The Rhine. Europe's River Highway

35 Pages·2010·5.106 MB·English

by  Gary Miller

By Gary Miller
Crabtree Publishing Company
www.crabtreebooks.com
Author: Gary Miller Photo Credits:
Editor: Barbara Bakowski Cover: Carola Koserowsky/age fotostock/Photolibrary
Designer: Tammy West, Westgraphix LLC 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 18, 20, 21: iStockphoto
Photo Researcher: Edward A. Thomas 8: © mediacolor's/Alamy
Map Illustrator: Stefan Chabluk 11: Wotto/f1 Online/Photolibrary
Indexer: Nila Glikin 13: Hendrik Holler/LOOK/Getty Images
Project Coordinator: Kathy Middleton 14: © Joern Sackermann/Alamy
Crabtree Editor: Adrianna Morganelli 16: Nicole Gordine/Shutterstock;
Production Coordinator: Kenneth Wright 17: North Wind Photo Archives/Photolibrary
Prepress Technician: Kenneth Wright 19: Getty Images
23: Armin Weigel/dpa/Landov
24: Werner Otto/age fotostock/Photolibrary
Series Consultant: Michael E. Ritter, Ph.D., Professor 25, 26, 27: AP Images
of Geography, University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point
Cover: The Castle Stahleck is one of about 30 castles that
overlook a scenic stretch of the Rhine River in Germany.
Developed for Crabtree Publishing Company by RJF
Publishing LLC (www.RJFpublishing.com)
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Gary, 1961- Miller, Gary.
The Rhine : Europe's river highway / Gary G. Miller. The Rhine : Europe's river highway / by Gary Miller
p. cm. -- (Rivers around the world)
Includes index.
(Rivers around the world) ISBN 978-0-7787-7469-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7787-7446-4
Includes index. (reinforced library binding : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-7787-7446-4 (bound).--ISBN 978-0-7787-7469-3 (pbk.) 1. Rivers--Juvenile literature. 2. River life--Juvenile literature. 3.
Stream ecology--Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
1. Rhine River--Juvenile literature. 2. Rhine River Valley--Juvenile GB1203.8.M55 2010
literature. I. Title. II. Series: Rivers around the world 943'.4--dc22
2009042409
DD801.R74M54 2010 j943'.4 C2009-906243-7
Crabtree Publishing Company Printed in the U.S.A./122009/BG20091103
www.crabtreebooks.com 1-800-387-7650
Copyright © 2010 CRABTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of Crabtree Publishing Company.
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The Magnificent Rhine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 2: From the Alps to the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 3: People Along the Rhine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 4: Travel and Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 5: Restoring the Rhine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Comparing the World’s Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Find Out More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Words that are defined in the glossary are in bold type
the first time they appear in the text.
CHAPTER 1
The Magnificent Rhine
F
rom a distance, the Rhine River and its surroundings look like something
from a fairy tale. Thickly forested hills rise from the banks of the river.
A stone castle sits on top of a bluff, its towers shining in the sun. Nearby,
a village of houses, shops, and church steeples stands in a forest clearing.
Beyond the village, vineyards stretch toward the horizon.
The Rhine River is one of Europe’s most economically and culturally important
rivers. From the Alps in Switzerland, it flows 865 miles (1,390 kilometers) through
Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, and the Netherlands before emptying into
the North Sea. The Rhine River’s drainage basin, or the area of land drained by
the river, is approximately 65,600 square miles (170,000 square km) in size.
4
From its source in the Swiss Alps, the Rhine
River flows north and west along its course
to the North Sea.
Early Settlers
People have lived along the
Rhine River for thousands
of years. Celtic people had
settled there by about 700
BC. By 100 BC, Germanic
people had settled along
parts of the river, too.
Early settlers were
attracted to the Rhine River
for the same reasons that
bring people to the river
today. The Rhine River is
navigable, or able to be traveled An Important Border
by boat, for more than 500 miles In the past, the Rhine River has been
(800 km), from the North Sea to a key military border. Over thousands
Basel, Switzerland. The river serves of years, opposing armies struggled
as a travel route for people and a for control of the river and the lands
transportation route for products that surround it. Whichever army
for trade. People use the water for controlled the Rhine River controlled
drinking and to water crops. In the the transportation along it. The river
fertile farmland along the river, people also provided a protective barrier
grow fruits, vegetables, and grains. against attack. Today, part of the Rhine
LEFT: The middle section of the Rhine River flows through
a scenic valley dotted with quaint villages, castles, and vineyards.
5
THE RHINE
Portrait of a City: Strasbourg, France
On the French side of the Rhine
River, along the stretch of the
river that forms the border
between present-day France
and Germany, lies the city of
Strasbourg. It was originally
settled by the Celts. Today, it
is a major French port that is
also linked by canals to the
Rhône and Marne rivers.
Strasbourg is a center, as
well, for education and the This neighborhood in Strasbourg, France,
communications industry. features picturesque half-timbered houses.
River forms the border between the the river an international waterway.
countries of France and Germany. People from any nation were free
More recently, the Rhine River has to travel on it. However, this treaty
known peaceful times. A treaty known has not always been honored. During
as the Mainz Convention of 1831 made World War I (1914–1918) and World
War II (1939–1945), Germany, France,
and other nations battled for control
of Europe. The nations’ armies fought
fiercely for control of the Rhine River.
Today, Europe is at peace, and the
FAST FACT
river is once again an international
Fertile soil along
waterway.
the Rhine River
makes its banks
Cities and Industry
an ideal location for
vineyards. The region is Along the course of the Rhine River
a top producer lie some of the most economically and
of wines. politically important cities in Europe.
Basel, Switzerland; Bonn, Germany; and
Strasbourg, France, all sit on the banks
of the Rhine River. These cities grew in
6
THE MAGNIFICENT RHINE
The Rhine River is fed by melting snow and ice in the Alps of Switzerland.
part because of the river’s use as a have dumped industrial waste, sewage,
transportation route. The Rhine River and other pollutants into the river.
carries more commercial traffic than By the 1980s, many called the Rhine
any other river on Earth. River “the sewer of Europe.” But
Human use of the Rhine River governments, organizations, and
has seriously damaged this valuable individuals have been working to
natural resource. For centuries, people clean up the polluted waters.
N O T A B L E Q U O T E
“O, the pride of the German heart in this noble river!
And right it is; for, of all the rivers of this beautiful
earth, there is none so beautiful as this.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, inHyperion(1839)
7
CHAPTER 2
From the Alps to the Sea
W
hat force creates a river such as the Rhine? Gravity. First, rain falls from
the sky. Some water soaks into the soil, and the excess water flows downhill
toward the sea. Small rivulets form and join each other to make tiny streams.
Then the streams join and eventually form a powerful river.
Every river follows a unique path, which is determined by the shape, or
topography, of the river’s basin. Both natural and human forces have combined
to create the Rhine River basin that exists today. The forces of nature have taken
millions of years to do the job. Humans have changed the Rhine basin in less
than 200 years.
88