Neman River

This article is about the Neman River. For the musician, see Czesław Niemen.

The Neman or Niemen (; Lithuanian: ; ; ; ) is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian lagoon which is connected to the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the 14th largest river in Europe, largest in Lithuania, and 3rd largest in Belarus.

Neman in numbers

The total length of the Neman is 937 km (582 miles). That makes it the 14th largest river in Europe and the 4th largest in the Baltic Sea basin. 459 km (285 miles) flow in Belarus, 359 km (223 miles) are in Lithuania. 116 kilometers of the Neman serves as the border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad oblast and Belarus.
The largest depth is 5 meters (16.4 ft) and largest width is about 500 meters (1640 feet).
The Neman is a slow river; its speed is about 1 to 2 m/s.
During floods, water discharge can increase up to 11 times, to more than 6,800 m³/s
The Neman is an old river, dating back to the glacial period. Since then it formed a deep (up to 60 m) and broad (up to 5 km) valley.
Neman has about 105 1st class tributaries, largest being the rivers Neris (Viliya) (510 km/317 miles), Chara River (325 km/202 miles), Šešupė (298 km/185 miles). 15 of the tributaries are longer than 100 km (62 miles).
In the Neman basin there are even 11th order tributaries.
The Neman basin in Lithuania drains more than 20,000 rivers and rivulets. It makes 72% of the Lithuania's territory.

Importance of the Neman in Lithuanian culture

Lithuanians like to refer to the Neman as "the father of rivers" (because Nemunas in Lithuanian is a masculine noun). In Lithuania, there are countless places, companies, organizations that have "Nemunas" in their name (e.g. folklore ensemble, weekly magazine about art and culture, sanatorium, guest houses and hotels). Also, Lithuanian novels, poems, and songs often refer to Nemunas. One of the most famous poems by Maironis starts:

Original version	Rough English translation
Kur bėga Šešupė, kur Nemunas teka	Where the Šešupė runs, where the Neman flows
Tai mūsų tėvynė, graži Lietuva	That's our homeland, the beautiful Lithuania

Almost every Lithuanian can recite these words from heart. It is so well known that sometimes it is thought to be an unofficial national anthem.

There are many other smaller rivers and rivulets in Lithuania which name could be derived from "Nemunas." For example, Nemunykštis, Nemuniukas, Nemunynas, Nemunėlis, Nemunaitis. The etymology of the name is disputed: some say that "Nemunas" is an old word meaning "a damp place," while other say that "Nemunas" was a god in Baltic mythology.

Importance of the Memel in German culture

In 1252, when the Teutonic Order founded both a castle and a city where the Curonian lagoon flows into the Baltic Sea, they used the German language name of the river, die Memel, as the water from the river also flows past this city, Memel town (Klaipeda). The border between the Teutonic Order state and Lithuania was fixed in 1422 by the Treaty of Lake Melno and was stable since. In the Deutschlandlied of 1841, the Memel river is mentioned as the eastern border of a (politically yet to unite) Germany even though the Memelland north-east of the Memel river, up to the city of Memel, belonged to Prussia also.

German lyrics	Approximate translation
Von der Maas bis an die Memel, Von der Etsch bis an den Belt	From the Meuse to the Memel, From the Adige to the Belt

Almost every German (and some Non-Germans) can recite these words from the heart. They are well known, as the Deutschlandlied (or Das Lied der Deutschen) was adopted as official national anthem of Germany's Weimar Republic after World War I. Since 1991, only the third stanza of the same song is used as the official national anthem of Germany.

Treaty of Versailles made the river the border separating Memel Territory from German East Prussia since 1920. Only the 112 km long part within Prussia was named Memel the part in other countries was labelled ^*

The Neman Loops

Since the loops are located in Lithuania, they are often referred to as "Nemunas loops"

In 1992 Nemunas Loops Regional Park was founded. Its goal is to preserve spectacular loops (Lithuanian: vingis) that the Neman makes in the Punia forest. Near Prienai, the Neman makes a 17-km long loop (like a teardrop) coming within 1.2 km of completing the loop. The Neman flows along the double bend between Balbieriškis and Birštonas for 48 kilometers and then moves in the northern direction just 4.5 kilometers. It is also a very important historical site with castles which served as the first defense line against the Teutonic knights.

The Neman delta

Since the delta is located in Lithuania, it is often referred to as "Nemunas delta"

At the delta the Neman splits into a maze of river branches and canals mixing with polders and wetlands and is a very attractive destination for eco-tourism. The 4 main distributaries are Atmata, Pakalnė, Skirvytė and Gilija. In the center of the delta there is the biggest island in Lithuania, called Rusnė (5km²). Only about 2,500 people inhabit the island, but still it is the largest settlement in the delta. The town is also called Rusnė and it was established in 15th century. It is the only town in Lithuania that is situated on an island.

The delta is famous for its large number of rare varieties of breeding birds (total number of species is about 200; about 40 species are listed in the Lithuanian Red Book). It is also the most important resting area for migrating birds in Lithuania. Millions of birds and hundreds of species travel through this spot each year, including some internationally endangered species as white-tailed eagle, barnacle goose, crane, dunlin and aquatic warbler. The main research facilities are located in Ventė Cape (Ventės ragas in Lithuanian, literally - Ventės Horn; sometimes referred to as Ventė Cape or Ventė Peninsular). Professor Tadas Ivanauskas established one of the first stations of bird ringing in Europe there in 1929. The birds ringed here are later found in Iran, Egypt and even the Republic of South Africa.

Since 1999, the Lithuanian Ornithologists Society and the Nemunas Delta Regional Park Administration, have been organizing birdwatcher rallies every October. The rally is an international, open, non-professional competition to record as many bird species as possible. It is targeted to increase the awareness of this corner of nature in other countries.

The delta houses another curiosity of nature. An exceptional lake is Krokų Lanka (near the Nemunas debouchments), which had formed when river outwash partitioned a part the Curonian Lagoon. It is the biggest lake in the delta region (covers 7.93 km² area). In addition, it is the only marine origin lake in Lithuania.

The Neman's delta wetlands are protected as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. To protect the wildlife and facilitate research, Nemunas Delta Regional Park was created in 1992. It covers 239.50 km² area and consists of 14 reservations and one reservoir. About 20% of the area is water. The biggest danger for the delta is the pollution. Other dangers include agriculture, fishing, and tourists.

The delta suffers from annual floods.

The Neman plays a crucial part in ecosystem of Curonian Lagoon. It provides the main water inflow to the lagoon and keeps the water almost fresh. This allows both fresh water and mixed water animals to survive there. As Neman's delta expands, the lagoon shrinks.

Importance of the Neman in economics

The largest cities on the Neman are Hrodna (Belarus), Alytus and Kaunas (Lithuania) and Sovetsk (Russia).

Above Kaunas a dam for Kaunas hydroelectric plant was built in 1959. The resulting artificial lake is the biggest such lake in Lithuania. It is called the Kaunas Lagoon (Kauno marios - similarly to Kuršių marios; sometimes it's wrongly referred to as Kaunas sea). It occupies 63.5 km² (24.5 square miles) area, the length is 93 km (58 miles), the greatest depth - 22 m (72 feet). The Kaunas Lagoon is an important spot for Lithuanian yacht sport.

External links

Neman basin | Hydroelectric power plants | Rivers of Belarus | Rivers of Lithuania | Rivers of Russia

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