The Aa (; pcd, Abbe) is a river in northern France that is 93 km (58 miles) long. Originating near the village of

Bourthes Bourthes (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. Geography A village situated some 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Boulogne-sur-Mer at the D128 and D131 crossroads. The source of the ...

and emptying into the North Sea near Gravelines, the Aa is located near the north-eastern limit of the English Channel. The Aa has been canalized for most of its length and forms much of the border between the regions of

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

and

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

Hydronymy

The word "Aa" in Old Dutch means "water" (it still retains the name in modern Dutch and local West Flemish), and can be traced via Proto-Germanic back to its original Indo-European form. The river is very well-known to crossword enthusiasts ("the first river in France"). The river is known in Modern Latin as ''Agnio'', but has been recorded in many forms in Medieval Latin, starting with ''Agnona'' in 648 AD. In local Picard dialects, the Aa is traditionally called the ''Abbe''.

Geography

The river's geography is divided into two parts. The first segment ranges from the river's source is in the Artois HillsDubois, Claude, ed. (1960). "Aa" a ''Grand Larousse Encyclopédique'' (in French). I: A-Bauer (First ed.). Paris, France: Librairie Larousse. p. 3. to Saint-Omer to form a small chalk stream, similar to the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

. This section of the river drains the Artois plateau and is long. The river's second part spans from Saint-Omer to its

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

, a distance of approximately . As a navigable waterway, this section connects the

Canal de Calais The Canal de Calais connects the Aa River near Ruminghem to the inner basins of the Port of Calais. Many boats enter the French canal system through the port of Calais and this canal. It is 30 km long and has 3 locks. History Work started on th ...

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

and the Canal de Bourbourg leading to Dunkirk. The section of the river from Saint-Omer to the junction with the main Dunkirk-Scheldt waterway and the

Canal de Neuffossé Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

are not currently navigable. Aa and connecting waterways

History

Its name originates from the Old High German word ''aha'', which means water. The word also shares roots with the Latin word ''aqua''. Saint-Omer formerly lay at the head of its estuary while seaward, Calais lay on its western margin and Bergues, now inland from

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Viking settlements on this coast, Dunkirk was developing on the

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s, offshore across the

estuarine 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 ...

marsh from Bergues. Gravelines was the port at the seaward end of the river after the area of the estuary was reclaimed. The dates of these events are imprecise but the modern pattern was firmly established by 1588, the time of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

when an approximation to the modern course of the lowland river formed the boundary between the Spanish Netherlands and France. The river suffers significant problems from industrial discharge and siltation, which made the length of the Aa from Saint-Omer to the junction with the Dunkirk-Escaut waterway unnavigable since the 1970s.

References

External links

Aa river guide
- Navigation on the canal, including Gravelines as an entry port into the French waterways network. {{Authority control Rivers of France Rivers of the Pas-de-Calais Rivers of Nord (French department) Rivers of Hauts-de-France 0Aa