The Rhine is one of the longest rivers in Europe. It’s total length is 1238.8 km, it flows through six countries, namely Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands. The size of the river basin is 224,400 km², also excluding the River Meuse. Which shares a delta with the Rhine. Navigable length of the Rhine is 170 km and the river discharge is 2 300 m³/s. The Rhine has two sources in the Swiss Alps, the Vorderrhein and the Hinterrhein.
Water transport is widely developed on the river due to the fact that it has plenty of water all year round. It is the most important international waterway in Western Europe. Regular boat services run to Basel, 886 km from the estuary, for smaller boats as far as Laufenburg and also on Lake Constance. The river is connected by canals with the Danube, the Rhone, the Marne, the Vezere, the Elbe and the Ems. Water transport is also possible on the tributaries of the Neckar, Main, Lahn, Mosel, Ruhr. The total length of the waterways in the river basin is 3 000 km. The largest ports on the river are Rotterdam with the outer harbour of Hoek van Holland (Netherlands), Duisburg-Ruhrort, Cologne, Mainz, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim (Germany), Strasbourg (France), Basel (Switzerland). Hydropower from the river and its tributaries is used by Germany, Switzerland and France.
Together with the Danube. It formed most of the northern border of the Roman Empire (there was a Lower Germanic limes and an Upper Germanic limes along the river). And has since come to be used as an important waterway deep inland. In modern history, the Rhineland has been the scene of clashes between Germany and France. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.
