The Hollandse (or Hollandsche) IJssel (; "

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

IJssel", as opposed to the 'regular' or

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

IJssel The IJssel (; nds-nl, Iessel(t) ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. ...

) is a branch of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

that flows westward from

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the so ...

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 wat ...

Lek through

IJsselstein IJsselstein () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. IJsselstein received city rights in 1331. IJsselstein owes its name to the river Hollandse IJssel which flows through the city. It is a major commuting s ...

, Gouda and

Capelle aan den IJssel Capelle aan den IJssel (; en, Capelle on the IJssel) is a small city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of , of which is water. It is situa ...

Krimpen aan den IJssel Krimpen aan den IJssel () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. History Krimpen is first mentioned in a docum ...

, where it ends in the

Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterdam ...

. Another branch called Enge IJssel ("Narrow IJssel") flows southwest from Nieuwegein. The name IJssel is thought to derive from the Germanic ''i sala'', meaning "dark

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

". Originally, the Hollandse IJssel forked off from river Lek at Nieuwegein, but the connection was cut off with the Hollandse IJssel nowadays only draining the surrounding

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swin ...

s. If the North Sea floods, the Hollandse IJssel allows water through the Rotterdam Waterway to flood low-lying land east of Rotterdam. The

Delta Works The Delta Works ( nl, Deltawerken) is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works con ...

included a steel barrier that can be lowered within minutes to block the waterway. The sea protection constructions were built at the mouth of the Hollandse IJssel in 1957.

References

Rivers of South Holland Rivers of Utrecht (province) Rivers of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Rivers of the Netherlands {{Netherlands-river-stub

See also

References