Leitha

The Leitha (German: Leitha; Hungarian: Lajta, Lajtha, Sár(-víz); Czech and Slovak: Litava) is a river in Central Europe with a length of approximately 180 km. It is formed in eastern Austria at the confluence of two headstreams (Schwarza and Pitten). Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, the Leitha forms part of the border between Lower Austria and Burgenland, which was the Austrian-Hungarian border until 1921.

Near Nickelsdorf, the river passes into modern Hungary, where it flows into an arm of the Danube river near Mosonmagyaróvár. Other towns on its course are Wiener Neustadt and Bruck an der Leitha.

Several canals diverge from the Leitha and its tributaries. The canals fed spinning companies in the past, and they now feed small hydroelectric power plants. Between Seibersdorf and Hof am Leithaberge, most of the water in the Leitha is removed for this purpose. From there on, the Leitha only really flows when its flow further upstream is abnormally high. Downriver from Katzelsdorf the river bed is almost completely dry as well.

Historic importance

The placenames Lajtabánság, Cisleithania and Transleithania all come from the Leitha. After the 1867 Ausgleich between Austria and Hungary, which created the Dual Monarchy, Transleithanien ("beyond the Leitha") was the Viennese colloquial word for the region beyond the Leitha (meaning Hungary or the Kingdom of Hungary), while Cisleithanien ("on this side of the Leitha") was Austria. These names reflected the Viennese and Austrian perspectives towards the rest of the Empire, because Vienna lay on 'this' side, and the other half, Hungary, lay on 'that' side. However the Leitha did not form the entire border between the two: for instance Galicia and Bukovina, which were part of Cisleithania, were north-east of Hungary. The Morava River formed the border between Moravia (then part of Austria) and Slovakia (then part of Hungary).

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