Merwede
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The Merwede (etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the ancient Dutch word meaning "wide water") is the name of several interconnected stretches of river in The Netherlands, all part of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. The Meuse river joins the Waal at Woudrichem to form the Boven Merwede (Upper Merwede). A few kilometers downstream it splits into the Beneden Merwede (Lower Merwede) on the right and the Nieuwe Merwede (New Merwede) on the left. All these rivers are tidal. The Nieuwe Merwede joins the Bergse Maas near Lage Zwaluwe to form the Hollands Diep estuary, and separates the Island of Dordrecht from the Biesbosch National Park. The Beneden Merwede splits into the Noord River and Oude Maas near Papendrecht.
In medieval times there was no such distinction. The Merwede was the name of a continuous stretch of river, which was also containing several stretches of river that are no longer called Merwede. There was a time, for example, that the name Merwede, now only used between Woudrichem and Papendrecht, carried on his name through the Noord River and Nieuwe Maas all the way to the sea. Today the name Merwede is not used after Papendrecht, after which it changes names several times. Why this has ever occurred is unknown, considering the fact that the old situation was al lot more logical.
Consider for example the Noord after it's confluence with the Lek. The river is suddenly called the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse), although for most of the time the Meuse is only delivering an extremely low amount of water to the Rhine system beyond the Merwede. It would have been better to retain the name Merwede all the way to its mouth, leaving the influence of the Meuse minimal and delivering a consistent river stretch, which is after all the main delta stretch in the most lower part of the Rhine Delta.
In recent centuries the influence of the Meuse had been decreased even further, to the point that the major stretch of river called Oude Maas was cut off from the Meuse river as well. So now all the above rivers, containing the name Meuse or not, are all part of the delta of the great river Rhine, while the Meuse has been giving its own artificial mouth Bergse Maas and the two rivers Rhine and Meuse are now mostly separated to reduce the risk of flooding.
