Elbe

The Elbe () | | or |Upper and , }}}} is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany before flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, northwest of Hamburg. Its total length is .

The Elbe's major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Ohře, Saale, Havel, Mulde, and Schwarze Elster.

The Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of , the twelfth-largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries; however, it lies almost entirely in just two of them, Germany (65.5%) and the Czech Republic (33.7%, covering about two thirds of the nation's territory). On its southeastern edges, the Elbe river basin also comprises small parts of Austria (0.6%) and Poland (0.2%). The Elbe catchment area is inhabited by 24.4 million people; its biggest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Prague, Dresden and Leipzig. Provided by Wikipedia