Meuse
Meuse  (French)
Moûze  (Walloon)
Maas  (Dutch)
Maos  (Limburgish)
The Meuse at Dinant
Basin of the Meuse
Location
CountryFrance, Belgium, Netherlands
RegionWestern Europe
CitiesVerdun (France), Sedan (France), Charleville-Mézières (France), Namur (Belgium), Liège (Belgium), Maastricht (Netherlands), Venlo (Netherlands), Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Physical characteristics
Source 
 - locationPouilly-en-Bassigny, Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse, Haute-Marne, Grand Est, France
 - coordinates47°59′12″N 5°37′00″E / 47.9867°N 5.6167°E / 47.9867; 5.6167
 - elevation409 m (1,342 ft)
MouthNorth Sea
 - locationHollands Diep, Noord-Brabant/Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
 - coordinates51°42′54″N 4°40′04″E / 51.715°N 4.6678°E / 51.715; 4.6678
 - elevation0 m (0 ft)
Length925 km (575 mi)
Basin size34,548 km2 (13,339 sq mi)
Discharge 
 - average350 m3/s (12,000 cu ft/s)
[1]

The Meuse (Dutch: Maas) is a river in Western Europe. The river starts in France, goes through Belgium and the Netherlands. It ends in the North Sea.[2] The Meuse is fed mostly by rainwater.[3] It is the oldest river in the world.

History

From 1301, the Meuse in the Netherlands was the western border of the Holy Roman Empire. In World War II, the Meuse was a goal for the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Marcel de Wit, Robert Leander, Adri Buishand: Extreme discharges in the Meuse basin Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, p. 2
    (The frequently mentioned figure of 250 m³/s refers to the Borgharen gauge near the frontier between Belgium and the Netherlands representing two thirds of the basin.)
  2. ↑ Robert Pateman; Mark Elliott, Belgium (New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006), p. 11
  3. ↑ Wetlands: Environmental Gradients, Boundaries, and Buffers, ed. George Mulamoottil; et al. (CRC Press, 1996), p. 92
  4. ↑ Steve Kane, The 1st SS Panzer Division in the Battle of the Bulge (Bennington, VT: Merriam Press, 1997), p. 22
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