Countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine
Cities: Ulm, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, Passau, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Mohács, Vukovar, Ilok, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Vidin, Rousse, Galaţi
Primary source: Breg
- location: Martinskapelle, Black Forest, Germany
- elevation: 1,078 m (3,537 ft)
- length: 49 km (30 mi)
- coordinates: 48°05′44″N 08°09′18″E / 48.09556°N 8.155°E / 48.09556; 8.155
Secondary source: Brigach
- location: St. Georgen, Black Forest, Germany
- elevation: 940 m (3,084 ft)
- length: 43 km (27 mi)
- coordinates: 48°06′24″N 08°16′51″E / 48.10667°N 8.28083°E / 48.10667; 8.28083
Source confluence
- location: Donaueschingen
- coordinates: 47°57′03″N 08°31′13″E / 47.95083°N 8.52028°E / 47.95083; 8.52028
Mouth: Danube Delta
- coordinates: 45°13′3″N 29°45′41″E / 45.2175°N 29.76139°E / 45.2175; 29.76139
Length: 2,860 km (1,777 mi)
Basin: 817,000 km2 (315,445 sq mi)
Discharge for before delta
- average: 6,500 m3/s (229,545 cu ft/s)

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe’s second longest river after the Volga.

The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance of some 2850 km (1771 miles), passing through four Central and Eastern European capitals, before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.

Known to history as one of the long-standing frontiers of the Roman Empire, the river flows through—or forms a part of the borders of—ten countries: Germany (7.5%), Austria (10.3%), Slovakia (5.8%), Hungary (11.7%), Croatia (4.5%), Serbia (10.3%), Romania (28.9%), Bulgaria (5.2%), Moldova (0.017%), and Ukraine (3.8%).

Links

General

• Map of the Danube in English from Encarta (Archived 2009-10-31)
• Danube watershed map and information from the World Resources Institute
• Danube Panorama Project
• Danube and the sport of rowing
• Danube river image pool on Flickr
• Danube Tourist Commission

International organizations

• Danube Commission, dealing with navigation and river improvements
• International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, dealing with the environment

Individual cities or countries

• Bridges of Budapest over the Danube

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.