River is a significant waterway in France and Switzerland, originating in the Alps. It flows through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before reaching the Mediterranean Sea. Near Arles, it splits into the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone, which together form the Camargue delta.
Source and Characteristics of the Rhône River
The river rises in the Rhône glacier on the eastern edge of the Swiss canton of Valais. The glacier is part of the Saint-Gotthard massif, from which the other three major rivers, the Reuss, the Rhine and the Ticino, originate.
Together with the Po and the Nile, the Rhône is one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest outflows.
The average flow of the Rhône is twice that of France’s longest river, the Loire.
Navigation on the Rhône River
The Rhône has been an important transport artery since the time of the Greeks and Romans. It was a major trade route from the Mediterranean to eastern and central Gaul and as such helped to transmit Greek cultural influences to the western Hallstatt and later La Tène cultures. Celtic tribes living near the Rhone included the Seduns, Sequani, Segobriges, Allobroges, Segusiavi, Helvetii, Vocontii and Volcae Arecomici.
Navigation was difficult because the river suffered from strong currents, shoals, flooding in spring and early summer when the ice melted, and drought in late summer. Until the 19th century, passengers travelled in so-called water carriages pulled by men or horses, or under sail. Most of them travelled with a painted cross covered with religious symbols as protection against the dangers of the journey.
Barques du Rhône, sailing barges measuring 30 x 3.5 metres with a capacity of 75 tonnes, were used for trade on the upper reaches of the river. Up to 50 to 80 horses were employed to pull trains of five to seven vessels upstream. Goods were transhipped at Arles onto 23-metre-long sailing ships to be transported to the Mediterranean.
