RIVER DANUBE

Location: 48N 18E (east central Europe); length: 2800 kilometres (1800 miles); drainage basin: 800,000 square kilometres (310,000 square miles).

Castle overlooking the Iron Gate on the Danube.

The 'blue' Danube is Europe's second longest river (after the Volga). It flows from the Black Forest region of Germany to the western shores of the Black Sea.

The headwaters of the Danube are on the eastern slopes of the Black Forest in Germany. The river then skirts around the north of the Alps, to the city of Vienna. Here the river flows onto the Hungarian plain. At Budapest, Hungary, the Danube cuts through a range of hills and then flows south to the Serbian city of Belgrade. South of Belgrade the Danube flows through the gap between the Balkan mountains and the Transylvanian Alps, cutting a dramatic gorge called the Iron Gate. Finally it arcs toward the north again until it reaches the Black Sea in a wide, marshy delta.

The Danube links Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria. The routeway that the river provides through eastern Europe has been jealously fought over for centuries and a string of forts and castles were built to defend it. At the most important crossing points, several major cities have developed, including Vienna and Budapest.

For much of its length the Danube is navigable even for large 1000 tonne barges, and this has made it potentially the most important waterway in eastern Europe. Since the end of communism, trade has once more increased between east and west Europe and it is expected that the Danube will play an increasingly important role in transporting goods.

Enormously ambitious schemes have been undertaken to link the Danube with the Rhine via the Rhine - Main - Danube canal. Along the Hungarian/Yugoslavian/Romanian borders, several dams have been built or are under construction to generate hydroelectric power, divert water for irrigation, prevent flooding and provide better navigation. There is, however, great concern as to the effect of these huge dams on the surrounding environment.

The Danube delta and the Black Sea.