Countries along the Danube frontier and mileage from the source (top) to the mouth (bottom).

Detailed course of the Black Forest to the Black Sea

Germany

"Source of the Danube in Donaueschingen.

The Danube at Ulm (viewed from the Cathedral of Ulm).

The Danube passing under the "stone bridge" in Regensburg, Germany.

The Danube forms actually 1.4 kilometers east of Donaueschingen , in Germany , at the confluence of two streams Brigach and Breg , recalls that the school refrain "Brigach Breg und bringen die Donau zu Weg (The Brigach Breg and put the Danube route), equivalent to the French proverb "small brooks make great rivers."

The Danube runs more than 687 kilometers in Germany , from its source to the border between Austria and Germany , and is thus the third longest river in the country. The largest cities along the river are Tuttlingen , Sigmaringen , Ulm , Neu-Ulm , Ingolstadt , Regensburg (Regensburg), Straubing and Passau.

Its tributaries are the rights Iller in Neu-Ulm, Lech near Marxheim (east of Donauwrth ) and the Isar near Deggendorf and the Inn at Passau ; its left tributaries are Wrnitz to Donauwrth the Altmhl after Kelheim , the Naab and Regen near Regensburg (Regensburg). Many smaller rivers are the Danube tributaries such as the Riss , the Rot, the Grosse Lauter, the Blau, the Gnz the Brenz , Mindel, the Zusam the Schmutter the Paar, the Abens, Groe Laber, the Vile and the Ilz , the Erlau and Ranna.

At Passau is primarily the Ilz flowing from the left into the Danube and is just after the Inn on the right . The predominance of green water of the Inn after the three rivers met was due partly to the large amount of water brought down by the Inn during the snowmelt and the wide difference in depth of the Inn and Danube (1.90 meters for the first cons 6.80 meters for the second). In fact the water in the Inn "floats" above the Danube.

The notable buildings along the Danube are especially German Abbey Beuron the princely castle Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , the Gothic Cathedral of Ulm with the tallest spire in the world (161.6 meters), the Abbey Weltenbourg and "Befreiungshalle, both located near Kelheim , the stone bridge (1135) and the Cathedral St. Peter at Regensburg and the " Walhalla "ten kilometers east of Donaustauf. Between Abbey Weltenbourg and Kelheim is the interesting valley, from the point of view and geological landscape, the "Donaudurchbruch.

Austria

Melk Abbey on the Danube

Barge on the Danube at Linz ( Upper Austria )

The Danube and the "New Danube" in Vienna

No country is so closely associated with the Danube that Austria , as well as the waltz Blue Danube by his popular nickname "Danube Monarchy" which was given to the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the fact that it extended approximately 1300 km along the River.

Austria has now more than 350 km of the river on its territory , placing this country to sixth in the riparian countries. Cons by streams of nearly all the countries supplying the Danube and thus the Black Sea. Only the Land of Vorarlberg is part of the watershed of the Rhine ( North Sea ) and a small part of the Northwest Province of Lower Austria , which feeds the Lainsitz ( Vltava (Moldau) > Elba > North Sea ). Few kilometers after the German town of Passau lies the border between Germany and Austria, followed by the "loop Schlgen" where the Danube makes a 180 turn. A little over 70 kilometers from the border, the Danube flows through Linz , the third largest city of Austria. The river then passes Mauthausen , Enns (located at the confluence of the rivers Enns and Grein), where the deepest place of the Danube in Austria, then reached after 90 km Melk with its imposing abbey.

Then, the river passes over nearly 36 km in the middle of one of the most picturesque valley of the Danube, the Wachau (listed as World Heritage by UNESCO ), which extends from Drnstein up Krems . Already near the Slovak border , the Danube crosses still the Austrian capital, Vienna. The city was for centuries the Danube city's largest and most important, but nowadays it has to share that status with Belgrade and Budapest. The river has allowed the city to become a major business location and still the Danube is an important trade route between East and West. To reduce the adverse effects of floods, the river has been artificially regulated . The town takes its name from a tributary, the Vienna (Wienfluss), which joins the Danube at that location.

Austrian major tributaries are the Inn (right bank, near the German border), AIST (left bank), the Traun (right bank), the Enns (right bank), the Ybbs (right bank), the Traisen (right bank), the Kamp (left bank), the Vienna (right bank), the Schwechat (right bank) and Leitha (right bank), which was historically important because it served as a border with Hungary until 1921.

Austrian territory are eleven hydroelectric dams.

Vienna is also the headquarters of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube (Internationale Kommission zum Schutz der Donau, IKSD), founded in 1998 .

Slovakia

The Danube in Bratislava.

Upon entry into Slovakia , the Danube first marks the border with Austria and then 45 kilometers from Vienna , it passes through Bratislava , the Slovak capital, where he is joined by the River Morava. Finally, it still embodies the border between Slovakia and Hungary .

The towns along the river in Slovakia are outside Bratislava already mentioned, essentially Komarno , a center inhabited by the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, where the Vah , the largest river Slovak confluence with the Danube. The Danube is more then meets the Hron to trovo and a river named Ipel in Slovak or Ipoly in Hungarian in the village of Chaba before reaching the border with Hungary .

Hungary

"Danube Bend" near Visegrad.

Following the Danube, which then forms the border between Hungary and Slovakia , the first major town encountered is Gyr , at the confluence of the Danube and Raab. Near the confluence with the Ipel near Szob , the Danube passes the entire Hungarian border and is now on both sides. A little later, the river meets the mountains of Brzsny and finds himself surrounded by the mountains of south Pilis Gerecse and . Then comes the "Danube Bend, near Visegrad , where the river turns 90 degrees to the south. It then flows in this direction for nearly 500 kilometers, instead of west to east as was the case up there.

After about 40 km, the Danube flows through the largest city of his tour, Budapest (1.8 million), the capital of Hungary. The Danube leaves here the mountain and into the Great Hungarian Plain where the river marks the western boundary. After passing through several smaller towns like Dunajvros , Baja , Kalocsa Paks and the Hungarian Danube leaves the territory just after Mohcs.

Croatia

The Danube at Batina.

With only 137 kilometers, Croatia has, after Moldova , the smallest share of the Danube on its territory. The river flows in Croatia Batina , a Danube port located at the intersection of Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. Secondly, it serves as natural border between Croatia and Serbia. The largest Croatian city on the banks of Danube Vukovar , which suffered extensive damage during the war with Serbia. Another major Croatian city, Osijek , is also located near the river, about twenty miles from the confluence of the Danube and Drava , his second longest tributary.

Serbia

The Danube at Novi Sad

The Danube at Belgrade

Initially, Croatia (right bank) shares the Danube with Serbia (left bank). Near Backa Palanka , the Danube forms a loop and then passes through Serbia to the south-east away from the Croatian border and is close to the Romanian border.

Only 25 kilometers from the Hungarian border, is the first major city in Serbia, the port city of Apatin , which was once populated almost exclusively by descendants of German emigrants of the eighteenth ^century until the end of the Second World War.

Downstream of this city, the river passes Novi Sad whose bridges were severely damaged in 1999 during the Kosovo war . For over six years, traffic between the two parts of the city was carried out using a floating bridge of fortune. This disruption of navigation on the Danube, since the bridge was opened three times per week . Since the introduction of the "Freedom Bridge" on 11 October 2005 , navigation on the river may again be without pitfalls.

After traveling 70 kilometers further, the Danube reached Belgrade, the third largest city bordering the river, with 1.6 million inhabitants. The site has been inhabited for 7,000 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the banks of the Danube. It is built around the confluence of the Sava and its center is dominated by the imposing fortress Kalemegdan .

Continuing his journey through Serbia, the Danube passes through the industrial towns of Pancevo , where the confluence of the Danube Tami and Smederevo , where the Morava flows into the Danube. It then passes the imposing fort Golubac and enters the throat of the "Iron Gate". The Danube then serves as the border between Serbia and Romania to the dams of Djerdap I and II. On the Serbian side is the National Park Djredap containing the table of Trajan.

Bulgaria

Port on the Danube Orjachowo (Bulgaria).

In terms of Bulgaria , the Danube forms the border between the north of that country and Romania: the right bank is Bulgarian. Along the border of 500 kilometers, there is only one bridge connecting since 1954 the largest city Danubian Bulgarian Ruse and the Romanian city of Giurgiu. For Bulgaria, the river, despite its length along its territory, less importance than other riparian countries. As this is the only waterway in the country and that it is moreover in the sparsely populated far north of its territory, the Danube has a regional significance for the small merchant fleet. Bulgarian Danube ports of the twelve, the most important are Svishtov , Ruse , Vidin , Nikopol , Lom and Silistra. In the town of Svishtov on the Danube reached its southernmost point. From there it goes north in Romanian territory, and left the Bulgarian territory just after Silistra.

Romania

"Iron Gate".

About 1075 kilometers or about one third of its total length , the Danube is Romanian. Thus Romania has by far the largest share of river. At first the river forms the border with Serbia and Bulgaria and then in the region between the Baragan and Dobrudja , it makes a turn toward the north before emptying into the Black Sea after marking the border with Ukraine.

Before arriving at the spectacular " Iron Gates ", the section of the Danube before its most dangerous artificial regulation in the 1970s , the river runs south-west of the mountains of Banat , where the river Olt flows into the Danube near City of Islaz. After reaching Orova , it crosses the famous "breakthrough of the Danube" and passes Drobeta Turnu Severin. Here the river makes a turn south and passes Gruia, Pristol, Cetate and Calafat. Then the Danube continues its path towards the east where it forms on the 400 km border with Bulgaria. In doing so it passes through the towns of Dbuleni , Corabia , Turnu Magurele , Zimnicea , Giurgiu (located just opposite the Bulgarian city of Ruse ), Oltenita , where the river Arge flows into the Danube, and Clrai. Now, it forms the western boundary of the relief of Dobrogea and passes Cernavod , Topalu, Hrova , Giurgeni Gropen and before reaching the larger cities of Braila and Galati. Forty-seven kilometers after passing the latter city, the Danube divides into three arms defining the Danube delta where it serves the port of Tulcea and Sulina before reaching the Black Sea situated a little further east . Over a hundred kilometers from Galati , the Danube forms the border between Romania, Moldova (570 meters) and Ukraine (the rest of the boundary along the northernmost arm of the Delta, one of Chilia ).

Moldova

The Moldova has the lowest stretch of the Danube on its territory. Just after being joined by the River Prut downstream of Galati , the left bank of the Danube and the river becomes Moldovan marks the border between Romania and Moldova over 340 meters long, nearly Giurgiuleti. Since the mid -1990s , the Moldovan authorities want to build a port at the Danube Giurgiuleti, but this project is blocked for three reasons:

• lack of investment;
• the failure of the territorial exchange with Ukraine that could not be implemented because of disputes over the territory to be exchanged (the hamlet east of Mndreti Giurgiuleti, the border between de facto to 340 meters downstream of the Prut and the de jure to the east, 570 m downstream of the Prut), so that Moldova could not recover / get the 230 yards from shore Danube port needed for the project;
• political challenges of the project, due to the ease of access from Moldova to Romania and Ukrainian ports directly connected to its road and rail network: Galati , Reni , Izmail and Kilia.

Ukraine

The Danube near Vylkove (Ukraine).

After the Moldovan border, the left bank of the Danube River and the Ukrainian became the border between Romania and Ukraine on 47 km . The Danube divides into three arms: two of them, and Sulina Sfntu-Gheorghe, flowing in Romania, the third most northerly, the Chilia , continues to serve on the border and 56 kilometers still serving the ports of Ukraine of Izmail , Kilia and Vylkove ( Vilkovo ) which begins on Channel Bystroe. After Vylkove, the arm goes completely Chilia in Ukraine and flows a few miles away in the Black Sea. The Danube Delta, both Romanian and Ukrainian side is classified as " Natural Reserve of the Biosphere "under the MAB (Man and Biosphere ") of the UN , but the geopolitical border is the EU guidelines prevents both MM. Baboianu (Romanian) and Voloshkevitch (Ukrainian) to work as it should, because the border crossing point is the nearest authorized in Galati, 250 miles to the west, outside the Danube Delta.

Roman ruins in Drobeta-Turnu Severin on the Danube.

Prehistory

Some of the oldest European civilizations have settled in the Danube basin. Among the civilizations of the Neolithic Danubian can find particular civilizations taped in the middle of the Danube basin. At the Chalcolithic , the culture Vucedol , (named after the site Vucedol near Vukovar in Croatia), noted for its ceramics is established around the river .

Antiquity

In ^the seventh century BC. BC , the Greeks came up the river from the Black Sea through the city of Tomis, the current Constanta. Their journey of discovery upstream ended near Drobeta point at which the eddies of the " Iron Gates ", a narrow defile and cashed, made it impossible for ships of the era of progress towards the Carpathians and the Southern Mountains Ore Serbs.

For the Romans , from 37 , the Danube forms the border between their Imperium and Barbaricum North, between the civilized and urbanized world governed by law, and a freer world governed by custom. Almost from its source to its mouth , a fleet standing, class, it was maintained. As the river did not freeze, the fleet was sufficient to prevent the Germans , the Dacians and Scythians through, because they had no technology to counter it. When the river froze, the legions stationed on the right bank of the river, took over. Aurelius won several victories over the Marcomanni through the class. The Romans dominated the river to Valentinian ^I ( 364 - 375 ) except for a few years very cold ( 256 to 259 , when the bases and many boats are taken by surprise).

The Roman Empire did not cross the Danube at the Dacia after having built a bridge 101 at the height of the garrison town of Drobeta located near the "Iron Gates" and after having fought two battles in 102 and 106 . The victory of Emperor Trajan over the Dacians under the command of Decebalus allowed the creation of the province of Dacia , which was lost again in 271. These two battles are the frieze of the Column of Trajan , the center of his forum in Rome.

From the ^third century to ^fifth century , during the great invasions , waves of invaders from the east ( Huns , Visigoths , Ostrogoths , Vandals , Gepidae , Lombards , Avars and Slavs ) are using the Danube Valley to enter from east to west and from north to south, deep into Europe. On the old Roman frontier in the midst of these new populations, small communities Romance : The Valcheren, Welschenlants, Walchengaue or Wallachia (which historians called popular fiction), are maintained in the forests ( Ardennes , Vosges : the Walloons and the Welsch) or mountainous ( Alps : Romansh , Ladin , Carpathians and Balkans : Vlachs ). The Roman Empire gave way to the realms Germanic in its part Western in 476 : his party east continued until 1453 , but "wins" of the Danube in 679 during the arrival of the Bulgarians , only to return as for two centuries, from 971 to 1180 .

Middle Ages

In ^the ninth century , the Danube is the path of migrating shepherds Finnish Magyars from the Urals , coming into today's Hungary and founded, with the Germanic, Slavic and Vlach who transhumant already, the Hungarian nation under King Stephen ^I of Hungary.

Mill wood Letea in the Danube Delta

Route Charlemagne, which was used between 1096 and 1099 by the army of Godfrey of Bouillon during the First Crusade , also walked along the Danube from Regensburg to Belgrade. About 340 years later, the Ottoman army took the same route in reverse. The Danube was for her the main artery for transporting troops and supplies during their campaign across Europe Southeast. The river allowed the Ottomans to move quickly and when in 1440 they delivered the first battles to Belgrade located 2000 kilometers from the river mouth. The conquest of the city but did not succeed in 1521 and some years later just in 1526 , the Ottoman army defeated the Kingdom of Hungary during the first battle of Mohcs. As King Louis II of Hungary was killed during the battle, Hungary became part of Austria from Habsburg . This event marks the birth of the "Danube Monarchy".

Cathedral of Esztergom in Hungary on the Danube.

Modern and contemporary

In 1529 , the Turks reached Vienna , the heart of Central Europe, but are beaten. Thus was halted expansion of the Ottomans along the Danube and from the Battle of Mohcs of 1687 , they gradually lost ground and power. The gradual discharge of the Turks was based mainly on the initiative of Austria and the Austria-Hungary who was gaining power, while in parallel, it was rejected the Holy Roman Empire and the Germanic zone . Apart from Austria, the Ottoman Empire still remained one of the most important political factors in Europe's southeast to the permanent loss of the territories of the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish wars ( 1 768 - 1774 ) and the Balkan wars in 1912-1913. The Danube then played not only the role of military and commercial artery but also political, cultural and religious between East and West.

After the Second World War , a new regulation of river traffic, which would replace the Paris Accords of 1921 was developed in 1946. All countries bordering the river have participated in the conference in Belgrade in 1948 unless the defeated countries of Germany and Austria. Upon signing the treaty, it was also agreed that an addendum signed Austria in the Danube Commission. The Federal Republic of Germany has been able to integrate the board in 1998 , almost fifty years after the Belgrade conference, due to discharges from the Soviets. Currently, only the Danube countries enjoy the freedom of commerce and navigation on the River.

Danube in culture

• The Danube has found an echo in the most important cultural music with the famous waltz Viennese The Blue Danube composed by Johann Strauss (son). This work was composed by Strauss when traveling on the Danube.

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• Another waltz on the famous Danube Waves of the Danube (in Romanian Valurile Dunarii) of the Romanian composer Ion Ivanovici (1845-1902) whose work captured the public when it was played at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889.
• The second largest river in Europe has also left many traces in the cultures of neighboring countries. The Danube is so intimately tied to the mythology of the origin of the Romanian people , especially because it served as the backdrop to the confrontation between Romans and Dacians but also because it defines the area of origin of the peoples who formed the Romanian people according to different theories.
• Besides numerous tales and legends, writers were also inspired by the Danube, from Ovid to Peter Esterhazy , who were interested in the theme of the river in the late ^twentieth century .
• The Danube River test- Claudio Magris , where he explored the river from its source to its outlet across the history of Central (the Central Europe ) .
• The driver of the Danube , is a thriller of Jules Verne with the Danube forms the backdrop throughout the frame .
• The Willows, the most famous short stories of horror writer on Algernon Blackwood, focuses on a trip down the Danube .
• The Danube School , which developed during the ^sixteenth century in the valley of the Danube is a German tradition of painting landscapes.
• Towards The Sea of Leroy (87 minutes, 1999 ), selected at the Berlinale : film essay in the form of road movie , the source of the Danube at its mouth .
• Im Juli by Fatih Akin (95 minutes, 2000 ): Road movie lying mostly along the Danube .
• The Ister David Barison and Daniel Ross (189 minutes, 2004 ), winner of the Prize of the Quebec Association of Critical 2004 and the Prize of the National Group of cinemas research, still in 2004 : documentary inspired by a conference of Martin Heidegger given in 1942 .
• The Danube is also the subject of a collection of documentary films of Ulrike Bartels, Joel Jenin and Dieter Zeppenfeld .
• Donauwellen the cake is a German whose name means: The Wave of the Danube .
• "Donaukinder" is a song by German band "Rammstein" found in the bonus CD of their latest album "Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da"

Ecology Danube

Aesculapius snake (Elaphe longissima).

Of the hundreds of miles of its route, the Danube flows through climatic zones and diverse landscapes which explain the variety of fauna and flora along the stream. This is also Danuble a biological corridor of major pan-European ecological network , in particular aspects Frame Blue and for the ecological connection between Black Sea and Central Europe. Despite many important human interventions along its course, many sections of the Danube are still high naturalness and play a role as a reservoir of biodiversity , partly through the establishment of protected areas in areas most sensitive or vulnerable.

Despite efforts in the fight against pollution of water, yet receives Danube Pollution chronic (agricultural, industrial and urban) from several major agricultural areas and industrial and atmospheric deposition. It is sometimes subject to severe pollution, due to industrial accidents ( Chernobyl fallout , the accident Ajka aluminum plant (Hungary).

Fauna of the Danube

In total, over 300 species of birds that live along the Danube. This river is one of the migration routes of birds of Europe's most important and pristine areas located on its shores are all wintering, resting and nesting areas, sometimes for rare species like the eagle owl , the kingfisher , the white-tailed eagle , the black stork , the black kite and white-eyed kestrel. Parks Donauauen natural (floodplain) of 'Kopaki laughs "and in particular the Danube Delta protected areas are exceptional .

Thus Donauauen are the meeting point of the region of Lake Neusiedl , the Danube basin and the River Morava. This natural hosts, especially in winter, large numbers of animals as the greylag goose , the Sternin , the goosander the withers Goldeneye , the Charadriiformes , the mallard , but also many rare species as the spotted eagle , the osprey or the whooper swan.

Another place of rest and wintering important is the nature park Kopaki laughs, a marshy region located in the pristine north-western Croatia where over 260 nesting bird species including rare species as the bald eagle White-tailed .

For the bird world, the most important region is the Danube Delta, a central crossroads of migration routes in Europe and also a meeting point between the European fauna and wildlife in Asia. Here live more than 300 species of birds, among others, pelicans , and cranes , the spoonbills , the raptors and the rare red-breasted geese .

The typical fish of the Danube, some of which are endemic in the river, are bearded , the nase , the dace , the bream , the carp , the bream , the pike , the perch , the perch , the eel , the asp, Danube salmon, Hucho Hucho or Huchon , the sturgeon , the catfish and the stud. Fish species of sturgeons are no longer able to Vienna following the construction of the dam of the "Iron Gate" but, helped by increased protection of the environment and the naturalization of shorelines, rare species fish have been acclimated to new, especially in Germany and Austria. Thus, the dogfish (Umbra krameri), a relative of the pike supposedly disappeared since 1975 , was rediscovered in 1992. We found more than 150 species of fish in the Danube delta such as the sturgeon , beluga European , the carp , the catfish , the pike , the pike and perch .

Along the river, there are also many mammals like martens , the marten , the weasel , the badger or even the wild cat , the beaver and otter. In the delta, it also meets the mink , the ferret and the ground squirrel , the squirrel family. The Danube is also a living place for many amphibians and reptiles such as the snake of Aesculapius , the green lizard , the wall lizard , the grass snake , smooth snake, the lizard , the tortoise Greek and the terrapin and endemic species such as the Danube newt . For these species, it also contains the delta greater diversity .

The flora of the Danube

Tree species that are often encountered in alluvial grasslands softwood are white poplar (Populus alba), the white alder (Alnus incana) and the white willow (Salix alba). In grassland alluvial hardwoods, we can note the presence of narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) encountered downstream of Vienna and the elm and the oak tree. In the Danube itself, there are few aquatic plants such as wolf trap ( Aldrovanda vesiculosa ) and bladderwort .

Major ecological damage

Like many other rivers, the Danube has undergone many significant damage to its natural environment since the beginning of the industrial era. Only 20% of the floodplain that still existed in the nineteenth ^century still exist, and only half of the course of the river can still be considered "natural."

Beside the increase of pollution due to industry , to agriculture , tourism and wastewater and the regularization of dikes, dams, locks and canals were largely major projects that greatly disturb the ecosystem of the Danube. Effective international protection of the latter is difficult because it is not less than ten countries, including some of the poorest regions of Europe , which want to benefit economically from their location on the river .

Hydroelectric power station of the "Iron Gate"

Dam of the "Iron Gate"

It was in 1964 that Yugoslavia and Romania began to build together a hydroelectric plant, completed in 1972 and located between the Carpathian Mountains and the southern Serbian Ore. The dam, flanked by two locks , resulting in the birth of an artificial lake 150 kilometers long and the water level was raised from 35 meters . In addition to power generation, construction of the plant was also used to construct the waterway to facilitate the passage of ships blowing up the rocks of the rapids in the river .

For the creation of Lake dam, which reached the end Belgrade , the city of Orova and five villages had to be moved and the island of Ada Kaleh , inhabited since 1669 by Turks, was engulfed. Most Turks have left Romania and returned to Turkey. In all, there are 17,000 people were displaced and many cultural sites have been lost . Environment also the dam did not remain unanswered, and the sturgeon can not spawn back to the Danube .

To limit the damage cultural and ecological elements of flora and fauna as well as archaeological, cultural and historical were kept in two national parks and museums. National parks are established for the purpose of the Djerdap in Serbia was established in 1974 and that of the "Iron Gate" in Romania was established in 2001.

Gabkovo-Nagymaros

In the agreements of 16 September 1977 concluded between Czechoslovakia and Hungary , construction (between Gabkovo near Bratislava , and Nagymaros in Hungary ) of a huge set of locks and dams for energy production was decided . The first studies for the project had emerged from 1956 .

Concerns were expressed by Hungarian and Austrian experts about the destruction of alluvial grasslands Austrian landscapes along the Slovak-Hungarian border and the endangerment of drinking water in Budapest that the yard would result . After the project works were already slowed in 1983 , the environmental movement Duna Kr was created in 1984 in Budapest. This movement, often regarded as the embryo of the " velvet revolution "in Hungary , has gained wide support from the population. 140 000 people signed the petition against the dam and a strong demonstration of 40,000 people occurred in 1988 before the Hungarian parliament. As part of the political collapse of East European countries in 1989 , the Hungary withdrew from the project under pressure from the population .

The Czechoslovakia and then, after dividing the country into 1993 , the Slovak Republic continued the construction of the plant to another location and placed a complaint against Hungary that year and again in 1997 before the International Court of Justice for compliance with the agreement of Budapest in 1977 .

The Hungarian then accused of Slovakia to divert water from the Danube in the new artificial canal Gabkovo-Kanal. The International Court of Justice which ruled that the agreements of 1977 are still valid and that the two countries should find common ground to bring the project forward. No compromise has been found and this is poisoning relations between Hungary and Slovakia to date.

Wearing Giurgiuleti

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Giurgiulesti Oil Terminal Project

In 1995 , the Moldovan Government has established the company Terminal SA, a joint venture with Greek participation in the development of a port and an oil refinery near Giurgiulesti. In 1996 , the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has granted a loan of more than 19 million and has thus 20% of the company. 41% are held by the Moldovan society Tirex-Petrol and 39% by the Greek company Technovax but they are moving only very slowly. Currently, the Moldovan government is trying to sell his share. Prospective Russian and Azerbaijan have made themselves known since 2003 , which has a completion and inauguration of the terminal, 13 April 2007 .

As the Danube delta is very close, contaminated products, especially in case of damage, could get there very quickly and without highly diluted that threatens the ecosystem protected. This has provoked strong protests from advocacy organizations of nature but the Moldovan government ignores them.

The Bystroe

On 27 August 2004 , the site of Bystroe was reopened in the small Ukrainian town of Vylkove . This channel has the advantage for Ukraine to allow canal boats direct access to the lagoon Sasyk (Conduc) without passing through the sea mouth, twenty miles further south, near the Romanian port of Sulina. As the channel drains the wetland-Drakulija Zhebrijany-Primorske (Drculia-Jibrieni-Glileti), it will accelerate the velocity of water, which could increase bank erosion. Advocacy organizations of nature, the Romanian Government and the Environment Commissioner of the European Union have therefore protested against this channel . Although Ukraine has both sides of the mouth Kilia arm and both sides of the main navigable channel at the archipelago Kyslica (Chislia), the Ukrainian government believes that these protests mainly hidden economic interests from Romania who would have a monopoly on river traffic to the Black Sea. The Ukraine has not taken account of these protests, and the canal was inaugurated on 14 May 2007 .

Danube Basin Economic

Water use

Drinking water

The Danube is an important source of drinking water for ten million people who live along the rivers. In the Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg , the company that provides drinking water to the area between Stuttgart , Bad Mergentheim , Aalen and Alb-Danube district uses treated water from the Danube up to 30% on Thirty million cubic meters distributed in 2004. Other cities like Ulm and Passau also use even for a large share of water from the Danube for drinking water.

In Austria , however, 99% of drinking water is drawn from groundwater sources, and only very rarely, such as during periods of hot weather, water from the Danube. The same is true for Hungary which uses ground water to 91%. Other states along the Danube central refrain from drinking tap water in the Danube River due to heavy pollution of it. Only towns located on its shores in Romania , where the river is cleaner again, again using water from the Danube ( Drobeta Turnu-Severin , Danube Delta ).

Hydropower

Five coastal states use the Danube as a source of significant energy and it is of Germany , of Austria , of Slovakia , from Serbia and Romania. For other States, there may be no territorial control part of the Danube for an autonomous construction (the Croatia , the Bulgaria and Moldova have only one bank of the river), or there is no political possibility as Hungary , where public opinion is against either the Danube do not allow as in Ukraine.

In Germany , the first hydropower plants were built in the late ^nineteenth century , especially in the Upper Danube region but also near Ulm. Nevertheless, the Danube never reached the importance it holds further downstream in Germany because the river flow is still low and therefore low in energy.

In Austria , the situation is completely different even if the construction of the first hydroelectric power plant goes back only to 1953. Today, Austria is the country in Europe , right after Iceland and Norway , where hydropower accounts for the largest share of energy production and 20% of the total energy production is ensured by plants of the Danube. But this has not only positive side: the monoculture of hydropower, which in Austria is mainly concentrated along the Danube and the German border to Vienna (excluding the Wachau ) changes the path and speed of flow of the water and prevents the periodic flooding of riparian forests of ecologically important. In addition, the locks are artificial barriers to fish and other organisms that can no longer move freely in the stream.

In Slovakia , hydropower is 16% of total production, the second most important energy source after coal. And most of this energy is produced by the central Gabkovo-Nagymaros, originally scheduled to be operated in cooperation with Hungary , which was finally abandoned (see above).

Today the largest hydroelectric plant in Europe is the center of the "Iron Gate" which, after eight years of construction, is operated since 1972 by Serbia and Romania. Hydropower is an important energy source for these two countries with respectively 37.1% and 27.6% of total production.

Nuclear power

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

• NPP Kozloduy ( Bulgaria )
• NPP Cernavoda ( Romania )

Navigation

Merchant ships on the Danube in Linz, Austria.

The Danube is navigable only from Kelheim , nearly 500 miles from its source, a total distance of 2415 km to the mouth . The channel of the Main -Danube, which converges with it near Kelheim, also allows the river link between the North Sea , via the Rhine and Main and the Black Sea .

As regards the Danube navigation, the river is divided into three sections:

• Upper Danube from Kelheim to Komrom / Komarno;
• Middle Danube Komrom / Komarno up Drobeta Turnu-Severin ;
• Lower Danube Drobeta Turnu-Severin to the mouth.

The navigation history on the Upper Danube

The Danube is one of the oldest and most important European trade routes. Since prehistoric times, the river served as a means of transportation, such as furs, which were transported along the river on rafts. The Roman era saw the birth of sailing with boats that were often made after a long and perilous journey, dismantled and sold as timber once they reached the port of arrival as if it could not earn enough during the return trip against the current, more cumbersome and slower, we preferred to avoid. Thus the ships intended for navigation on the Danube were simpler construction and less needy than wooden rafts. Of larger boats, with lengths of thirty feet and two tons of payload, called ordinary boats Kelheim or Ulm , were nonetheless sometimes responsible for more expensive goods such as wine or salt food and drawn-cons current. For centuries, ships, often in convoys could be drawn against the grain than along the towpaths, first by men and, from the ^fifteenth century , by draft animals .

These convoys of ships were organized strictly and regrouped as sixty horses and all the crew. Besides the boats that transported the goods, other boats carrying ropes, food and spare horses were also part of the trip. Because of the many branches of the river and its many shoals, such a convoy that was moving very slowly. Frequently, no crossed a few miles a day. Periodically, we had to change shore with the horses, the weather and the level of the river water also slowed the progression .

Steam navigation on the Danube

With the advent of steamships and later locomotives, historic navigation on the Danube began its decline and it is to 1900 as the last convoys were fired against the current along the River. In 1812 the first steamboat came into service in Vienna. A few years later just in 1829 , the first steamship company of the Danube, the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft, was born. Thus the boats became faster and faster and we can quote the example of the first steamboat Franz I downriver from Vienna to Budapest in 14 hours and 15 minutes in 1830 . For the return against the current, it requires 48 hours and 20 minutes. In September 1837 , the first boat, the Anna Maria, linking Vienna to Linz. You can visit one of the last examples of this type of boat Regensburg . The second half of the ^nineteenth century was also the golden age of the boat channel that was hoisted against the current along a chain anchored in the river bed with the force of a steam engine. Such chains were first put on the line Vienna - Bratislava but also near Ybbs and Regensburg.

All countries heirs of Austria-Hungary had a fleet of steamships and paddle after 1918 , mostly German and Austrian construction, some construction Czechoslovak and Romanian. During the Second World War , these ships turned to full participant in the movement of people as a result of regime changes and territories: Bessarabia Germans , the Jews of all countries bordering it piled up, the first driven by the USSR to Germany, the latter fleeing the persecution of Nazi or fascist regimes to ports in the Black Sea , where ships of SMR were headed to Istanbul. Many of these ships were sunk during the war and the few survivors who have turned into the 1960's , now rusting in coastal ports.

Originally, the Danube River was a shop open, usable by everyone. But each riparian country still levied customs duties. In the Treaty of Paris of 1856 , the right to free trade on the Danube was regulated for the first time a European Danube Commission was created, based on the text of the agreements of the Congress of Vienna of 1815 the free browsing. 120 years later, on 18 August 1948 , this right was again endorsed at the conference in Belgrade. Navigation on the Danube is permitted to vessels of all nationalities except foreign warships. Compliance with these rules and the conservation of airworthiness are monitored by the International Commission of the Danube.

Navigation on the Danube today

Tour Boat "Prinz Eugen" in the Wachau, Austria.

In more than one hundred vessels that circulate mainly between hotels Passau , Budapest and the Black Sea , there are many boats that make daily excursions, particularly in Germany in the area of Passau and Austria in the region Wachau , and countless small pleasure craft.

The Danube is now one of two major European transport of goods by river, the first being formed by the Rhine whose traffic amounted in 2000 to 300 million tonnes.

In contrast with the dynamism of the Rhine, freight traffic on the Danube fell sharply between 1980 and 2002 from 90 to 39 million tonnes. This reflects the conjunction of several phenomena :

• The political changes in Eastern Europe and the transition to market economy have changed the game in the field of transport reducing the modal share of inland waterway transport: road transport development, declining output of heavy industry ;
• The first crisis in Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1995 was accompanied by an embargo that the UN has led to a sharp drop in traffic on the Danube;
• The second crisis in Yugoslavia between 1999 and 2002 with the destruction of the bridge of Novi Sad has blocked local traffic ;
• A change in statistical methodology occurred in 1990 excluding transport over a distance less than two kilometers partially explains the fall in domestic traffic in the table below.

Conversely, the opening of the canal Main -Danube in 1992 resulted in an increase in traffic on the Upper Danube.

Timber floating

The ^eighteenth and ^nineteenth centuries , the Danube served as a transportation route for timber from the forest of Bohemia. The logs were brought by floating in the river channel by the Groe Mhl Schwarzenberg, repackaged in boats then transported to Vienna where they were sold as firewood .

Fishing

The importance of fishing, which the entire population lived during the Middle Ages in some places has declined sharply in the ^nineteenth and ^twentieth centuries. In Germany for example, there remains only one fisherman on the Danube between Straubing and Vilshofen an der Donau. In Austria , the fishery is still widely practiced around the cities of Linz and Vienna but in the Danube delta , it is still practiced more intensively.

Viticulture

Vineyards near Spitz (Wachau)

The Danube is also a wine region, mainly in two countries. The region that produces wines of higher quality is the Wachau in Austria , where the grapes are grown mainly Grner Veltliner , Riesling and Chardonnay .

In Hungary , the vine is cultivated on almost all along the Danube between Visegrad and the southern border. The capital of Hungarian wine is Vc. During the socialist era, the Hungarian wines, once deemed lost as much but since the 1990s, the Hungarian wine is experiencing a renaissance.

A third country, then Germany , also produces some wine near Bach an der Donau, between Regensburg and Straubing. It is a curiosity that remains economically insignificant but the latest cultural relic, once alive, Bavarian wine imported by the Romans.

Tourism

Besides the many famous places of interest along the Danube, many landscapes and national parks (already described above) are also important for tourism. There are also many places, especially on non-navigable upper Danube, where you can practice the canoe , the boat and paddleboat. The river is also lined with beautiful bike paths in Germany and Austria especially ( Euroveloroute 6 ).

The navigation of river cruise is also very active on the Danube where, outside the busy stretch of Vienna to Budapest , some ships also sail from Passau to the delta. In high season there are more than 70 cruise ships that ply the river.

Ritopek the Danube on the outskirts of Belgrade ( Serbia )

Danube Bend up to Devin near Bratislava ( Slovakia ), the Slovak-Austrian border. Right: the mouth of the Morava River , whose water clearer contrast with the color of the muddy Danube

Bibliography

• (En) Bruhcs, Jnos The international regime of the Danube in the late twentieth century. People and the Environment, Paris, Frisian-Roche, 1998.
• (In) Coll., Water Pollution Control in the Danube Basin: Proceedings of the International Conference on Water Pollution Control In The basin of the River Danube, Held in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, 20-23 June 1989, Oxford, New York, Pergamon Press, 1990.
• (In) al. Danube Delta: Genesis and Biodiversity, Leiden, Backhuys, 2006.
• (De) Blhberger Gnther, Wie die Donau nach Wien kam: die Entwicklung der Landschaft erdgeschichtliche of Donautal und der Ursprung der Donau vom Nebenflsse bis zum Wiener Becken, Vienna, Bhlau, 1996.
• (In) Irene Lyons Murphy, The Danube: A River Basin in Transition, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publications, 1997.
• (In) Coll., Danube delta: Geology, sedimentology, evolution: field trip, 28 September-2 October 1998, Paris, Association of French Sedimentologists, 1999.
• (In) Gyrgy Ranki, Economy and Foreign Policy: The Struggle of the Great Powers for hegemony in the Danube Valley, 1919-1939, New York, Columbia University Press, 1983.
• (En) Martin Graff, The Rise of Danube geopolitical vagabond of Europe, Strasbourg, Blue Cloud, 1998.
• (En) Claudio Magris, Danube, Gallimard 1988, ISBN: 2070780023
• (En) Stefanescu, Mircea-Constantin, New contributions to the study of the formation and evolution of the Danube Delta: tentative interpretation of the morphogenesis of the delta to the historical period from the names of the History and ancient maps, Paris, National Library, 1981.
• (In) Frucht, Richard C., Dunarea Noastra Romania, The Great Powers and the Danube question, 1914-1921, New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
• (In) Charles R. Bowlus, Franks, Moravians and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788-907, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
• (In) Dise, Robert L., Cultural Exchange and Imperial Administration: The Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire, New York, P. Lang, 1991.
• (En) Coll. Information Report on the example set for the Rhine-Rhone and the French waterways, the completion of the river route to gauge European Rhine-Main-Danube, Senate, Third Special Session from 1993-1994, made on behalf of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Planning, Paris, Senate, 1994.
• (In) rsted, Peter, Roman Imperial Economy and Romanization: A Study in Roman Imperial Administration and the Public In The lease system Danubian provinces from The First To The Third Century AD, Copenhagen, Tusculanum Museum Press, 1985.
• (En) Robert, Eric, The Case of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary / Slovakia). A new conflict on the environment before the International Court of Justice? / Eric Robert. Studia Diplomatica, Volume 47 (1994-5), p. 17-52.
• (In) McIntyre, Owen, The Case concering Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary / Slovakia): International Court of Justice, The Hague, 25 September 1997. Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 10 (1998-1), p. 79-91.
• (En) Maljean-Dubois, Sandrine, The Judgement of the International Court of Justice September 25, 1997 in the case concerning the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary / Slovakia). French directory of International Law, Volume 43/1997 (1998), p. 286-332.
• (En) Kovcs, Pter, Some considerations on the assessment and interpretation of the Judgement of the International Court of Justice in Case Gabcikovo-Nagymaros. German Yearbook of International Law, Volume 41 (1999), p. 252-266.
• (In) Romsics, Ignaz and Nra Arat, Geopolitics in the Danube Region: Hungarian Reconciliation Efforts, 1848-1998, Central European University Press, 1999.

See also

• Danube Delta
• List of rivers in the world sorted by continents
• Factory accident aluminum Ajka (Hungary)

External Links

• Water and International Law: Selected Bibliography Library of the Peace Palace
• Site of the ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River)
• Site on the Danube.
• Budapest-Istanbul kayaking on the Danube
• Story of an adventure over the Danube

References

• (De) This article is partially or entirely from the article in German entitled " Donau "(see the list of authors )

Rivers of Germany
5000 km>	Danube
3000 km>	Elba Rhine
500 km>	Ems Weser
300 km>	Eider Peene Trave Uecker Warnow
100 km>	Recknitz Schwentine
50 km>	Schlei
Portals water and Germany

Tributaries and ( sub-tributaries ) Danube
3000 km>	Tisza. Save .
1 000 km>	Canal DTD. Drava. ( Drina ). Inn. ( Koros ). ( Mure ). Olt. Prut. Siret .
500 km>	Arge. ( Buzu ). Ialomia. Iskar. Jiu. Morava (Moravia). Morava (Serbia). ( Wall ). Raab. Timi. Vah. ( Zapadna Morava ).
300 km>	Altmhl. ( Amper ). ( Arie ). ( Brlad ). ( Bega ). ( Bistria ). ( Bodrog ). ( Bosna ). ( Bosut ). ( Brzava ). Canal Rhine-Main-Danube. ( Crasna ). ( Dmbovia ). ( Dobra ). Enns. ( Hnilec ). ( Hornd ). Hron. ( Ibar ). Iller. Ipel. Isar. ( Jijia ). ( Juzna Morava ). Kamp. Karas. ( Kolubara ). ( Korana ). ( Krivaja ). ( Kupa ). ( Laborec ). ( Lapus ). ( Latorica ). Lech. Leitha. ( Lim ). ( Mal Dunaj ). Mlava. Moldova. Naab. Nera. ( Niava ). ( Nitra ). ( Ondava ). Osam. ( Ouj ). Pek. ( Plazovi ). ( Prahova ). Regen. ( Saj ). ( Salzach ). ( Sana ). Si. ( Somes ). ( Suceava ). ( Svratka ). ( Tara ). ( Trnava Mare ). ( Trnava Mic ). ( Teleajen ). ( Thaya ). Timok. ( Toplica ). ( Torysa ). Traun. ( Trotus ). ( Una ). ( Uvac ). Vedea. ( Vrbas ). Wrnitz. Yantra. Ybbs. ( Zagyva ). ( Zala ). ( Zlatica ).
100 km>	( Agrij ). ( Alma ). ( Alz ). Brenz. ( Cibin ). ( CIK ). ( Cricovul Srat ). ( Crni Timok ). ( etinja ). ( Golijska Moravica ). ( Gruza ). ( Gurghiu ). ( ida ). Ilz. ( Iza ). ( Jablanica ). ( Jadar ). ( Jarina ). ( Jasenica ). Jasenika reka. ( Jegrika ). ( Jerez ). ( Jerma ). ( Keres ). ( Krivaja ). ( Krka ). ( Lugomir ). ( Lechinta ). ( Mrenica ). Mostonga. Nadela. ( Niraj ). ( Orava ). ( Paraul Campi ). ( Pusta reka ). ( Ralja ). ( Rasina ). ( Raska ). ( Resava ). Ri. ( Rzav (Golija) ). ( Rzav (Zlatibor) ). ( Salaj ). ( Salza ). ( Savinjska ). Schmutter. Schwechat. ( Sokobanjska Moravica ). ( Sotla ). ( Studenica ). ( Tamnava ). ( Tcheremoch ). ( Temtica ). Traisen. ( Ub ). ( Veternica ). ( Vieu ). ( Vlasina ).
50 km>	( Alm ). ( Bicaz ). Breg. Brigach. Jezava. ( Lavant ). ( Ljubljanica ). ( Lut ). ( Lunic (Vlasina) ). ( Mara ). ( Ruscova ). ( Studva ). ( Topiderska reka ). Vienna. ( Wrm ).
30 km>	Bara. ( Berninabach ). Boleica. ( ermesk potok ). ( Despotovic ). ( Izra ). ( Mileevka ). ( Myslavsk potok ). ( Ova da Roseg ). ( Samina ). ( Spl ). ( Trnava ). ( Turna ).
10 km>	( Flaz ). ( Sanna ).
unknown length	( Abrud ). ( Abruzel ). ( Abucea ). ( Acmariu ). ( Adaline ). ( Doftana ). ( Dragu ).
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