Meuse

The Meuse (Dutch: Maas) is a river in Western Europe. The river starts in France, goes through Belgium and the Netherlands. It ends in the North Sea.^[2] The Meuse is fed mostly by rainwater.^[3] It is the oldest river in the world.

Meuse Meuse  (French) Moûze  (Walloon) Maas  (Dutch) Maos  (Limburgish)
The Meuse at Dinant
Basin of the Meuse
Location
Country	France, Belgium, Netherlands
Region	Western Europe
Cities	Verdun (France), Sedan (France), Charleville-Mézières (France), Namur (Belgium), Liège (Belgium), Maastricht (Netherlands), Venlo (Netherlands), Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Physical characteristics
Source
- location	Pouilly-en-Bassigny, Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse, Haute-Marne, Grand Est, France
- coordinates	47.9867°N 5.6167°E / 47.9867; 5.6167
- elevation	409 m (1,342 ft)
Mouth	North Sea
- location	Hollands Diep, Noord-Brabant/Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- coordinates	51.715°N 4.6678°E / 51.715; 4.6678
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	925 km (575 mi)
Basin size	34,548 km2 (13,339 sq mi)
Discharge
- average	350 m3/s (12,000 cu ft/s)
[1]

History

From 1301, the Meuse in the Netherlands was the western border of the Holy Roman Empire. In World War II, the Meuse was a goal for the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge.^[4]

References

1. Marcel de Wit, Robert Leander, Adri Buishand: Extreme discharges in the Meuse basin Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, p. 2
   (The frequently mentioned figure of 250 m³/s refers to the Borgharen gauge near the frontier between Belgium and the Netherlands representing two thirds of the basin.)
2. Robert Pateman; Mark Elliott, Belgium (New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006), p. 11
3. Wetlands: Environmental Gradients, Boundaries, and Buffers, ed. George Mulamoottil; et al. (CRC Press, 1996), p. 92
4. Steve Kane, The 1st SS Panzer Division in the Battle of the Bulge (Bennington, VT: Merriam Press, 1997), p. 22