The Havel (German pronunciation: [ˈhaËfl]) is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and 325 kilometres (202 mi) long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mouth is only 94 kilometres (58 mi).
For much of its length, the Havel is navigable, and it provides an important link in the waterway connections between the east and west of Germany, and beyond.
The source of the Havel is located in the Mecklenburg Lake District, between Lake Müritz and the city of Neubrandenburg. There is no obvious visible source in the form of a spring, but the river originates in the lakes in the Diekenbruch near Ankershagen, close to and south-east of the watershed between the North and Baltic seas. From there the river initially flows southward, eventually joining the Elbe, which in turn flows into the North Sea. Every river north-east of it flows to the Baltic Sea. The river enters Brandenburg near the town of Fürstenberg. In its upper course and between Berlin and Brandenburg an der Havel the river forms several lakes.
The Havel's main tributary is the Spree river, which joins the Havel in Spandau, a western borough of Berlin, and is longer and delivers more water than the Havel itself above the confluence. The second largest tributary is the Rhin, named in the Middle Ages by settlers from the lower Rhine. At the southern end of the Ruppiner See, weirs can distribute the waters of the Rhin either east- or westwards, rejoining the Havel in two places 67 kilometres (42Â mi) apart along a straight line, and more than 160 kilometres (99Â mi) apart along the course of the river.
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