From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rhone (French: Rhône; Arpitan: Rôno; Occitan:
Ròse; standard German: Rhone; Valais German: Rotten; Italian:
Rodano) is one of the
major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running
from there through the south-eastern corner of France. At Arles, near its mouth at the Mediterranean
Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the
Great Rhone (French: Grand Rhône) and the
Little Rhone (Petit Rhône).
Navigation
Before railroads and highways were invented, the Rhone was an
important inland trade and transportation route, connecting the
cities of Arles, Avignon, Valence, Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean ports of Fos, Marseille and Sète. Travelling down the Rhone
by barge would take three weeks. By motorized vessel, the trip now
takes only three days. The Rhône is classified as a class V
waterway[1] from
the mouth of the Saône
river to the sea. The Saône, which is also canalized, connects
the Rhône ports to the cities of Villefranche-sur-Saône, Mâcon and Chalon-sur-Saône. Smaller vessels (up
to CEMT class I) can travel further northwest, north and northeast
via the Centre-Loire-Briare and Loing Canals to the Seine
river, via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône (recently often
called the "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne") to the Marne, via the
Canal des Vosges (formerly called the "Canal de l'Est – Branche
Sud") to the Moselle and via the Canal du Rhône au
Rhin to the Rhine.
The Rhone is infamous for its strong current when the river
carries large quantities of water: current speeds up to 10
kilometres per hour (6 mph) are sometimes reached, particularly in
the stretch below the last lock at Valabrègues and in some
of the diversion canals. The ten river locks are operated daily
from 05:00 a.m. until 09:00 p.m. Night operation can be requested
and is usually granted [2].
Course
It rises as the effluent of the Rhone Glacier in Valais, in the Swiss Alps, at an
altitude of approximately 2,150 metres (7,100 ft).[3]
Up to Brig, the Rhone is a torrent, and
then becomes a great mountain river running SW through a glacier
valley. Between Brig and Martigny, it
collects waters mostly from the valleys of the Pennine Alps on the
south, whose rivers originate from the large glaciers of the
massifs of Monte Rosa,
Dom, and Grand Combin.
After Martigny, the river turns NW towards Lake Geneva (French
Lac Léman) and separates the Chablais Alps from the Bernese Alps. It
enters Lake Geneva near the Swiss town of Bouveret and exits it at
the city of Geneva before
entering France. The average annual discharge from Lake Geneva is
570 m3/s
(20,000 cu ft/s).[4]
It is joined by the river Saône at Lyon,
before going south. Along the Rhone Valley, it is
joined on the right (western) bank by the rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze, and Gardon coming from the Cévennes mountains; and on the left bank by
the rivers Isère, Drôme, Ouvèze, and Durance from the Alps.
At Arles, the Rhone divides
itself in two arms, forming the Camargue delta, with all branches flowing into the
Mediterranean Sea. The larger arm is
called the "Grand Rhône", the smaller the "Petit Rhône". The
average annual discharge at Arles is 2,300 m3/s
(81,000 cu ft/s).[4]
History
The Rhone has been an important highway since the times of the
Greeks and Romans. It was the
main trade route from the Mediterranean to east-central Gaul.[5]
As such, it helped convey Greek cultural influences to the western
Hallstatt and the later La
Tène cultures.[5]
Celtic tribes living near the
Rhone included the Seduni,
Segobriges, Allobroges, Segusiavi, Helvetii, Vocontii and Volcae
Arecomici.[5]
Navigation was difficult, as the river suffered from fierce
currents, shallows, floods in spring and early summer when the ice
was melting, and droughts in late summer. Until the 19th century,
passengers travelled in coches d'eau (water coaches) drawn
by men or horses, or under sail. Most travelled with a painted
cross covered with religious symbols as protection against the
hazards of the journey.[6]
Trade on the upper river used barques du Rhône, sailing
barges, 30 by 3.5 metres (98 by 11 ft), with a 75-tonne
(170,000 lb) capacity. As many as 50 to 80 horses were
employed to haul trains of 5 to 7 craft upstream. Goods would be
transshipped at Arles into 23-metre (75 ft) sailing barges
called allèges d'Arles for the final run down to the
Mediterranean.
The first experimental steam boat was built at Lyon by Jouffroy
d'Abbans in 1783. Regular services were not started until 1829 and
they continued until 1952. Steam passenger vessels 80 to 100 metres
(260–330 ft) long made up to 20 kilometres per hour
(12 mph) and could do the downstream run from Lyon to Arles in
a day. Cargo was hauled in bateau-anguilles, boats 157 by
6.35 metres (520 by 21 ft) with paddle wheels amidships, and
bateaux crabes, a huge toothed 'claw' wheel
6.5 metres (21 ft) across to grip the river bed in the
shallows to supplement the paddle wheels. In the 20th century,
powerful motor barges propelled by diesel engines were introduced,
carrying 1,500 tonnes (3,300,000 lb).
In 1933, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) was established
to tame the river. Some progress was made in deepening the
navigation channel and constructing scouring walls, but World War II brought
such work to a halt. In 1942, following the collapse of Vichy France, Italian
military forces occupied southeastern France up to the eastern
banks of the Rhône, as part of the Italian Fascist regime's
expansionist agenda.
In 1948, the government started construction on a series of
locked barrages and canal cuts, to improve navigation and generate
electricity, with locks raising boats up to 23 metres
(75 ft). About 1/13 of France's electricity supply is now
provided by these power stations.
Etymology
The word "Rhone" comes from Latin Rhodanus, which itself comes from
Greek Ῥοδανός Rhodanos, the
Greek rendering of the Gaulish (Celtic) name of the river, as heard by
Greeks' living in the colony of Massalia (Marseille). The Celtic name
of the river was something like Rodonos or
Rotonos (Great River) (-onos/-ona is a suffix meaning
Great). Rodo/Roto, literally "that which rolls", or "that
which runs", is a frequent name of rivers in the ancient Celtic
tongue. It was also the name of the lower Seine River, as well as
several other rivers of western Europe. The Celtic name comes from
the Proto-Indo-European root
*ret- ("to run, roll"), which gave the word rota ("wheel")
in Latin, from which is derived "rotate" and "to roll" in English.
Cognates in modern Celtic
languages are Irish rith (in some dialects
ruth or ruith, Scottish ruith/rith and
Welsh
rhedeg, both meaning "to run", as well as the Gaelic noun
roth wheel.
Some scholars posit that the root rot- or rod-
found in the name "Rhone" as well as in the name of many western
European rivers, and whose original meaning seems to be "river", is
in fact Pre-Indo-European. It would then
be only a coincidence that it resembles the Proto-Celtic verb
reto ("to run"). Further research is needed to decide
between these two theories.
In French, the adjective derived from the river is
rhodanien, as in le sillon rhodanien (literally
"the furrow of the Rhone"), which is the name of the long, straight
Saône and Rhone rivers valley, a deep cleft
running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif
Central.
Along the
Rhone
Cities and towns along the Rhone include:
Switzerland
France
See also
References
and notes
External
links