The Elbe is a river in Central Europe that originates in the Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic and first flows through the Czech Republic, where it is called Labe.
In the Czech town of Decin, the Labe/Elbe crosses the border and flows through Germany as the Elbe until its mouth.
At Cuxhaven the Elbe flows into the North Sea after 1094 km.
The Elbe practically drains Bohemia and the best known and largest tributary here is the Vltava, which flows into Melnik.
Other known large tributaries of the Elbe are:
the Saale
the Spree
the Havel
the trough
the Elde plus Müritz
In the upper course the Elbe is characterised by the Bohemian low mountain ranges, but in the lower course the Elbe follows two glacial valleys.
The largest city on the Elbe is Hamburg ( VEP ) and other cities are Magdeburg and Dresden ( VEP ).
History
The Elbe was simply called a river by the Germanic tribes and is also indicative of the dominant position of the Elbe in the North German Plain.
The area around and along the Elbe has been inhabited for thousands of years.
Many Roman commanders have tried to cross the Elbe to the east and to make the land between Rhine and Elbe compliant. There were many heavy and significant defeats against various Germanic tribes and beyond the Elbe never became part of the Roman Empire.
The Elbe was in the period from 1945 to 1989 in large parts the border river between East and West Germany.
overview map
Here you can see all current available stages in this region
following single stages are available
