The Narew (; be, Нараў, translit=Naraŭ; or ; Sudovian: ''Naura''; Old German: ''Nare''; uk, Нарва, translit=Narva) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, which is also a tributary of the river

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

. The Narew is one of Europe's few braided rivers, the term relating to the twisted channels resembling braided hair. Around 57 kilometres (35 mi) of the river flows through western

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Etymology

The name of the river is from a

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

root ''*nr'' primarily associated with ''water'' (compare Neretva,

Neris The river Neris () or Viliya ( be, Ві́лія, pl, Wilia ) rises in northern Belarus. It flows westward, passing through Vilnius (Lithuania's capital) and in the south-centre of that country it flows into the Nemunas (Neman), at Kaunas, a ...

, Ner and Nur) or from a

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 mill ...

verb ''nerti'' associated primarily with ''diving'' and ''flood''.

Name of the lower portion

The portion of the river between the junctions with the

Western Bug uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = V ...

and the

is also known as the Bugonarew, Narwio-Bug, Narwo-Bug, Bugo-Narew, Narwiobug or Narwobug. At the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

near Zegrze the Bug is 1.6x longer, drains a 1.4x larger basin, and has a slightly greater average

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from ser ...

(158 m³/s at

Wyszków Wyszków (; yi, ווישקאָוו ''Vishkov'') is a town in eastern Poland with 26,500 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Wyszków County in Masovian Voivodeship. History The village of Wyszków was first documented in 1203. It was gr ...

vs 146 m³/s at

Pułtusk Pułtusk (pronounced ) is a town in northeast Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it had a population of about 19,000 . Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( ...

for the Narew, both ~25 km above the junction). Thus the Bugonarew was often considered part of the Bug river and the Narew a right

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Bug. On December 27, 1962, Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz abolished the name ''Bugonarew'' soon after the

Zegrze Reservoir The Zegrze Reservoir (or Zegrze Lake, in Polish officially ''Jezioro Zegrzyńskie'', unofficially ''Zalew Zegrzyński'') is a man-made reservoir in Poland, located just north of Warsaw, on the lower course of the Narew river. It is formed by ...

had been constructed. "Monitor Polski" 1963, nr 3, poz. 6 Since then the river Bug has been considered officially part of the river Narew's system, with the Bug being a left tributary of the Narew (by this classification, the River Narew is a right tributary of the River Vistula). The name Bugonarew however is still used, especially by the inhabitants of local towns, such as Pułtusk.

Geography

The Narew flows through the geographical region of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

known as the ''Wysoczyzny Podlasko – Bialoruskie'' (English: Plateau of Podlasie and Belarus) located within the Podlaskie Voivodeship and Masovian Voivodeship of

and the Hrodna Voblast of

. The Narew is the fifth longest Polish river.

Cities and towns

Tributaries

History

On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

, agreeing to divide Poland along the Narew, Vistula (Wisła), and San rivers. On September 6, 1939, Polish military forces attempted to use the Narew as a defense line against German attack during the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

. This was abandoned the next day in favor of the Bug as German forces had already penetrated the defenses. The Battle of Wizna was fought along the banks of the river between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of Invasion of Poland. Because it consisted of a small force holding a piece of fortified territory against a vastly larger invasion for three days at great cost before being annihilated with no known survivors, Wizna is sometimes referred to as a Polish Thermopylae in Polish culture. On September 17, 1939, the USSR invaded Poland. By 28 September, the Soviet Army had reached the line of the rivers Narew, Bug River, Vistula and San – completing the division of Poland as negotiated in advance.

References

External links

Natural tourism (birdwatching) in Narew National Park
{{Authority control Rivers of Poland Rivers of Grodno Region Rivers of Podlaskie Voivodeship Rivers of Masovian Voivodeship International rivers of Europe Rivers of Belarus