I.

Introduction

Danube (ancient, Danubius, and in the lower part of its course, Ister; German, Donau; Slovak, Dunaj; Hungarian, Duna; Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Bulgarian, Dunav; Romanian, Dunărea; Ukrainian, Dunay), river in Europe, second-longest and one of the principal traffic arteries on the Continent. The Danube is the only major Continental European river to flow from west to east. It rises in the Black Forest region of Germany and flows in a generally easterly direction for a distance of about 2,850 km (1,776 mi), emptying, on the Romanian coast, into the Black Sea.