Vistula

The Vistula (Polish: Wisła) is with 1,047 kilometers (678 miles) the longest river in Poland. It drains an area of 194,424 km² (75,067 sq. miles), of which 168,699 km² (65,135 sq. miles) lies within Poland (over half the area of the country) ^[1].

The Vistula has its source in the south of the country, at Barania Góra (1220 m high) in the Beskidy Mountains where it starts with the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka) and the Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wisełka). It then continues to flow over the vast Polish plains, passing several large Polish cities along its way, including Cracow, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Świecie, Tczew and Gdańsk. With a delta and several branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa) it empties into the Vistula Lagoon, or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea.

History

It is not known whether the root of the name Vistula is Indo-European or pre-Indo-European. The diminutive endings -ila, -ula, were used in many Indo-European language groups, among them Germanic (see Atilla, a "little father" in Gothic) but also in Latin (see Ursula, a "little female bear") which makes it difficult to establish its origin in the Vistula name. The name was first recorded by Pliny in AD 77 in his Natural History. He uses Vistula (4.52, 4.89) with an alternative spelling, Vistillus (3.06). The Vistula River ran into the Mare Suebicum, which we know as the Baltic Sea. From all the sources one can deduce that west of the delta lived the tribes of the Suebi and Burgundians, and around the delta itself the Eastern Germanic tribe of Goths (see also Gothiscandza, Wielbark culture) and their predecessors, the Oksywie culture. East of the Vistula mouth were the areas inhabited by the Baltic speaking tribes generally identified with the historical Aestians: Galindians, Sudovians and Borusci.

However, Tacitus' knowledge of the different peoples was second-hand at best and its accuracy is recently sometimes questioned.^{[citation needed]} He also used the term "Germans" for describing people that probably^{[citation needed]} did not speak Germanic languages. For example when describing Wenets (Veneds, Venets), Peucyns and Fenns he wrote that he was not sure if he should call them Germans, since they have settlements and they fight on foot, or rather Sarmats since they have some similar customs to them^[2].

Ptolemy also records the tribes around the Vistula River, which he regards as the border between Germany and Sarmatia. He uses the Greek spelling, "Ouistoula". Other ancient sources spell it "Istula". Pomponius Mela refers to the "Visula" (Book 3) and Ammianus Marcellinus to the "Bisula" (Book 22), both of which names lack the -t-. The definitive reference is probably Jordanes (Getica 5 & 17), who uses "Viscla". The Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith refers to it as the "Wistla".

The Vistula river used to be connected to the Dnieper River, and thence to the Black Sea. The Baltic Sea-Vistula-Dnieper-Black Sea water route was one of the most ancient trade-routes, the Amber Road, on which amber and other items were traded from Northern Europe to Greece, Asia, Egypt, and elsewhere.

For centuries, the river was well-known in Germany and surrounding countries by the German name Weichsel (in medieval German documents spelled Wissel, Wixel etc.) due to the Ostsiedlung and its location in and near historical eastern Germany. The most recent glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BCE, is called Weichsel glaciation in regard to northern central Europe.

Navigation

The Vistula is navigable, but over large parts of its course the standards do not entirely meet the requirements of modern inland navigation. From the Baltic Sea to Bydgoszcz (where the Bydgoszcz Canal connects to the river), Vistula can accommodate modest river vessels of CEMT class II. Further upstream the river does not have enough depth to allow river barges to navigate.

Upstream of Warsaw, a project was undertaken to enlarge the capacity of the river by building a number of locks in Cracow area; this project was never prolongued further downstream, so that the navigability of the Vistula remains problematic. The potential of the river in the decades to come would increase considerably if a restoration of the East-West connection via the Narew - Bug - Mukhovets - Pripyat - Dnieper waterways would be considered. The shifting economic importance parts of Europe may make this option interesting.^[3]

Towns and tributaries

Towns and tributaries

Biała Wisełka

Vistula flooding south of Warsaw, 2004

Bridge across the Vistula in Płock