Trifter

The Danube River is 1,771 miles long and the second longest river in Europe after the Volga.

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The Danube originates in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany where the Brigach and Breg rivers join and and then flows through Central and Eastern Europe and empties into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.

The Danube River has a rich and colorful history as attested to by the many castles, fortresses and abbeys along its banks.

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At one time the Danube was the frontier of the Roman Empire and served as a vital commercial highway between empires and nations.

(Russian Army crossing Daube in 1877)

Some of the earliest humans lived along the banks of this beautiful river.

Today the Danube River is still used for commercial purposes with the lower parts of the river being a major avenue for freight transport and the upper parts of the river is an important source of hydroelectricity.

The Danube Rvier flows through ten nations today including Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. Major cities along the Danube include the three national capitals of Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), and Belgrade (Serbia).

The Danube River drains some 310,000 square miles in three distinct sections. The upper course stretches from its source in the Black Forest to a gorge called the Hungarian Gates in the Austrian Alps and the Western Carpathian Mountains.

The middle course runs from the Hungarian Gates to the Iron Gate Gorge in the Southern Romanian Carpathian Mountains. The lower course flows from the Iron Gate Gorge to the delta like estuary at the Black Sea.

Today the Danube is popular for tourists. Important tourist and natural spots along the Danube include the Naturpark Obere Donau in Germany, the Wachau valley in Austria,

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the Nationalpark Donau-Auen floodplains in Austria, the Gemenc Forest in Hungary, Kopački rit in Croatia, Iron Gate and Danube Delta in Romania and the Srebarna Nature Reserve in Bulgaria.

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The Danube River is a beautiful and viable river that has been used and enjoyed by humankind since at least 6,000 BC.

Source

For more see Great Rivers of Planet Earth