Weser River
| Weser | |
| Werser (Low German) | |
| River | |
 The Weser near Bad Oeynhausen
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| Name origin: *weis, Germanic, meaning to flow | |
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| Bundesland | Bremen, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia, Hessen |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Diemel, Emmer, Werre, Große Aue, Hunte |
| - right | Aller, Lesum |
| Cities | Bremerhaven, Bremen, Minden, Hamelin, Hann. Münden, Kassel, Fulda |
| Source | |
| - location | Confluence of the Fulda and Werra rivers in Hann. Münden |
| - elevation | 116 m (381 ft) |
| - coordinates | 51°25′17″N 9°38′53″E / 51.42139°N 9.64806°E |
| Mouth | Wadden Sea/North Sea |
| - location | Bremerhaven/Nordenham |
| - elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| - coordinates | 53°32′8″N 8°33′56″E / 53.53556°N 8.56556°ECoordinates: 53°32′8″N 8°33′56″E / 53.53556°N 8.56556°E |
| Length | 452 km (281 mi) |
| Basin | 46,306 km2 (17,879 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| - average | 327 m3/s (11,548 cu ft/s) |
 Watershed of the Weser
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The Weser (German pronunciation: [ˈveːzɐ]) is a river in Northwestern Germany. Formed at Hannoversch Münden by the confluence of the rivers Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the Hanseatic-town Bremen (see: Hanseatic League), before emptying 50 kilometres (31 mi) further north at Bremerhaven into the North Sea. On the opposite (west) bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula; thus, the mouth of the river is in Lower Saxony. The Weser has an overall length of 452 kilometres (281 mi). Together with its Werra tributary, which originates in Thuringia, its length is 744 kilometres (462 mi).
Linguistically, the name of both rivers, Weser and Werra, goes back to the same source, the differentiation being caused by the old linguistic border between Upper and Lower German, which touched the region of Hannoversch Münden.
The name Weser parallels the names of other rivers, such as the Wear in England and the Vistula in Poland, all of which are ultimately derived from the root *weis- "to flow", which gave Old English/Old Frisian wāse "mud, ooze", Old Norse veisa "slime, stagnant pool", Dutch waas "lawn", Old Saxon waso "wet ground, mire", Old High German wasal "rain", and French vase "mud, sludge".
The Weser river is the longest river whose course reaches the sea and lies entirely within German national territory.
The upper part of its course leads through a hilly region called the Weserbergland. It extends from the confluence of the Fulda and the Werra to the Porta Westfalica, where it runs through a gorge between two mountain chains, the Wiehengebirge in the west and the Weserbergland in the east.
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