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Vistula

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Vistula River

Confluence of the Narew and the Vistula at Modlin
Origin Barania Góra, Silesian Beskids
Mouth Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea
Basin countries Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia
Length 1,047 km (651 mi)
Source elevation 1,106 m (3,629 ft)
Avg. discharge 1,080 m³/s (at mouth)
Basin area 194,424 km²; (75,067 mi²)

The Vistula (English pronunciation: /ˈvɪstjʊlə, ˈvɪstʃʊlə/; Polish: Wisła [ˈviswa]), is the longest and one of the most important rivers in Poland at 1,047 km (651 miles) in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is 194,424 km² (75,067 square miles), of which 168,699 km² (65,135 sq. miles) lies within Poland (covering over half the area of the country).

The Vistula has its source at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1220 meters above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains) where it begins 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 Kraków, Sandomierz, Warszawa, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta and several branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa).

Origins of the name Vistula

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 is today known as the Baltic Sea. The root of the name Vistula is Indo-European ultimately from pre-Indo-European. The diminutive endings -ila, -ula, were used in many Indo-European language groups, but also in Latin (see Ursula).

In writing about the Vistula River and its peoples, Ptolemy 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". 12th century Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek called the river Vandalus from the Lithuanian "vanduo", meaning "water". Jan Długosz in his Annales seu cronicae incliti called the Vistula "White river": "a nationibus orientalibus Polonis vicinis, ab aquae condorem Alba aqua ... nominatur".

Geography

Vistula River flowing through Kraków, Poland.

The reaches of the Vistula are composed of three stretches: upper, from its sources to the city of Sandomierz; centre, from Sandomierz to the mouth of Narew and Bug; and bottom, from mouth of Narew till Vistula's own delta at the Baltic.

The Vistula river basin covers 194,424 km² (in Poland 168,700 km²); its average altitude rising to 270 m above sea level. In addition, the majority of its river basin (55%) is located at heights of 100 to 200 m above sea level; over 3/4 of the river basin ranges from 100 – 300 m in altitude. The highest point of the river basin lies at 2655 m (Gerlach Peak in the Tatra mountains). One of the features of the river basin of the Vistula is its asymmetry - in great measure resulting from the tilting direction of the Central-European Lowland toward the north-west, the direction of the flow of glacial waters, as well as considerable predisposition of its older base. The asymmetry of the river basin (right-hand to left-hand side) is 73-27%.

The most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BC, is called the Vistulian glaciation or Weichselian glaciation in regard to north-central Europe.

Major cities and towns along Vistula tributaries

Agglomeration Tributary
Wisła (Silesian Voivodeship) river source
Ustroń
Skoczów Brennica
Strumień Krajka
Goczałkowice-Zdrój
Czechowice-Dziedzice Biała
Brzeszcze Vistula, Soła
Oświęcim Soła
Zator Skawa
Skawina Skawinka
Kraków (Cracow) Sanka, Rudawa, Prądnik, Dłubnia, Wilga (most are canalized streams)
Niepołomice
Nowe Brzesko
Nowy Korczyn Nida
Opatowiec Dunajec
Szczucin
Połaniec Czarna
Baranów Sandomierski Babolówka
Tarnobrzeg
Sandomierz Koprzywianka, Trześniówka,
Zawichost
Annopol Sanna
Józefów nad Wisłą
Solec nad Wisłą
Kazimierz Dolny Bystra
Puławy Kurówka
Dęblin Wieprz
Magnuszew
Wilga Wilga
Góra Kalwaria Czarna
Karczew
Otwock, Józefów Świder
Konstancin-Jeziorna Jeziorka
Warsaw Żerań canal (incl. several smaller streams)
Łomianki
Legionowo
Modlin Narew
Zakroczym
Czerwińsk nad Wisłą
Wyszogród Bzura
Płock Słupianka, Rosica, Brzeźnica, Skrwa Lewa, Skrwa Prawa
Dobrzyń nad Wisłą
Włocławek Zgłowiączka
Nieszawa Mień
Ciechocinek
Toruń Drwęca, Bacha
Solec Kujawski
Bydgoszcz Brda (canalized)
Chełmno
Świecie Wda
Grudziądz
Nowe
Gniew Wierzyca

Delta of the Vistula River

The river forms a wide delta called the Żuławy around the town of Biała Góra near Sztum, about 50 km from the mouth, splitting into two branches: the Leniwka (left) and the Nogat (right). In the city of Gdańsk the Head of the Leniwka branch separates again into the Szkarpawa branch, for the purpose of flood control closed to the east with a lock. The so-called Dead Wisła divides again into the Przegalinie branch flowing into Gdańsk Bay. Until the 14th century the Vistula was divided into a main eastern branch, the Elbląg Vistula, and the smaller western branch, the Gdańsk Vistula. Since 1371 the Vistula of Gdańsk is the river's main artery. After the flood in 1840 an additional branch formed called the Śmiała Wisła ("Bold Vistula"). In 1890 through 1895, additional waterworks were carried out up the Świbna.

Near Kwidzyń the Vistula is divided at present into two separate branches that constitute the river delta:

Nogat Leniwka
Town Tributaries Remarks Town Tributaries Remarks
Sztum Tczew
Malbork Gdańsk Motława, Radunia, Potok Oliwski in the city the river divides into several separate branches that reach the Baltic Sea at different points, the main branch reaches the sea at Westerplatte
Elbląg Elbląg shortly before reaching Vistula Bay

Tributaries

List of right and left tributaries with a nearby city, from source to mouth:

Right tributaries

Left tributaries

Medieval Wawel Castle in Kraków seen from the Vistula river.
Royal Castle in Sandomierz seen from the Vistula river.
Renaissance town of Kazimierz Dolny overlooking serene Vistula.
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