Elbe River
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What is the Elbe River?
The Elbe River is a major central European waterway that flows for 724 miles (1,165 km) from its source in the Czech Republic, through Germany, and into the North Sea. Its drainage basin spans 55,620 square miles (144,060 square km). Major tributaries include the Vltava, Ohře, Mulde, and Saale rivers.
Historically, the Elbe marked the western boundary of Northern Slavic settlement until German colonization in the 12th century. A meeting point for U.S. and Soviet armies during World War II, it later formed part of the East and West Germany demarcation until 1990. The river is crucial for navigation, connecting Hamburg to Berlin, the Czech Republic and eastern Germany.
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Where does the Elbe River begin and end?
The Elbe River is a major waterway in central Europe that flows from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea.
The river starts on the southern side of the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains near the border of the Czech Republic and Poland. It flows across Bohemia in the Czech Republic and enters eastern Germany, continuing through the country.
Above Hamburg, the Elbe divides into two branches that rejoin downstream. The river then broadens into its estuary, with its mouth at Cuxhaven, where it empties into the North Sea.
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Which countries and major cities does the Elbe River flow through?
The Elbe River flows from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains near the Czech Republic-Poland border, arcs across Bohemia, and enters Germany southeast of Dresden. The Elbe's mouth is at Cuxhaven, where it flows into the North Sea.
Major cities along the Elbe include Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, and Magdeburg, an important commercial hub. Dresden, known as "Florence on the Elbe" for its fine arts, is another chief city on the river. Other towns of historical interest on the Elbe include Wittenberg and Meissen.
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Why is the Elbe River important for transportation and trade?
The Elbe River is a major central European waterway that facilitates transportation and trade via connecting waterways. Vessels from Hamburg can access Berlin, the Czech Republic, and the southern and central regions of eastern Germany.
The Mittelland Canal connects the Elbe to the Rhine and Weser rivers, while the Elbe-Havel Canal links to Poland and the waterways around Berlin. The Kiel Canal provides access to the Baltic Sea, and another canal connects the lower Elbe to Bremerhaven on the Weser River. Moreover, Hamburg is a major European seaport due to its location on the Elbe.
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What types of wildlife and ecosystems are found along the Elbe River?
The Elbe River basin supports a diverse range of wildlife and ecosystems. Forests and mountainous terrain contribute to a variety of game animals, including several types of deer, quail, pheasant, chamois, and ibex. The otter and wildcat are among the rarer animals of the Elbe basin.
Germany has several internationally recognized bird reserves. The lakes of the Mecklenburg plains and glacially formed lakes of the North German Plain are vital areas for the European migration of ducks, geese, and waders. The rare white-tailed eagle can be found in the lakes of the North German Plain. One newly designated reserve area is now within a national park in the lower Oder River valley, which is flooded annually.
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What environmental challenges does the Elbe River face today?
The Elbe River faces several environmental challenges today. Commercial navigation has led to artificial channel improvements, disrupting riverine ecosystems. Water pollution from pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers used in agriculture causes toxic chemicals to appear in the river, resulting in fish kills and eutrophication. Urban centers contribute to pollution by releasing untreated sewage into the river. Industrial chemical wastes alter the river's biological activity, increasing acidity to levels harmful to living organisms. Additionally, heated water from industrial facilities depletes the oxygen supply and promotes algal blooms.
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Elbe River, one of the major waterways of central Europe. It runs from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea, flowing generally to the northwest. The river rises on the southern side of the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains near the border of the Czech Republic and Poland. It then makes a wide arc across Bohemia (northwestern Czech Republic) and enters eastern Germany about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Dresden. For the remainder of its course it flows through Germany. Above Hamburg the Elbe splits into two branches; these rejoin farther downstream, and the river then broadens into its estuary, the mouth of which is at Cuxhaven, where it flows into the North Sea.
The total length of the Elbe is 724 miles (1,165 km), of which roughly one-third flows through the Czech Republic and two-thirds through Germany. Its total drainage area is 55,620 square miles (144,060 square km). Major tributaries are the Vltava (Moldau), Ohře (Eger), Mulde, and Saale rivers, all of which join it from the left, and the Iser, Schwarze (“Black”) Elster, Havel, and Alster rivers from the right.
Physical features
Physiography
The Elbe is formed by the confluence of numerous headwater streams in the Krkonoše Mountains a few miles from the Polish-Czech frontier. It flows south and west, forming a wide arc for about 225 miles in the Czech Republic to its confluence with the Vltava at Mělník and is joined 18 miles downstream by the Ohře. It then cuts to the northwest through the picturesque Elbe Sandstone Mountains, and, in a gorge four miles long, it enters Germany. Between Dresden and Magdeburg the Elbe receives many long tributaries, of which all except the Schwarze Elster are left-bank streams. These are the Mulde and the Saale and its tributaries—including the Weisse (“White”) Elster, the Unstrut, and the Ilm. These left-bank tributaries rise in the Ore Mountains or the Thuringian Forest and form the drainage basin of the middle Elbe, with its geographic foci in Halle and Leipzig. Halle is on the Saale, just below the confluence of the Weisse Elster; Leipzig lies at the confluence of the Pleisse and the Weisse Elster. Below Magdeburg the Elbe receives most of its water from its right bank. Most of these tributaries rise in the uplands of Mecklenburg.
The river enters the North German Plain at Riesa, 25 miles below Dresden; below Riesa it meanders in a wide floodplain and has some abandoned loops. Dikes begin there and continue as far as the confluence of the Mulde. Between Wittenberg and Dessau the east-west valley floor narrows to five miles in width, and hilly land rises to the north (the Fläming Heath) and south. From Dessau to Magdeburg the floodplain widens, and dikes have been constructed continuously down to the sea. In its course below Magdeburg the floodplain is two miles wide down to the confluence with the Havel. The river keeps to the left of its floodplain and sometimes cuts into the low hills on its banks. Below the confluence with the Havel the river flows southeast–northwest; the floodplain widens and has distributaries and backwaters often flanked by low sandy hills (geest). Reclaimed salt marshes begin at Lauenburg. Above Hamburg—which the Elbe transverses in two arms, the Norder Elbe and the Süder Elbe—the floodplain is eight miles wide but narrows to four miles between the sandy geest of Schleswig-Holstein and the Lüneburg Heath.
The estuary proper of the Elbe (Unterelbe) extends from Hamburg to Cuxhaven, a distance of about 55 miles. It varies in width from one to two miles, but much of it is occupied by mud flats and sandbanks. The main channel is buoyed and dredged. At high tide the channel has a depth of some 53 feet (16 metres). The south or left bank is low and marshy and the river has sandbanks; the right bank is steep below Hamburg, but farther downstream there are marshes, diked and drained, that are intensively cultivated. The great port city of Hamburg grew up on the Alster River on low sandy hills above the marshes. The modern port facilities have spread to the low-lying south bank of the Elbe.
Hydrology
The flow of water in the Elbe varies considerably with the amount of precipitation and thawing in its drainage basin. At Dresden the discharge rate averaged 11,200 cubic feet (317 cubic metres) per second in the period 1931–75, but the rate varied from a minimum of 800 cubic feet to a maximum of 118,700. At Neu-Darchau, about 140 miles above the mouth, the discharge rate was 24,700 cubic feet per second in the period 1926–65, with extremes of 5,100 and 127,700. These great variations sometimes hinder navigation. Although there are dams on the upper Elbe in the Czech Republic and at Geesthacht, Ger., and large dams have been built on the Vltava and on the Saale in the Thuringian Forest, these are not sufficient to control the water level of the Elbe.
The lower course of the Elbe is tidal as far as the dam at Geesthacht, above Hamburg, where the river flow periodically reverses its direction. The average tide at Hamburg is about eight feet. However, during storms the water may rise much higher, occasionally even flooding parts of the city.
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The economy
By means of the Elbe and its connecting waterways, vessels from Hamburg can navigate to Berlin, the central and southern sections of eastern Germany, and the Czech Republic. The Mittelland Canal, a short distance below Magdeburg, runs westward about 200 miles to the Dortmund–Ems Canal, carrying barges of up to 1,000 tons to the German industrial cities of Osnabrück, Hannover, Salzgitter, Hildesheim, Peine, and Wolfsburg and connecting with the Weser and Rhine rivers. The Elbe–Havel Canal carries traffic from Magdeburg eastward to the network of waterways around Berlin and farther on to Poland. The Kiel Canal runs from the mouth of the Elbe to the Baltic Sea, and the Elbe–Lübeck Canal, starting at Lauenburg, also runs to the Baltic, following an older (14th-century) canal. Another canal connects the lower Elbe with Bremerhaven on the Weser River. The Elbe itself is navigable for 1,000-ton barges as far as Prague through the Vltava. In eastern Germany it serves the river ports of Magdeburg, Schönebeck, Aken, Dessau, Torgau, Riesa, and Dresden, carrying bituminous coal, lignite, coke, metal, potash, grain, and piece goods. Although Hamburg lies far upstream from the mouth of the Elbe, it is one of the largest seaports in Europe; a six-line railway tunnel and a multilane road tunnel under the Elbe there are important links in trans-European traffic flows.
History
The basin of the Elbe has been settled since prehistoric times. Until the Middle Ages the river was the western boundary of the area inhabited by the northern Slavs. In the 12th century the Germans began to colonize the lands east of the Elbe and along the Baltic Sea. In World War II a point on the Elbe near Torgau was the meeting place of the U.S. and Soviet armies. From the end of the war until 1990, the river formed part of the demarcation between East and West Germany.
The city of Hamburg dates from the early 9th century ad. Together with Lübeck, Hamburg established the Hanseatic League in 1241. Today it is Germany’s second largest city, surpassed only by Berlin. Another ancient city on the Elbe is Magdeburg, which in the early 9th century was a trading post on the border between the Germans and the Slavs. In the 13th century it was a flourishing commercial city and an important member of the Hanseatic League. Today it is the largest inland harbour of eastern Germany. The other chief city of the Elbe is Dresden, founded about 1200. During the 18th century Dresden developed into a great centre of the fine arts, known as “Florence on the Elbe.” Its beautiful architecture, almost completely destroyed during World War II, has been partially rebuilt. Other towns of historical interest along the Elbe include Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, and Meissen, which became famous for the manufacture of porcelain.