Sambre

The Sambre is a river in northern France and Wallonia, southern Belgium, left tributary of the Meuse River. The ancient Romans called the river Sabis.

Course

The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne department. It passes through the Franco-Belgian coal basin, formerly an important industrial district. Its Belgian portion was at the western end of the sillon industriel, which was Wallonia's industrial backbone. It is canalized along much of its length and flows into the Meuse River at Namur, Belgium. The Sambre is connected with the Oise River by the Sambre-Oise Canal.

The Sambre flows through the following departments of France, provinces of Belgium and towns:

• Aisne (F): Barzy-en-Thiérache
• Nord (F): Landrecies, Aulnoye-Aymeries, Hautmont, Maubeuge
• Hainaut (B): Thuin, Montigny-le-Tilleul, Charleroi
• Namur: Floreffe, Namur

Events

• The mother of Rene Magritte, a famous surrealism painter killed herself by drowning in this river.

Battles

The nineteenth-century theory that the Sambre was the location of Julius Caesar's battle against a Belgic confederation (57 BC), has been discarded long time ago,^[1] but is still repeated.

Heavy fighting occurred along the river during World War I, especially at the siege of Namur in 1914 (Battle of Charleroi) and in the last month of the war (Battle of the Sambre (1918)).

References

• http://www.geoportail.fr
• The Sambre at the Sandre database