Moselle River

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Moselle
The Moselle near Wolf.
Origin	Vosges mountains
Mouth	Rhine
Basin countries	France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium
Length	544 km
Source elevation	715 m
Avg. discharge	290 m³/s
Basin area	28,286 km²

Mosel basin area

The Moselle (Dutch Moezel, French Moselle, German Mosel, Luxembourgish Musel, from Latin Mosella, "little Meuse") is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg and Germany, joining the Rhine river at Koblenz. The river gave its name to two French départements: Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle.

1 Geography
2 Economy
3 Literature
4 External links

[edit] Geography

The source of the Moselle is at the western slope of the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges mountains. The Moselle flows through the Lorraine region, west of the Vosges. Further downstream, in Germany, the Moselle valley forms the division between the Eifel and Hunsrück mountain regions. Its total length from source to mouth is approximately 545 km.

Its major tributaries are the Meurthe, the Sauer, the Saar, the Kyll, Lieser, Alf, Elz and the Ruwer.

Towns along the river Moselle are:

in France: Épinal, Toul, Pont-à-Mousson, Metz and Thionville
in Luxembourg: Grevenmacher and Remich
in Germany: Trier, Bernkastel-Kues, Cochem and Koblenz

[edit] Economy

The Moselle valley between Nancy, Metz and Thionville is an industrial area, with coal mining and steel manufacture.

The Moselle has been made navigable for large cargo ships from the Rhine in Koblenz up to Neuves-Maisons, south of Nancy. For smaller ships it is connected to other parts of France through the Canal de l'Est and the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

The Moselle valley is famous for its beautiful scenery and the excellent wine produced, among others in the wine-growing-region of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. Most notable among the wines produced here are Riesling, Elbling, Müller-Thurgau and Kerner. The German part of the Moselle is a popular tourist destination.

[edit] Literature

The Moselle was celebrated in Mosella, an ancient Roman poem by Ausonius. In the twentieth century, the river and the folklore and local history of the towns along its banks were described by British travel writer Roger Pilkington.