Danube River By: S. Ray. The Danube is the European Union's longest river, located in Central and Eastern Europe. Classified as an international waterway,

Danube River

By: S. Ray

• The Danube is the European Union's longest river, located in Central and Eastern Europe.

• Classified as an international waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen—which is in the Black Forest of Germany—at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg. The Danube then flows southeast for 1,914 km (1,189 mi), passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.

• Once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, the river passes through or touches the borders of ten countries: Romania (29.0% of basin area), Hungary (11.6%), Serbia (10.2%), Austria (10.0%), Germany (7.0%), Bulgaria (5.9%), Slovakia (5.9%), Croatia (4.4%), Ukraine (3.8%), and Moldova (1.6%).[1] Its drainage basin extends into nine more.

• The name Dānuvius is presumably a loan from a Scythian language, or possibly Gaulish. It is one of a number of river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European language word *dānu, apparently a term for "river", but possibly also of a primeval cosmic river, and of a Vedic river goddess (see Danu), perhaps from a root *dā "to flow/swift, rapid, violent, undisciplined."

• The Danube's watershed extends into many other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges and other shallow-draught boats.