What is the Longest River in Each European Country?

Europe's rivers are among the world's most famous rivers, like the Danube and the Thames. In this video I briefly discuss each European country's longest river that only flows within that country - it must start, flow, and end without leaving the country or forming a national border. Just like the US states video on this topic, I found this really interesting to research, and I hope you enjoy it too!
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Hey, I'm Gavin! I'm better known as Chicago Geographer or CG online. My videos are about geography and GeoGuessr, and this is currently my part-time career after graduating from university. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss my latest videos, and thanks for stopping by!
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Timestamps for your convenience:
Longest River in Albania: 5:30
Longest River in Andorra: 1:44
Longest River in Austria: 7:06
Longest River in Belarus: 10:56
Longest River in Belgium: 4:23
Longest River in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 7:40
Longest River in Bulgaria: 9:15
Longest River in Croatia: 3:37
Longest River in Cyprus: 2:31
Longest River in Czechia: 9:48
Longest River in Denmark: 3:52
Longest River in Estonia: 4:08
Longest River in Finland: 10:41
Longest River in France: 12:37
Longest River in Germany: 10:06
Longest River in Greece: 8:28
Longest River in Hungary: 4:41
Longest River in Iceland: 6:02
Longest River in Ireland: 9:00
Longest River in Italy: 11:47
Longest River in Kosovo: 2:16
Longest River in Latvia: 5:13
Longest River in Liechtenstein: 1:24
Longest River in Lithuania: 6:34
Longest River in Luxembourg: 2:00
Longest River in Malta: 0:38
Longest River in Moldova: 7:56
Longest River in Monaco: 0:55
Longest River in Montenegro: 2:47
Longest River in the Netherlands: 3:18
Longest River in North Macedonia: 5:46
Longest River in Norway: 11:32
Longest River in Poland: 12:57
Longest River in Portugal: 6:18
Longest River in Romania: 11:13
Longest River in Russia (European side): 13:19
Longest River in San Marino: 1:08
Longest River in Serbia: 4:55
Longest River in Slovakia: 9:32
Longest River in Slovenia: 3:01
Longest River in Spain: 12:21
Longest River in Sweden: 10:22
Longest River in Switzerland: 8:12
Longest River in Turkey (European side): 7:23
Longest River in Ukraine: 12:04
Longest River in the United Kingdom: 8:43
Longest River in Vatican City: 0:27
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#geography #rivers #europe

[@rumilb]

imagine not having rivers

[@rumilb]

im sorry for body (of water) shaming

[@matejsebechlebsky12]

Saudi Arabia

[@bloopbloop9687]

What an awful existence, a simple stream or river makes living 10x more enjoyable, if I lived in a place where I couldn't see a body of water in person, I don't know what I would do

[@RobertDoornbosF1]

​@@bloopbloop9687 Are you satisfied with humans less then rivers? After all, humas are literally bodies of water (~66%)

[@mrnoob4274]

*Cries in libya*

[@CameronsMusic]

Suggestion: Largest LAKES

[@alexj9603]

I'm absolutely impressed with your pronunciation of the river names across so many European languages. A few glitches here and there (Hungarian was already mentioned), but still very good. A small hint: In Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, the stress is always on the first syllable.

[@krystofk.2279]

same goes for Czech btw :D

[@alexj9603]

@@krystofk.2279 And Slovak and probably even more.

[@PaulVinonaama]

And Po is not pronounced pou.

[@daprophet3244]

Therapist: Business Casual CG doesnt exist, dont worry Business Casual CG:

[@vojtechhoracek7704]

It's no coincidence that so many European rivers originate close to national borders. That's why the borders were established there, often in impassable, mountainous and hard-to-reach terrain: to control the watershed and to make the border delineation unambiguous.

[@BamBamGT1]

It's the opposite for Belgium. We have several rivers bigger than the one mentioned here originating just outside our border in the same region of Northern France ( rivers Scheldt, Lys, Sambre ). These areas used to be long to Flanders, but were gradually lost to France over the centuries.

[@jaspinko]

Not only did you teach me something I didn't already know about Iceland, but it also turned into a Big beef cow reference? A+ video.

[@jss.42]

[@ChicagoGeographer]

[@Cibzo]

Yay Norway made it top 10! Glomma is most known for its importance for Norway's timber production, as it flows through a dense forest region, and the logs used to float downstream to the sawmills. It is also vital for our power production, as Norway produces 99% of its power from hydropower plants.

[@LUNE.44]

I'm a bit spooked by this. I actually tried making my own map of this last week where I added the word "land" after every river's name (purely to point out that Italy would become Poland). I only managed to get through about 10 countries, so I'm very impressed that you managed to get them all. Good work 👍

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Italy may be Poland, but Germany is the Mainland of course

[@xaundics8004]

Great mix in with your other content!

[@Pro_robloxgamersus]

Great and intresting video! keep it up!❤

[@CubicCreeper7914]

Another great video, really loving this style of videos :D

[@64Xtasy]

I have been to many cities on Volga, and I really like the city center of Nizhny Novgorod, where local Kremlin sits on top of a hill where Oka flows into Volga. Beautiful scenery.

[@well9179]

You should try Volga Cruise river journey if you have a chance. I've been in Russia a year ago but I miss that chance. But, I will try it next time when my sister finish her doctoral study in Moscow.

[@benmm01]

Nizhny Novgorod is one of my favourite cities. It’s so nice there

[@64Xtasy]

Indeed on my bucket list. The idea that you can go all the way south from Moscow to Astrakhan by boat drives me insane.

[@kierans5583]

such a high quality vid! love the content ❤️

[@marctisserand8615]

Thanks for the video I learn a lot 👍

[@s2m3b1]

Zagyva’s “gy” is pronunced like the “d” in the word due.

[@samwendolek4771]

I love these types of videos, please keep making them

[@hijack1453]

Very well done!

[@HendogYT]

Holy s**t, what is all this water? Always love the edutainment videos, great work as always!

[@exploreearth6275]

Amazing video

[@itinn1]

Very cool and interesting video

[@Pawe-hg8jc]

Very informative, well-done ! It confirms that Wisła (pronunced as Veeswa in Polish) is the longest river within one country in the European Union and in the whole of Europe except Russia.

[@benmm01]

So the second

[@potato7268]

this was super interesting!

[@TheClarinetBro]

Hi CG great video! I just have one question, what was the method you used for measuring the rivers yourself? As I'm sure you're aware the length increases the more detailed you get with the curve so was there a standard step-size or something like that that you used?

[@chrissanfino761]

Great series. I think if you had a mention before each country the longest bordering river (if applicable) before mentioning the longest self -contained. But still pretty cool.

[@Guessther]

this was fun, i learned things!

[@catenaris]

A very good video! :) I just discovered your channel (from France), and it got me wondering what the biggest cities without rivers are. Be it in the world or in Europe... I can only think of Mexico where I think they literally bring drinkable water with trucks, but otherwise I don't know... I mean even without a river most cities can still rely on a lake...

[@tomekdarda]

One of my favourite European cities, Lviv in western Ukraine (some 800k people), is so beautiful with its hills, winding streets, churches, palaces and piazzas, that I actually did not notice that it has no river until like my third visit (ok, it does have one, but it's a canal below the city)!

[@BamBamGT1]

Ha, France stole our biggest rivers in this competetion here :p . The springs of Rivers like Lys and Escaut used to be in Flanders, but France took these territories from us.

[@antoinemozart243]

You meant Lvov , I suppose ! Lvov is a polish city.

[@pedrobluis]

I really appreciate your effort on pronunciation. Regarding my language... "Mondego" and "Coimbra" where flawless.

[@oh2mp]

Very nice and informative video. In the end you said that you hope that you didnt butcher the pronounciations. At least you pronounced Kemijoki almost perfectly :D

[@fallendown8828]

7:28 omg i wasn't expecting the river i have grown basically next to to be on this list. Ergene (if you say it like ar-ga-na it should sound more similar to the original since Turkish e is more like English a) starts from near Black Sea because Black Sea coasts in Turkey get a lot of rain and it flows west because Yıldız Dağları (Star Mountains) block the way to East. It goes through industrialized cities such as Çerkezköy, Çorlu and Lüleburgaz and it absolutely stinks (because of factories). When i was using the train from Lüleburgaz to İstanbul or Otoban (yeah we got the Autobahn word from Germans) we go over it. Yeah i was just so excited to see it here and wanted to share some more info

[@johntauren]

Would be neat to see the list for Canada, especially the considerable difference that would be between, for example, PEI and the Territories.

[@bananenmusli2769]

I live on the Main river in Franconia (Germany). I can see it from my house. I didn't know that it was the longest river entirely within Germany. Really surprising to me honestly.

[@piotrberman6363]

Amazingly, Germany has two vastly different Frankfurt, the MAIN one, Frankfurt am Main, and the OTHER, Frankfurt am Oder

[@bananenmusli2769]

@@piotrberman6363 The name gives it away, because if the name of the city mentions where it lies (often the river), you can guess there must be another one with the same name, because otherwise there wouldn't have to be the "am Main"-part.

[@emem2756]

Counting rivers that are ENTIRELY in small eu countries gives WEIRD results, ie the biggest ones like Danube, Rhone, Rhein or Elbe are accounted nowhere...

[@dagda3000]

Agreed. It is all fun but does not really make sense

[@DavidNewmanDr]

If the bit of the Rhine in Germany is longer than the Main, it should be counted. Similarly, the bit of the Danube in Romania.

[@HolgerJakobs]

Funny that the first image shown in the video is the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) at the banks of the river Rhein (Rhine), while that river isn't among those you are talking about in this video, since it starts in Switzerland, flows through Germany forming a part of the German-French border and ends up in the Netherlands. Regarding pronunciation: The river IJssel isn't pronounced with a "sh" sound, but just a sharp (voiceless) "s".

[@frehnibabulno8870]

the crazy thing is the wolga isnt even russias longest river, just the longest exclusively in the european part of russia

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Asia is much bigger than Europe, of course it has much longer rivers.

[@fallendown8828]

​@@eljanrimsa5843with that logic Asia should also have longer rivers than Africa and South America but fun fact: no

[@eljanrimsa5843]

@@fallendown8828 Of the 10 longest rivers in the world 2 are in Africa, 2 in America, and 6 in Asia. 4 of these 6 are in the Asian part of Russia

[@frehnibabulno8870]

@@eljanrimsa5843 yeah… that was my point… Europe is small compared to Asia or just Russia as a country.

[@letter2349]

Great video! would love to see the Asian version of this. 👍

[@pheonixwing6056]

cool video

[@sacerdor7467]

When you take into account tributary rivers picking the Main for Germany is not the right choice. The river Weser is formed by the rivers Fulda and Werra, with the Werra being the longer one. So taking into account name changes like in Sweden, Weser/Werra should qualify to be the longest river completely in the borders of Germany.

[@Rhangaun]

Indeed, the names Werra and Weser have the same etymology, which indicates that they used to be considered to be the same river - which also makes sense as rivers are usually considered to begin at a source, not at a confluence. That river has a total length of 751 km which would move it into 6th place on the list.

[@neonlight1214]

River Thames is the longest in UK if you don't count the huge bay area, that is actually the sea and not river . It's purely saltwater and not mixed

[@nazmanaebbbz]

The joy of finding out Sweden has just a slightly shorter river compared to Finland :)

[@BeautifulxBeginnings]

Today I learned why Po Valley is called Po Valley......which in hindsight should have been obvious haha. Great job again on this one! Really interesting

[@schnauzpig]

The Thames would be longer than the Seven (making it 368km) if it's longest tributary (the Churn) was not randomly designated a separate river by some misguided act of parliment.

[@Alfa-741]

Croatian longest rivers that originate and flow exclusively through Croatia are Kupa - 296 km that river teaches the border with Slovenia, but seh is entire in Croatia, the 2nd largest river is Bosut - 143 km, and the 3rd is Bedja- 133 km Geetings from Croatia

[@zagor1974]

The moraca river is short but it has a phenomenal canyon

[@rmar127]

Shouldn’t England, wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland be treated as separate listings?

[@cocazade7703]

"Ireland narrowly beats out the UK"" YES

[@dominkpavlic1460]

Bednja pronunciation🔥💯🔥

[@user-hb4kc6on1s]

Kupa from Croatia left the chat

[@shbnc4200]

Next make the highest peak and the lowest point in each country, or the elevation of the capital cities.

[@saintsaens21]

10/10 pronunciation of Worcester and Gloucester.

[@gard68hst]

Although I am living at the lovely Main river I have to add the comment, that if the two rivers in Liechtenstein are measured as one, the longest river in Germany would be the combination of Werra and Weser with a length of 751 km in total. :-)

[@helmuthvonmoltke6733]

Wow, it only took until the River Severn to get to a river I've actually heard of. Super fascinating stuff!

[@matejsebechlebsky12]

Im proud of Váh river in Slovakia punching above our weighclass

[@gwendyp125]

I like how you dress for these educational videos. Very elegant and not just a hoodie, it shows respect for your audience. Oh no, im going to be exposed because this isn't a river comment on a river video 😢. Cool video 😅

[@joeroth1124]

Highest point in each South American country next?

[@GeorgianPotato]

Georgias is Rioni River with 327km And btw where r Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iceland, Kazakhstan and North Macedonia?

[@fischwaldexplorer1470]

Now the pther continents please!

[@colinafobe2152]

actually Velika (Great) Morava is considered the Serbian longest river and measured together with it affluence Zapadna (West) Morava is has 493 km now after the regulation works (was over 600 km before the regulation

[@kseniaklamut6214]

Poland 🚀🚀🚀🚀lets go!!!

[@zwyklyzurek7782]

Technically, in countries that do not have natural rivers, sewage systems can be considered as rivers

[@kovadlinka8118]

i think it's little unfair, because to Europe was whole time counted only western side of Bosporus canal, region named Thrace, and not all of Anatolia and tukish parts of eastern regions... if you count Antaolia to Europe, you must count with Siberian and easter regions of Russia... then longest river in Europe and in Russia is Lena, around 4400 km long

[@jackpurc]

I used to live on the River Shannon, it was flooded for several weeks straight which made the walk to Limerick City difficult

[@Goozen12]

I you do the African rivers, I subscribe

[@antoinemozart243]

Easy ! Nile number one.

[@dedurocortorum365]

@@antoinemozart243 The Nile crosses more than one country.

[@DillonTrinhProductions]

You should do Asian Rivers.

[@brookezogby6937]

Northern Africa and Middle East Next? ❤️‍🔥🥰

[@Railtracking]

The IJssel river should not be in this list. It's water comes from the Rhine , so not a river on it's own. One of the longest ( if not the longest) is de Hunze that used to run through the city of Groningen to continue as Reitdiep. Since then, canalbuilding has changed the map a bit ...

[@iztokgliha8198]

In Slovenija the longest river is Krka, is 147km long!!

[@MrBadman]

Not exactly, the longest river in Latvia is Gauja. Its length in Latvia reaches 452 km.

[@elmurcis1]

But it does share border with Estonia =(( (I know, ruleset here is a bit weird as should include rivers that never leaves country even if share borders)

[@Kasey1405]

What did the author mean by calling Poland "tiny"?

[@tomekdarda]

He did not say that. He said that it's "a tiny bit surprising".

[@ahmedbs2241]

Why you didnt count Vardar in Macedonia it more than 300 km?

[@HendogYT]

Goes through Greece and empties into the Aegean west of Thessaloniki.

[@hactervrut1948]

the cyprus river technically goes thru 2 countries

[@stevepalmberg5905]

Largest lake in each state?

[@matijamaksan4344]

To make a rule where river must not be the border between two countries is brutal.

[@NoName-ex9pl]

The Weser in Germany is over 700 Km long which is longer than the Main. Its also located entirely in Germany despite some sources claiming it isn't for some reason. Therefore Germany would be in 6th place.

[@Kath2378]

Only if you count the Werra as part of it though, if you don't it's just 450 km.

[@viktoriaspeyer0942]

​@@Kath2378just because the name changes doesn't mean the river gets any shorter

[@ekn_38]

If we remove Northern Cyprus from the equation, the longest river in Cyprus would become the Dhiarizos river with a length of 42 km.

[@matejsebechlebsky12]

Measuring river lenghts has the same problem as measuring coastlines

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Not really. I'm pretty sure you are supposed to follow the middle of the river (along the Thalweg), not the banks. If you want you can just put a vessel into the river and measure how far it travels. The river may meander bit, but the main flow of water does not follow a longer path the closer you look.

[@rafael_lana]

​@@eljanrimsa5843 that method falls apart in rivers that are partially in a swamp like the Nile. If you measure a straight line between the entry and exit of said wetlands, the Nile is shorter than the Amazon for example.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

@@rafael_lana But that's not the same problem as measuring coastlines. That's a different problem

[@rafael_lana]

@@eljanrimsa5843 it's the exact same problem, when measuring curves you have to divide them in tiny straight lines, and the smaller the line, the more accurate (but bigger) the measurement gets, up to infinity. Real Life Lore made a video about it two years ago, I recommend you watch it

[@andrisrikmanis9982]

The longest river in Latvia is Gauja, 452 km

[@rafael_lana]

Shares border with Estonia

[@SwagBuro]

Malta 💪🇲🇹

[@mrnoob4274]

Please just do south american mountains plz

[@tarrexx8397]

Fun fact River Neretva in Bosnia & Herzegovina is the coldest river on earth!

[@notmeowth]

ijssel is pronounced like “eye-sul” and ijsselmeer is pronounce “eye-sul-mere” :D

[@SquishyOfCinder]

Sweden’s longest river is actually contested because of the Gothia Channel (Göta Kanal).

[@larsmunch4536]

If I didn't see the name Dalälven in writing, I would probably not understand, what you were trying to say.

[@Vilmer_e]

I dont like how the danish Gudenå foto is like 2 km from me(im not lying

[@MrDikketet]

I swam in the Ourthe

[@agunmapping57273]

Considering half of russia in europe and 99% of turkey in asia is insane

[@Mladjasmilic]

Yugoslavia: Sava Ibar-Morava Tara-Drina

[@christopherbrandt5440]

Is it not weser for Germany

[@johnawalker9261]

Shrewsbury is not a City, it’s a town.

[@BuMPiHD]

This was a different type of vid. Really enjoyed it. Look up Geography King - he’s a great youtuber, makes stuff similar to this. Yall should collab

[@ChicagoGeographer]

I've worked with Geography King, he's awesome! Had a short segment in his Chicago video

[@MoLauer]

The Weser-Werra is 751km for Germany

[@ChicagoGeographer]

I chose to consider them separately

[@viktoriaspeyer0942]

​@@ChicagoGeographerjust because the name changes doesn't mean the river gets any shorter

[@Luredreier]

4:01 Sureå that it's Gods *dream*? It looks more like Godly river to me. Mind you, I speak Norwegian, not Danish, but still.

[@denisoko8494]

South Bug isn't a longest river in Ukraine. The longest is Dnipro with 1095 km long!

[@rafael_lana]

As he said at the start of the video, he's only counting rivers that are entirely inside one country. Dnipron is in 3.

[@nilsp9426]

I was expecting Germany way further up the list, but I guess it's access to three major international rivers (Danube, Rhine, Elbe) leaves little room for another big one.

[@roevhaal578]

TIL it's Dalälven and not Dalaälven.

[@carlossaraiva8213]

Errr.... Ukraine? Georgia? Armenia? Western (european part of) Kazakhistan? Where are their longest internal rivers?

[@rafael_lana]

Ukraine at 12:00

[@samuel_saysske1355]

You say Dalaaälven or dala älven

[@jss.42]

europe

[@nkg1190]

"europe" 🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥

[@ChicagoGeographer]

europe

[@jss.42]

[@dedurocortorum365]

Ah, la fameuse Bérézina...😖😆

[@andreaswiesheu2240]

well, technicly, the longest river in Germany is the Weser with 751 km, because it used to be one river but with language evolution a few hundred years ago its name was divided into Weser and Werra - but historicly, they are one river....

[@bartaz6124]

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