| Meuse | |
|---|---|
 The Meuse in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands |
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| Origin |  France |
| Mouth | North Sea 51°51′59″N 4°1′8″E / 51.86639°N 4.01889°ECoordinates: 51°51′59″N 4°1′8″E / 51.86639°N 4.01889°E |
| Basin countries | France,  Belgium,  Netherlands |
| Length | 925 km (575 mi) |
| Source elevation | 409 m (1,342 ft) |
| Avg. discharge | 230 m³/s (8,124 ft³/s) |
| Basin area | 36,000 km² (13,900 mi²) |
The Meuse (English pronunciation: /ˈmjuːz/; French: [møz]; Dutch: Maas; IPA: [ˈmaːs] is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea. It has a total length of 925 km (575 miles).
The Meuse marked the Western border of the Holy Roman Empire from its creation in the 9th century until the annexation of most of Alsace and Lorraine by France through the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), and to some extent until 1792 when the Prince-Bishopric of Liège was also annexed to France. Its Belgian (accurately its Walloon) portion, part of the sillon industriel, was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe.[1] The Meuse is mentioned nostalgically in Das Lied der Deutschen.
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The Meuse rises in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse on the Langres plateau in France from where it flows northwards past Sedan (the head of navigation) and Charleville-Mézières into Belgium. At Namur it is joined by the River Sambre. Beyond Namur the Meuse winds eastwards, skirting the Ardennes, and passes Liège before turning north. The river then forms part of the Belgian-Dutch border, except that at Maastricht the border lies further to the west. In the Netherlands it continues northwards through Venlo closely along the border to Germany, then turns towards the west, where the Waal river joins it, before it starts being part of an extensive delta, together with the mouths of especially the Scheldt river in its south and the main part of the Rhine river in the north. Before, the river has divided near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas on the right and the Bergse Maas on the left. The Bergse Maas continues under the name of Amer, which is part of the Biesbosch, and is joined by the Nieuwe Merwede, after which it flows on under the name of Hollands Diep, before finally flowing into the North Sea as Haringvliet.
The Meuse is crossed by railway bridges between the following stations (on the left and right banks respectively):
There are also numerous road bridges and around 32 ferry crossings.
The Meuse is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht, an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km Juliana Canal. South of Namur, further upstream, the river can only carry more modest vessels, although a barge as long as 100 m. can still reach the French border town of Givet.
From Givet, the river is canalized over a distance of 272 kilometres. The canalized Meuse used to be called the "Canal de l'Est — Branche Nord" but was recently rebaptized into "Canal de la Meuse". The waterway can be used by the smallest barges that are still in use commercially (almost 40 metres long and just over 5 metres wide). Just upstream of the town of Commercy, the Canal de la Meuse connects with the Canal de la Marne au Rhin by means of a short diversion canal. (Source: NoorderSoft Waterways database)
The Cretaceous sea reptile Mosasaur is named after the river Meuse. The first fossils of it were discovered outside Maastricht 1780.
An international agreement was signed in 2002 in Ghent about the management of the river between France, Wallonia, Germany, Luxembourg, Flanders, the Netherlands, Brussels (not in the basin of the Meuse but pumps running water into the Meuse) and Belgium.
The most of the basin area (36.0000 km2) is in Wallonia (12.000 km2), and then France (9.000 km2), The Netherlands (8000 km2), Germany (2000 Km2), Flanders (2000 km2) and Luxemburg (some km2).
An International Commission on the Meuse has the responsibility of the implementation of the treaty.
The costs of this Commission are met by all these countries, in proportion of their own territory into the basin of the Meuse: The Netherlands and Wallonia 30%, France , 15%, Germany 14,5%, Flanders 5%, Brussels, 4,5%, Kingdom of Belgium and Luxemburg, 0,5 %.
The map of the basin area of Meuse was joined to the text of the treaty. [2]
On the cultural plan, the river Meuse, as a major communication route, is the origin of the Mosan art, principally (Wallonia and France).
The first landscape painted in the Middle-Age was the landscape of Meuse. For instance Joachim Patinir [3] He was likely the uncle of Henri Blès who is sometimes defined as a Mosan landscape painter active during the second third of the 16th century (i.e., second generation of landscape painters) [4]
The main tributaries of the river Meuse are listed below in downstream-upstream order, with the town where the tributary meets the river:
The Meuse flows through the following departments of France, provinces of Belgium, provinces of the Netherlands and towns:
Haute-Marne Vosges: Neufchâteau Meuse: Commercy, Saint-Mihiel, Verdun, Stenay Ardennes: Sedan, Charleville-Mézières, Givet Namur: Dinant, Namur Liège: Huy, Liège, Visé Limburg: Maastricht, Roermond, Venlo, Gennep Limburg: Maaseik North Brabant: Boxmeer, Cuijk, Grave, Ravenstein, Lith, Heusden, Aalburg, Woudrichem Gelderland: Maasdriel South Holland: Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Maassluis| Meuse | |
|---|---|
| The Meuse in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands | |
| Origin | France |
| Mouth | North Sea 51°51′59″N 4°1′8″E / 51.86639°N 4.01889°ECoordinates: 51°51′59″N 4°1′8″E / 51.86639°N 4.01889°E |
| Basin countries | France, File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium, Netherlands |
| Length | 925 km (575 mi) |
| Source elevation | 409 m (1,342 ft) |
| Avg. discharge | 230 m³/s (8,124 ft³/s) |
| Basin area | 36,000 km² (13,900 mi²) |
]]
The Meuse (in Dutch and in German: "Maas", in Latin: "Mosa", in Celtic:"Mus" (the rootword, presumingly related to: "moist")), is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea. It has a total length of 925 km (575 miles).
The Meuse marked the Western border of the Holy Roman Empire from its creation in the 9th century until the annexation of most of Alsace and Lorraine by France through the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), and to some extent until 1792 when the Prince-Bishopric of Liège was also annexed to France. Its Belgian (accurately its Walloon) portion, part of the sillon industriel, was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe.[1] The Meuse is mentioned nostalgically in Das Lied der Deutschen.
Contents |
The Meuse rises in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse on the Langres plateau in France from where it flows northwards past Sedan (the head of navigation) and Charleville-Mézières into Belgium. At Namur it is joined by the River Sambre. Beyond Namur the Meuse winds eastwards, skirting the Ardennes, and passes Liège before turning north. The river then forms part of the Belgian-Dutch border, except that at Maastricht the border lies further to the west. In the Netherlands it continues northwards through Venlo closely along the border to Germany, then turns towards the west, where the Waal river joins it, before it starts being part of an extensive delta, together with the mouths of especially the Scheldt river in its south and the main part of the Rhine river in the north. Before, the river has divided near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas on the right and the Bergse Maas on the left. The Bergse Maas continues under the name of Amer, which is part of the Biesbosch, and is joined by the Nieuwe Merwede, after which it flows on under the name of Hollands Diep, before finally flowing into the North Sea as Haringvliet.
The Meuse is crossed by railway bridges between the following stations (on the left and right banks respectively):
There are also numerous road bridges and around 32 ferry crossings.
The Meuse is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: 's Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht, an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km Juliana Canal. South of Namur, further upstream, the river can only carry more modest vessels, although a barge as long as 100 m. can still reach the French border town of Givet.
From Givet, the river is canalized over a distance of 272 kilometers. The canalized Meuse used to be called the "Canal de l'Est — Branche Nord" but was recently rebaptized into "Canal de la Meuse". The waterway can be used by the smallest barges that are still in use commercially (almost 40 meters long and just over 5 meters wide). Just upstream of the town of Commercy, the Canal de la Meuse connects with the Canal de la Marne au Rhin by means of a short diversion canal. (Source: NoorderSoft Waterways database)
The Cretaceous sea reptile Mosasaur is named after the river Meuse. The first fossils of it were discovered outside Maastricht 1780.
The main tributaries of the river Meuse are listed below in downstream-upstream order, with the town where the tributary meets the river:
The Meuse flows through the following departments of France, provinces of Belgium, provinces of the Netherlands and towns:
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Meuse River |
MEUSE (Flem. Maes, Du. Maas), a river rising at Pouilly, in the department of Haute Marne, France. After passing through a great part of Belgium and Holland it flows into the Waal channel of the Rhine at Fort Loevenstein. A few miles below Gorinchem the Meuse, or Waal as it is then called, divides into two branches. The northern flows almost due west, and joins the Lek (Rhine) above Rotterdam, and enters the North Sea at the Hook of Holland. Ocean-going steamers for Rotterdam use, however, the New Waterway (Nieuwe Waterweg), a little north of the Meuse. The southern branch turns south, crosses the marsh of Biesbosch by the canalized channel of New Merwede, enters the Hollandsch Diep, and reaches the sea by the arms called Haringvliet and Krammer.
The length of the Meuse is nearly 560 m., of which 360 are navigable, and probably its traffic is only exceeded by that of the Rhine. Near Bazeilles it disappears under ground for a distance of over 3 m. The Chiers, the Semois, the Lesse, the Sambre, the Ourthe and the Roer are its most important tributaries. In Belgium it is canalized between Liege and Vise, and the Dutch are engaged on the same operation below Maestricht. The principal towns on the Meuse are: in France, Verdun, Sedan, Mezieres and Givet; in Belgium, Dinant, Namur, Huy, Liege and Maeseyck; in Holland, Maestricht, Roermond, Venlo, Dordrecht and Rotterdam.
Categories: MEU-MIL | Low countries | Belgium | Netherlands | France
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