The Trave () is a

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 ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is approximately long, running from its source near the village of Gießelrade in

Ostholstein Ostholstein (; da, Østholsten) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southwest and clockwise) the districts of Stormarn, Segeberg and Plön, the Baltic Sea and the city of Lübeck. History The district was es ...

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

, where it flows into the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. It passes through

Bad Segeberg Bad Segeberg (; Low German: Sebarg) is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district (Kreis) Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck. It is famo ...

Bad Oldesloe Bad Oldesloe () is a town located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is the capital of the district of Stormarn. The area has been inhabited since Mesolithic times. The flint tools found here from that era (6000–4500 BC) a ...

, and

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, where it is linked to the

Elbe–Lübeck Canal The Elbe–Lübeck Canal () (also known as the Elbe–Trave Canal) is an canal, artificial waterway in eastern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It connects the rivers Elbe and Trave, creating an inland water route across the drainage divide from the ...

. It is navigable for sea-going vessels from the Baltic to the Lübeck ports. The Herren Tunnel crosses the Trave, as do numerous bridges, and a ferry connects Travemünde with Priwall. Tributaries of the Trave include the

Wakenitz The Wakenitz is a river in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein and at the border to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Wakenitz's source is the Ratzeburger See in Ratzeburg. It is about long and drains into the Trave in Lübeck. The majority of its eas ...

and the Stepenitz.

Course

Source and upper Trave

The Trave rises in Gießelrade (a village in

), whence it flows first southwesterly through the Wardersee to

and then further south to

. There it bends eastward to just south of Reinfeld, flowing past Hamberge and (a district of

) to reach Lübeck.

In Lübeck

Walter Moras - Lübeck - Blick über die Trave

The

joins the Trave from the south shortly before the river reaches Lübeck. In medieval Lübeck the river was transformed according to the needs of shipping and the town's defense, making the Old Town into an island. South of the

Lübeck Cathedral Lübeck Cathedral (german: Dom zu Lübeck, or colloquially ''Lübecker Dom'') is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of the Lübeck World Heritage Site. It was started in 1173 by Henry the Lion as a cathedral for ...

the channel forks in several directions, with the original channel known as the Town Trave. The Lübeck town moat branches off to the west, and the Canal Trave separates eastward from the Town Trave's course and runs in the former bed of the

to the northeast side of the Old Town. The modern Wakenitz joins the Canal Trave from the east, and the three channels recombine at the north end of the Old Town island.

Lower Trave

North of Lübeck the seaports begin. Between the Old Town and is Lübeck's commercial port. The Schwartau enters the river from the north here. On the peninsula between the Schwartau and the Trave is the Slavic castle of

Liubice Liubice, also known by the German name Alt-Lübeck ("Old Lübeck"), was a medieval West Slavic settlement near the site of modern Lübeck, Germany. Liubice was located at the confluence of the Schwartau with the Trave across from Teerhof Island, ...

. The river passes the nature preserve and flows around . Here the city of

sits on the western shore. The Trave widens into the Traveförde

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

between Herreninsel and the mouth in the

Bay of Lübeck The Bay of Lübeck (, ) is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. It forms the southwestern part of the Bay of Mecklenburg. The main port is Travemünde, a bor ...

, including the

Pötenitzer Wiek The Pötenitzer Wiek (also called Traveförde) is an eastern bay of the lower Trave east of the Priwall Peninsula, Germany. The bay is in Schleswig-Holstein while the bank partly forms the border with Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Until the Second World ...

and the

Dassower See Despite its name, the Dassower See (), sometimes called Lake Dassow or Dassow Bay in English, is not a lake, but a side bay, locally known as a ''wiek'', of the Trave Fjord, northeast of Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein) on the Baltic Sea. Geography ...

(fed by the Stepenitz). The river then flows out between Travemünde and the

Priwall Peninsula The Priwall Peninsula (German: ''die Halbinsel Priwall'' or'' Der Priwall'') is a spit located across from the town of Travemünde at the Trave River estuary, on Germany's Baltic Sea coast. Since 1226 it has been administratively part of Travemü ...

into the

Geopolitical significance

In the early Middle Ages, the upper reaches of the Trave (together with the

Schwentine The Schwentine is a river in the North German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is approximately long and rises on the hill of Bungsberg, the highest point in the state, near the village of Kasseedorf in Ostholstein. It then runs from its source to ...

) formed part of the

Limes Saxoniae The Limes Saxoniae (Latin for "Limit of Saxony"), also known as the Limes Saxonicus or Sachsenwall ("Saxon Dyke"), was an unfortified limes or border between the Saxons and the Slavic Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day Schleswig-Hol ...

and the western boundary of

Wagria WagriaArnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 156. . (german: Wagrien, ''Waierland'' or ''Wagerland'') is the northeastern part of Holstein in the German state ...

. In the Old Town of Lübeck the river forms part of the medieval town fortifications. The lower reaches today form the border between

and

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

Geology

The course of the lower Trave arose in the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

(the

Weichselian glaciation The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) ...

), when

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

flows carved deep

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

into what is now the Baltic Sea coast. Since the end of the ice age the groove communicates with the sea; its lower end is called the Traveförde (Trave Fjord).

Recreation and conservation

The area surrounding the course of the Trave is designated as a preserved "flora and fauna habitat" by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

. The river runs through or beside a series of nature preserves and undeveloped lands, and its basin is home to a variety of rare and endangered animal species. The area is a popular destination for hiking, cycling, canoeing and fishing. The German

Friends of Nature Friends of Nature (international abbreviation: NFI, for German: Naturfreunde International) is a non-profit organisation with a background in the social democratic movement, which aims to make the enjoyment of nature accessible to the wider communi ...

organization declared the Trave its German Riverscape of the Year for 2016/17.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Federal waterways in Germany Rivers of Schleswig-Holstein Port of Lübeck Rivers of Germany