The

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Bolbec () or Commerce () is one of the rivers that flow from the plateau of the southern

Pays de Caux The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French ''département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs ...

in the

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

into the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...

. It is long. The river rises at

Bolbec Bolbec () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Bolbécais'' or ''Bolbécaises''. Geography A farming, quarrying and light industrial town situated at the heart of th ...

and passes

Gruchet-le-Valasse Gruchet-le-Valasse () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department of the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A village of forestry, farming and associated light industry situated in the Pays de Caux, some east of Le Havre, at the ju ...

, where its name changes to the Commerce. It then passes through

Lillebonne Lillebonne () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in Northern France. It lies north of the Seine and east of Le Havre. In 2019, it had a population of 8,797. History Before the Roman conquest of Gaul, Iuliobona ...

and joins the

Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon () is a former commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine. Geography A small town with a huge ind ...

Economy

The river hosted many watermills that powered machinery to process both cotton and

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

. The area became so prosperous it was named the Golden Valley.

References

Rivers of France Rivers of Normandy Rivers of Seine-Maritime {{France-river-stub

Economy

See also

References