwörth, the Altmühl after Kelheim, the Naab and the Regen close to Ratisbon (Regensburg). Many smaller rivers are also affluents of the Danube such as for example the Riß, the Belch, Große Lauter, Blau, Günz, the Brenz, Mindel, Zusam, the Schmutter, Paar, Abens, Große Laber, the Cheap ones as well as the Ilz, Erlau and Ranna.

With Passau, it is initially the Ilz which runs out by the left in the Danube and right after it is the Inn by the line. The prevalence of the green water of the Inn once the three joined together rivers is due on the one hand to the great quantity of water carted by the Inn at the time of the snow melt like to the great difference in depth of Inn and the Danube (1,90 meter for the first compared with 6,80 meters for the second). In fact the water of Inn survive above the Danube.

The remarkable buildings located along the German Danube are in particular the abbey of Beuron, the princely castle with Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the Gothic cathedral of Ulm with the largest arrow in the world (161,6 meters), the Abbaye of Weltenbourg and “of '' Befreiungshalle ''”, both located close to Kelheim, the stone bridge (1135) and the cathedral St Peter with Ratisbon as well as Walhalla with ten kilometers in the east of Donaustauf. Between the abbey of Weltenbourg and Kelheim this the interesting valley locates, from the landscape and geological point of view, “'' Donaudurchbruch ''”.

Austria

No country is associated in a also narrow way with the Danube as the Austria, as well by the waltz of the “  blue Danube Beautiful   ” that by its popular nickname of “  monarchy of Danube  ” which was given to the Empire Austro-Hungarian owing to the fact that it extended on approximately 1,300 kilometers along the river.

Austria has today nothing any more but 350 kilometers of the river on its territory, which places this country in the sixth place of the bordering countries. On the other hand the rivers of almost all the country feed the Danube and thus the Black Sea. Only the Land of the Vorarlberg belongs to the Bassin pouring the Rhine (the North Sea) as well as an any small portion of the North-West of the Land of Low-Austria which feeds the Lainsitz (Vltava (Moldau) > Elba > the North Sea). A few kilometers hardly after the German city of Passau is the border of Germany with Austria, followed by the “  buckle of Schlögen  ” where the Danube carries out a turn of 180°. A little more than 70 kilometers after the border, the Danube crosses Linz, the third plus big city of Austria. The river passes then Mauthausen, Enns (located at the confluence of the rivers Enns and Grein), where the major place of the Danube in Austria is, then reached after 90 kilometers Melk with its imposing Abbaye.

Then, the river passes on nearly 36 kilometers in the middle of one of the most picturesque landscapes of the valley of the Danube, the Wachau (classified with the world heritage by UNESCO), which extends from Dürnstein until Krems. Already near to the Slovak border, the Danube still crosses the Austrian capital, Vienna. The city was during centuries the Danubian city largest and most important but nowadays it must divide this statute with Belgrade and Budapest. The river made it possible the town of become an important economic place and still today the Danube is an important commercial axis between the East and the West. In order to reduce the harmful effects of the floods, the river was artificially controlled there.

Slovakia

At the time of its entry in Slovakia, the Danube marks initially the border with Austria then with 45 kilometers only of Vienna, it crosses Bratislava, the Slovak capital, where it is joined by the river Morava. Finally, it still materializes the border between Slovakia and the Hungary.

The cities located along the river as Slovakia are, apart from already quoted Bratislava, primarily Komárno, a center populated by the Hungarian minority as Slovakia, where the Váh, the largest Slovak river, joins the Danube. The Danube then meets nothing any more but the Hron with Štúrovo and a river named Ipel in Slovaque or Ipoly in Hungarian in the village of Chľaba before reaching the Hungarian border. During more than six years, circulation between the two parts of the city was carried out using a bridge floating of fortune. This disturbed navigation on the Danube because the bridge was open only three times per week, the Danube is Rumanian. Thus the Romania has by far the greatest part of the river. At the beginning the river forms the border with the Serbia and the Bulgaria then, in the area located between the Bărăgan and the Dobroudja, it carries out a turn towards north before throwing in the Black Sea after having marked the border with the Ukraine.

Before arriving at spectacular “the   Doors of Iron   ”, the most dangerous section of the Danube before its artificial regularization in the Years 1970, the river passes to south-west mountains Banat where the river Olt is thrown in the Danube close to the town of Islaz. After having reached Orşova, it crosses celebrates it “  opening of Danube  ” and passes to Drobeta Turnu Severin. There, the river carries out a turn towards the south and passes in front of Gruia, Pristol, Cetate and Calafat. Then the Danube carries on its way towards the east where it forms on 400 kilometers the border with the Bulgaria. By doing this it passes by the towns of Dăbuleni, Corabia, Turnu Măgurele, Zimnicea, Giurgiu (located just opposite the Bulgarian city of Ruse), Olteniţa, where the river Argeş is thrown in the Danube, and Călăraşi. Now, it forms the western limit of the relief of Dobroudja and passes to Cernavodă, Topalu, Hârşova, Giurgeni and Gropeni before reaching the larger cities of Brăila and Galaţi. Forty seven kilometers after having passed this last city, the Danube is divided into three arms delimiting the Delta of the Danube where it serves the ports of Tulcea and Sulina before reaching the Black Sea a little more located at the east. On a hundred kilometers after Galaţi, the course of the Danube is used as border between Romania, the Moldavie (on 570 meters) and the Ukraine (the remainder, the border according to the most septentrional arm of the Delta, that of Chilia).

Moldavie

The Moldavie has the smallest section of the Danube on its territory. Just after joinbeing joined by the river Prut downstream from Galaţi, the left bank of the Danube becomes Moldavian and the river marks the border between the Romania and the Moldavie on 570 meters length, close to Giurgiuleşti. Moldavie had in the beginning only 340 meters of shore, but in 1999, the Ukraine yielded to him during an exchange of additional territories 230 meters. Although it can reach the ports Rumanian of Galaţi and Ukrainians of Reni, of Izmail and Kilia, Moldavie plans to use its access to the Danube for the construction of a port.

Ukraine

After the Moldavian border, the left bank of the Danube becomes Ukrainian and the river marks the border between the Romania and the Ukraine on 47 kilometers. The Danube is divided then into three arms: two of them, Sulina and Sfântu-Gheorghe, run in Romania; the third, most septentrional, that of Chilia, continuous to be used as border on 56 more kilometers and serve the Ukrainian ports of Izmail, Kilia and Vylkove (Vilkovo) where starts the Canal of Bystroe. After Vylkove, the arm of Chilia passes entirely to Ukraine and further flows a few kilometers in the Black Sea. The Delta of the Danube, so much on the Rumanian side than Ukrainian, is classified in “  Natural reserve of the Biosphere   ” within the framework of the program MAB (“  Man and Biosphere   ”) of the the United Nations, but the geopolitical situation at the borders is European Union prevents the two directors Misters Baboianu (Rumanian) and Voloshkevitch (Ukrainian) to collaborate as much as it would be needed, because the point of authorized frontier passage nearest is in Galati, 250 km towards the west, out of the Delta of the Danube.

History

The basin of the Danube was the site of establishment of some ones of oldest European civilizations. Civilizations of the Danubian Neolithic era comprise in particular the ribboned civilizations medium of the basin of the Danube. With the Chalcolithique, the Culture of Vučedol, (of the name of the site of Vučedol close to Vukovar in Croatia), remarkable for its ceramics is established around the river. Many sites of the culture of Vinča, dating from thousand-year-old VIIe front J. - C. with the OJ, are located along the Danube.

At seventh century BC, the Greek went up the river while coming from the Black Sea while passing by the town of Tomis, current the Constanţa. Their voyage of discovery ended close to current the Baziaş where open the Portes of Iron, a place where the Danube borrows on several tens of kilometers a narrow and boxed valley and where the dangerous bed of the river made impossible their progression towards the Carpates of the South and the Metalliferous Monts Serb.

For the Roman , starting from 37, the Danube formed the border of the Empire with the pagan people of the North practically of its source to its mouth. A permanent fleet was held there effectively dominated the Germains, which initially, did not have technology to counter them. Marc Aurèle will gain several engagements thanks to the Classis on the Marcomans. The Romans will dominate successfully the river until Valentinien I {{er}} (364 - 375) except a few years (256 with 259). The bases and of many boats had been taken by surprise.

The crossing of the Danube towards the Dacie does not succeed with the Imperium Romanum that after having built a bridge in 101 with height of the garrison town of Drobeta-Turnu Severin located close to the “  Carry of Fer  ” and after having fought two battles in 102 and 106. This victory of the emperor Trajan over Daces under the orders of Décébale saw the creation of the province of Dacie which was again lost in 271.

3rd century at the 5th century, during the Great invasions, of the waves of invaders come from the East (Vandals, Visigoths, Huns, Slavic Avars and ) use the valley of the Danube in order to penetrate of Is in West to deepest of Europe.

At the 9th century, the Danube was the way of migration of the people of Asian shepherds of the Magyars which arrived until in current the Hungary to found there, with the Slavic population which was already established there, the Hungarian nation under the king Etienne I {{er}} of Hungary.

The Charlemagne Road, which was used between 1096 and 1099 by the army of Godefroid de Bouillon at the time of the First crusade, also skirted the Danube of Ratisbon until Belgrade. Approximately 340 years later, the Othoman army took the same road in the contrary direction. The Danube was for it the principal artery for the transport of troops and supply during its program through Europe of South-east. The river allowed the Othoman to quickly advance and as of 1440 they fought the first battles for Belgrade located at 2,000 kilometers of the mouth of the river. The conquest of the city makes a success of however only in 1521 and a few years later hardly, in 1526, the Othoman army overcame the kingdom of Hungary at the time of the first battles of Mohács. As the king Louis II of Hungary was killed during the battle, the Hungary was integrated into the Austria Habsbourg S. This event marks the birth of the “  monarchy danubienne  ”.

In 1529, the Turks reach Vienna, the heart of the Central Europe, but are beaten there. Thus was stopped the expansion of the Othomans along the Danube and starting from the of Mohács of 1687 battles, they lost little by little ground and power. The progressive repression of the Turks rested primarily on the initiative of Austria then of the Austria-Hungary which gained there in power whereas in parallel, it was rejected Saint Germanic Roman Empire then of the Germanic zone. Beside Austria, the Ottoman Empire remained all the same one of the political factors most important of Europe of South-east until the final loss of its territories of the Balkans at the time of the Russo-Turkish wars (1768 - 1774) and of the Guerres of Balkans in 1912-1913. The Danube then played not only the part of military and commercial artery but also of political, cultural bond and monk between the East and the Occident.

After the Second world war, a new regulation of the river traffic which was to replace the agreements of Paris of 1921 was elaborate in 1946. All the countries bordering on the river took part in the conference of Belgrade of 1948 except the overcome countries, the Germany and Austria. During the signature of the treaty, it was also signed an endorsement which accepted Austria within the Commission of the Danube. The the Federal Republic of Germany could integrate the commission only in 1998, almost fifty years after the conference of Belgrade, because of rejections on behalf of the Soviets. Currently, only the Danubian countries profit from the freedom of trade and navigation on the river.

The Danube in the culture

• the Danube found the echo cultural most important in the music, with famous the Valse Viennese blue the Danube Beautiful composed by Johann Strauss (wire). This work was composed by Strauss when he travelled on the Danube.

• Another Valse celebrates relating to the Danube east vaguenesses of the Danube (in Rumanian Valurile Dunării ) of the Rumanian type-setter Ion Ivanovici (1845-1902) of which conquered work public when she was played World Fair of Paris in 1889.
• the second larger river of Europe also left many traces in the cultures of the countries bordering. The Danube is thus closely related to the mythology of the Origine of the Rumanian people, in particular because it was used as decoration with confrontations between Romains and Daces but also because it delimits the zone of origin of the people having trained the Rumanian people according to the various theses.
• Beside many tales and legends, by the writers were also inspired by the Danube, of Ovide until Pierre Esterházy, who were interested in the topic of the river at the end of the 20th century.
• the the Danube , test-river of Claudio Magris, where it explores the river of its source to its outlet while crossing the history of '' Mitteleuropa '' (the Central Europe).
• the Pilot of the Danube , is a detective novel of Jules Verne whose Danube constitutes the decoration throughout its screen.
• in The Willows , most known of the short stories of the writer specialist in the horror Algernon Blackwood, is centered on a voyage going down along the Danube.
• the School of the Danube , which developed during the 16th century in the valley of the Danube is a German tradition consisting in painting landscapes.
• Towards the Sea of Ass Leroy (87 minutes, 1999), selected with the Berlinale: cinematographic Test in the form of Road movie, the source of the Danube to its mouth.
• Im Juli of Fatih Akin (95 minutes, 2000): Road movie being located mainly along the Danube.
• The Ister of David Barison and Daniel Ross (189 minutes, 2004), victorious of the Price of Québécois Association of criticisms in 2004 and the Price of the national Grouping of the cinemas of research, always in 2004: Documentary taking as a starting point a conference of Martin Heidegger given in 1942.
• the Danube is also the object of a documentary film collection of Ulrike Bartels, Joel Jenin and Dieter Zeppenfeld.
• the Donauwellen is a German cake whose name means: the Vague of the Danube .

Natural environment of the Danube

See also: National parks and natural reserves of the Danube

On the hundreds of kilometers of its course, the Danube crosses a multitude of climatic zones and landscapes different what explains why fauna and the flora in edge of the river are also varied. In spite of many very important human interventions sometimes, many sections of the Danube always present a large biological variety, partly thanks to the installation of protected spaces in the most significant zones.

The fauna of the Danube

On the whole, are more than 300 species of birds which live in edge of the Danube. This river appears among the most important roads of migration of birds European and the still virgin zones located on its shores are as many surfaces of wintering, rest and nesting, sometimes for rare species like the Hibou large-duke, the fishing Martin, the Pygargue with white tail, the black Cigogne, the black Milan and the Crécerelle with the white eyes. Natural parks of Donauauen (alluvial plains), “  Kopački rit  ” and in particular of the delta of the Danube are exceptional protected areas.

Thus Donauauen are the point of meeting of the area of the Lac of Neusiedl, of the basin of the Danube and the river Morava. This natural environment lodges, in particular in winter, of great quantities of animals like the Greylag goose, the Sternini S, the Goosander, the Garrot in eye of gold, the Charadriiformes, the Canard mallard but also much of rare species like the yelling Aigle, the Osprey or the Cygne singer.

Another place of wintering and important rest is the natural park of Kopački laughs, a still virgin area marshy located in the North-West of the Croatia where nidifient more than 260 species of birds among which species as rare as the Pygargue with white tail.

For the ornithological world, the most important area is the delta of the Danube, a central crossroads of the migratory roads in Europe and at the same time a point of meeting between European fauna and Asian fauna. Here live more than 300 species of birds, inter alia Pélican S, crane S, spatula S, Rapace S and rare the barnacles with russet-red neck.

The typical fish of the Danube, from which some are endemic in the river, are the Barbus, the Hotu, the Vandoise, the Bremen commune, the carp, the Bremen bordelière, the Brochet, the Sandre, the pole, the Anguille, the winder, the Saumon, the Esturgeon, the Silure as well as the pin. The fish of the species of the sturgeons do not arrive any more to Vienna following construction of the stopping of the “  Carry of Fer  ” but, supported by a reinforced protection of the environment and the renaturalisation of banks, of the rare fish species again could be acclimatized, in particular in Germany and Austria. Thus, the Dogfish ( Umbra krameri ), a relative of the Pike presumedly disappeared since 1975, was redécouvert in 1992. One meets more than 150 fish species in the delta of the Danube such as for example the Esturgeon, the European white whale, the carp, the Silure, the Sandre, the Brochet and the pole.

Along the river, one also meets many Mammifère S like the Fouine, the marten, the Belette, the Blaireau or even the Wildcat, the beaver and the Loutre. In the delta, one also meets the Vison, the Furet and the Spermophile, of the family of the squirrels. The Danube is also a place of life for many Amphibien S and Reptile S such as for example the Couleuvre of Esculape, the green Lizard, the Lézard of the walls, the Couleuvre with collar, the smooth snake, the Lézard of the stocks, the Greek Tortue and the Cistude as well as endemic species like the triton of the Danube.

Important ecological attacks

As much of other rivers, the Danube underwent many important attacks in its natural environment since the beginning of the industrial era. Only 20% of the floodplains which remained still at the 19th century exist always and only half of the course of the river can still be regarded as “  naturelle  ”.

Beside the progression of pollution related on the Industry, the Agriculture, tourism and waste water like with the regularization by dams, stoppings, locks and channels, are especially the great projects which strongly disturb the ecosystem of the Danube. An effective international protection of this one proves to be difficult because it is not less than ten countries, of which some of poorest of Europe, which want to benefit economically from their situation at the edge of the river.

The hydroelectric station of the “  Carry of Fer  ”

It is in 1964 that the Yugoslavia and the Romania started to build together a hydraulic power station, completed in 1972 and located between the Carpates of the South and Serb the Métallifères mounts. The stopping, flanked of two lock S, caused the birth of artificial lake a 150 kilometers length and the level of water was raised of 35 meters. In addition to the energy production, the construction of the power station was also used to arrange the inland waterway to facilitate the passage of the boats by dynamiting the rocks of the rapids located in the river.

For the creation of the storage reservoir, whose end reached Belgrade, the town of Orşova as five villages last being moved and the island of Ada Kaleh, inhabited since 1669 by Turks, was absorbed. The majority of the Turks left the Romania and are turned over in Turkey. In all, it is: 17,000 people who had to be moved and of many cultural places were lost. For the environment also, the construction of the stopping did not remain without continuation, thus the Esturgeon S cannot go up the Danube any more to clear.

In order to limit the cultural and ecological damage, certain elements of the flora and fauna as well as archaeological goods, cultural and historical were preserved in two national parks and museums. The national parks created for this purpose are that of Đerdap in Serbia created in 1974 and that of the “  Carry of Fer  ” in Romania created in 2001.

Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros

In the agreements of September 16th, 1977 concluded between the Czechoslovakia and the Hungary, the construction (between Gabčíkovo, close to Bratislava, and Nagymaros in Hungary) of an enormous whole of stoppings and locks intended for the energy production was decided. The first studies for the project had been born as of 1956. After work related to the project was already slowed down in 1983, the movement ecologist Duna Kör was created in 1984 with Budapest. This movement, often considered as the embryo of the “  Revolution of velvet   ” in Hungary, a broad support on behalf of the population obtained. : 140,000 people signed the petition against the stopping and a strong demonstration of: 40,000 people take place in 1988 before the Hungarian Parliament. Within the framework of the political collapse of the Eastern European countries in 1989, the Hungary was withdrawn from the project under the pressure of the population. Work started in November 1997 but they only advance very slowly. Currently the Moldavian government tries to sell its share. Interested parties Russian and Azerbaijani made known themselves since 2003, which allowed a completion of work and the inauguration of the terminal, on April 13rd, 2007.

As the Delta of the Danube is very close, of the soiled products, especially in the event of damage, could arrive there very quickly and without diluted beings what strongly threatens this protected ecosystem. That involved sharp protests on behalf of defense organizations of nature but the Moldavian government is unaware of them.

The channel of Bystroe

August 27th, 2004, the building site of the Canal of Bystroe was reopened in the Ukrainian small town of Vilkovo. As it passes in the middle of the natural basin of the Delta of the Danube and that it could involve a fall of the level of the water which would cause irrevocable damage on the level of fauna and flora, defense organizations of nature, the Rumanian government as well as the police chief of the environment of the European Union protested against the channel. The Ukrainian government answered these protests that behind these criticisms especially economic interests of the Romania hide which would have had until now a kind of monopoly of the river traffic towards the Black Sea. The Ukraine did thus not accept these reproaches and began work despite everything the protests, the channel was inaugurated on May 14th, 2007.

Economic basin of the Danube

Use of water

Drinking water

The Danube is an important source of drinking water for ten million people who live along the river. In the Land of the Bade-Wurtemberg, the company which provides drinking water to the area located between Stuttgart, Bad Mergentheim, Aalen and the district of the Alb-Danube uses water treated of the Danube to a total value of 30% on the thirty million cubic meters distributed in 2004. Other cities like Ulm or Passau also use still for a great part of the water of the Danube like drinking water.

In Austria on the other hand, 99% of drinking water are drawn from the ground water and of the sources and only very seldom, for example for periods of heat wave, in the water of the Danube. The same thing applies to the Hungary which uses water of the ground water with 91%. The other States located along the central Danube abstain from drawing drinking water in the Danube because of the strong pollution this one. Only communes located on its shore in Romania, where the river is again cleaner, use water of the Danube again (Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Delta of the Danube).

Hydraulic power

Five Coastal states use the Danube as significative  energy source; ; it is about the Germany, of the Austria, the Slovakia, the Serbia and the Romania. For the other States, there is misses territorial control partial of the Danube for an autonomous construction (the Croatia, the Bulgaria and the Moldavie have only one bank of the river), is it is not the political possibility as in Hungary where the public opinion is unfavourable there, that is to say the course of the Danube does not allow it as in Ukraine.

In Germany, the first hydro-electric power stations were built as of the end of the 19th century, in particular in the area of the higher Danube but also close to Ulm. Nevertheless, the Danube never reached the importance which it occupies downstream in Germany because the flow of the river is still weak and thus low in energy.

In Austria, the situation is completely different even if the construction of the first hydroelectric station goes back only to 1953. Today, the Austria is the country in Europe, just after the Iceland and the Norway, in which the hydraulic power represents the greatest part of the energy production and 20% of the total production of energy are ensured by the power stations of the Danube. But this evolution does not have only sides positifs : the monoculture of the hydraulic power, which in Austria is primarily concentrated along the Danube and this of the German border until Vienna (other than the Wachau), modifies the layout and the speed of the flow of the river and ecologically prevents the periodic flood of the alluvial forests of great importance. Moreover, the locks form artificial barriers for fish and other living organisms which cannot move any more freely in the river.

In Slovakia, the hydraulic power is, with 16% of the total production, the second the most important energy source after the coal. And most of this energy is produced by the power station of Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros, initially designed to be exploited in co-operation with the Hungary which finally desisted (see above).

Today the largest hydroelectric station in Europe is the power station of the “  Carry of Fer  ” which, after a eight year old building site, is exploited since 1972 by the Serbia and the Romania. The hydraulic power is an important energy source for these two countries with respectively 37.1% and 27.6% of the total production.

Nuclear energy

The water of the Danube is also used for the cooling of two nuclear plants:

• Nuclear plant of Kozlodouï (Bulgaria)
• Nuclear plant of Cernavoda (Romania)

Navigation

The Danube is navigable only starting from Kelheim, with almost 500 kilometers of its source, on a total distance of 2415 km to the mouth. The channel of the Main in the Danube, which joins this one close to Kelheim, also makes it possible to carry out the inland waterway between the the North Sea, while passing by the the Rhine and the Main and the Black Sea.

These convoys of Bateau X were organized in a strict way and gathered up to sixty horses and as many crews. Beside the boats which transported the goods, other boats which transported ropes, vivres and horses of replacement formed also part of the voyage. Because of the many ramifications of the river and its many hollows, such a convoy this only moved very slowly. Often one crossed only a few kilometers per day. Regularly, one was to change shore with the horses, the weather and the level of water of the river slowed down also the progression. For the return to counter-current, it required 48 hours and 20 minutes. In September 1837 the first boat, the Maria Anna , connected Vienna to Linz. One can visit one of the last specimens of this type of boat with Ratisbon:

• the political changes in the Eastern European countries and the passage to the market economy modified gives it in the field of transport reducing the modal share of fluvial  transport;: development of road transport, falls of the production of industry lourde  ;
• the first Yugoslav crisis between 1992 and 1995 was accompanied by a Embargo of UNO which involved a strong fall of the traffic on Danube  ;
• the second Yugoslav crisis between 1999 and 2002 with the destruction of the bridge of Novi Sad blocked the local traffic.

Fish

The importance of the fishing, whose all the population during the Moyen-âge at certain places lived, strongly regressed during. In Germany for example, there does not remain any more but one fisherman of the Danube between Straubing and Vilshofen year der Donau. In Austria, fishing is practiced still a little around the towns of Linz and Vienna but in the Delta of the Danube, it is still practiced in a more intensive way.

Vine growing

The Danube is also an wine-producing area, in two countries primarily. The area which produces the wines of better quality is the Wachau, in Austria, where mainly the type of vines Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Chardonnay are cultivated.

In Hungary, the vine is cultivated on almost all along the Danube between Visegrád and the southern border of the country. The capital of the Hungarian wine is Vác. During the socialist era, the Hungarian wines, formerly considered, lost much in quality but since the Années 1990 the Hungarian vineyard knows a rebirth.

A third country, the Germany, also produces a little wine close to Bach year der Donau, between Ratisbon and Straubing. It is a curiosity economically unimportant but which remains the last cultural relic, formerly quite alive, of the Bavarian wine imported by the Romans.

Tourism

Beside the many centers of famous interests located along the Danube, of many landscapes and national park (already described above) are also important for tourism. There also exists of many places, in particular on the nonnavigable higher Danube, where one can practice the Canoë, the Barque and the Pédalo. The river is in addition bordered of beautiful cycle tracks, in Germany and Austria especially.

The navigation of river cruising is also very active on the Danube where, apart from the very attended section of Vienna to Budapest, certain boats also sail of Passau to the delta. In the peak season it is more than 70 boats of cruising which furrow the river.

Appendices

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