Aare

The Aare (Swiss Standard German: [ˈaːrə] ^ⓘ) or Aar (Swiss Standard German: [aːr] ^ⓘ) is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland.^[2][3]

Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about 295 kilometres (183 mi),^[2][4] during which distance it descends 1,565 m (5,135 ft), draining an area of 17,779 km² (6,865 sq mi), almost entirely within Switzerland, and accounting for close to half the area of the country, including all of Central Switzerland.^[4]

There are more than 40

The name was Latinized as Arula/Arola/Araris.[6]^{[nb 1]}

Course

The Aare rises in the great

Right after Innertkirchen it is joined by its first major tributary, the Gamderwasser. Less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) later the river carves through a limestone ridge in the Aare Gorge (German: Aareschlucht).^[2] It is here that the Aare proves itself to be more than just a river, as it attracts thousands of tourists annually to the causeways through the gorge.^[3] A little past Meiringen, near Brienz, the river expands into Lake Brienz. Near the west end of the lake it indirectly receives its first important tributary, the Lütschine, by the Lake of Brienz. It then runs across the swampy plain of the Bödeli (Swiss German diminutive for ground) between Interlaken and Unterseen before flowing into Lake Thun.^[2]

Near the west end of Lake Thun, the river indirectly receives the waters of the

From here the Aare flows northeast for a long distance, past the ambassador town Solothurn^[2] (below which the Grosse Emme flows in on the right), Aarburg (where it is joined by the Wigger), Olten, Aarau,^[2] near which is the junction with the Suhre, and Wildegg, where the Seetal Aabach falls in on the right. A short distance further, below Brugg, it receives first the Reuss, its major tributary, and shortly afterwards the Limmat, its second strongest tributary. It now turns due north, and soon becomes itself a tributary of the Rhine, which it even surpasses in volume when the two rivers unite downstream from Koblenz (Switzerland), opposite Waldshut in Germany. The Rhine, in turn, empties into the North Sea after crossing into the Netherlands.

Tributaries

• Limmat (after and northeast of Brugg, and northwest of Baden)
  • Reppisch
  • Sihl
    • Alp
    • Minster
  • Lake Zurich
    • Linthkanal
      • Lake Walen
        • Linth
          • Löntsch
          • Sernf
          • Flätschbach
        • Seez
• Reuss (after and northeast of Brugg, and northwest of Baden)
  • Lorze
  • Kleine Emme
  • Lake Lucerne
    • Sarner Aa
    • Engelberger Aa
    • Muota
  • Schächen
  • Chärstelenbach
  • Göschener Reuss
• Aabach (coming from Seetal, in Wildegg)
  • Bünz
• Suhre (after and north of Aarau)
  • Wyna
• Aabach (from the left in Aarau)
• Stegbach
• Dünnern (in Olten)
• Wigger (right before Aarburg)
• Murg (before, west of Murgenthal
  )
  • Rot (Roggwil)
  • Langete (Langenthal)
    • Ursenbach (Kleindietwil)
    • Rotbach (Huttwil)
• (Grosse) Emme (after, east of Solothurn)
• Lake of Bienne
  • La Suze (in Biel/Bienne, right next to the outflow)
  • Zihlkanal
    • Lake of Neuchatel
      • La Broye (flows through Lake Morat)
      • Zihl/La Thielle
        • L'Orbe
        • Le Talent
• Saane/La Sarine (after, west of Wohlensee)
  • Sense
• Gürbe (in Muri bei Bern
  )
• Zulg (west of Steffisburg)
• Lake Thun
  • Kander (west of Spiez)
    • Simme
    • Entschlige
• Lake Brienz
  • Lütschine (at the end of Lake Brienz, right next to the outflow)
• Gadmerwasser (right after, northwest of Innertkirchen
  )

• Lake Grimsel,^[8]
  1,908 metres (6,260 ft)
• Lake Brienz,^[8] 564 metres (1,850 ft)^[9]
• Lake Thun,^[8] 558 metres (1,831 ft)^[9]
• Lake Wohlen,^[10] 481 metres (1,578 ft)
• Niederriedsee,^[10] 461 metres (1,512 ft)
• Lake Biel,^[10] 429 metres (1,407 ft)
• Klingnauer Stausee, 318 metres (1,043 ft)

Notes

Footnotes

1. ^ Geoserver of the Swiss Confederation
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Bridgwater & Aldrich 1968, p. 11
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Gresswell & Huxley 1965, p. 27
4. ^ ^{a b} Hoiberg 2010, p. 4
5. ^ ^{a b c} Cohen 1998, p. 1
6. ^ Kristol et al. 2005, p. 73
7. ^ Forbiger 1848, p. 126f
8. ^ ^{a b c} Anon 1973, p. 74
9. ^ ^{a b} Gresswell & Huxley 1965, p. 272
10. ^ ^{a b c} Anon 1973, p. 70

References

• Anon (1973). Atlas Routier et Touristique (in French). Paris, France: Bordas-Tirade.
• Bridgwater, W.; Aldrich, Beatrice, eds. (1968). "Aare". The Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  ISBN 978-0670230709
  .
• Cohen, Saul B., ed. (1998). "Aare". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  ISBN 0-231-11040-5
  .
• Forbiger, Albert (1848). Handbuch Der Alten Geographie. Vol. 3. Leipzig, Germany: Veriag von Gustav Mayer.
• Gresswell, R. Kay; Huxley, Anthony, eds. (1965). Standard Encyclopedia of the World's Rivers and Lakes. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
• Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Aare River". Encyclopædia Britannica (15th ed.). Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  ISBN 978-0-85229-961-6
  .
• Kristol, Andres; Cattin, Florence; Meroni, Barbara; Schmid, Gabrielle, eds. (2005). "Aarau AG (Aarau)" [Encyclopedia of the Swiss municipality of LSG: Dictionnaire de toponymique scommunes Suisses DTS / Dizionario dei comuni toponomastico svizzeri DTS]. Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen LSG: Dictionnaire toponymique de scommunes suisses DTS /Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri DTS (in German) (1st ed.). Stuttgart, Germany: Huber Frauenfeld.
  ISBN 3-7193-1308-5
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aare.

• The Aare Gorge (Aareschlucht)
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Aar" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I (9th ed.). 1878. pp. 2–3.
  • "Aar". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 1907.
  • "Aar". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 2–3.
  • "Aar". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.