This page lists the principal rivers of Europe with their main tributaries.
Scope
The border of Europe and Asia is here defined as from the Kara Sea, along the Ural Mountains and Ural River to the Caspian Sea. While the crest of the Caucasus Mountains is the geographical border with Asia in the south, Georgia, and to a lesser extent Armenia and Azerbaijan, are politically and culturally often associated with Europe; rivers in these countries are therefore included. The list is at the outset limited to those rivers that are at least 250 km long from the most distant source, have a drainage basin of at least 10,000 km², or have a mean discharge of at least 150 m3/s. Also included are a number of rivers that do not meet these criteria, but are very well known and/or nearly make the mark. Examples of these are the Arno, Ruhr, Saar, and Clyde. See the lists of rivers for individual countries linked to at the bottom of the page for smaller rivers. The rivers are ordered from those flowing to the extreme northeast into the Arctic Ocean, following the coastline anticlockwise all the way to the southeastern coast of the Black Sea. Iceland and the British Islands are included via virtual connections with northern Norway and across the Strait of Dover and the North Channel, respectively. Finally, rivers draining into the Caspian Sea are listed from Azerbaijan to the Ural River. The table can be sorted by each column. The first three columns give a ranking for length, area and volume of those rivers flowing into the sea or an endorheic lake down to the cut-off values. No ranking of tributaries is attempted, as the concept is too contentious; for example, hydrologically the middle and upper Volga could be considered a tributary of the Kama, in which case it would be the fifth or sixth longest river in Europe. Instead it does not appear in the table at all. The most important rivers in Europe are Danube, Volga, Rhine, Elbe, Oder and Dnieper, among others.
Caveats
The measurements shown are drawn from sources deemed most reliable, but still are often uncertain, especially when other sources disagree wildly. For example, the Siret in Romania and Ukraine is 726 km long with a basin of 44,000 km2 according to the , 647 km according to a Romanian management plan for the Siret basin and 559 km according to the extensive transboundary rivers study by the Economic Commission for Europe. Length estimates for rivers depend on a number of variables:
The choice of the source obviously has an impact. Here we attempt to list the most distant source. When that involves a tributary nearer the mouth of the river, the length of the nominal river is listed as well, if it meets the above criteria.
Rivers flowing into estuaries have an arbitrary lower end. The channel of such a river through an estuary is usually included in the length when it is exposed at low tide.
The length of a watercourse through a reservoir or lake is open to interpretation. For this table, when a source for the total length of a river system involving lakes is lacking, the shortest possible course through the lakes is used
Over time, a river's length can change through canalization, the creation of reservoirs, and natural changes in the water course.
The catchment areas are more consistent between sources. However, in low relief the watershed is less obvious, while underground connections further complicate area measurements. Unless excellent sources are available, the areas below 70°N latitude are taken from the HydroBASINS project. The and websites provide convenient interfaces to assess the accuracy of many of the basins. Areas for rivers above 70°N are warned and found to be less reliable. The listed multiyear mean discharges are even less reliable than the lengths. Underestimates are most common, as the gauging stations are often far above the mouth, so that only a fraction of the drainage basin is represented. On the other hand, the highest volume of a river may not be at the mouth due to water loss by human usage, diversion, evaporation, or underground drainage.
Rivers of Europe
Rivers of Europe by length
The longest rivers in Europe with their approximate lengths :
Rhine - (Aare - as major tributary of the Rhine, even larger than Rhine's contribution of 440|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,500|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,900|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,700|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,609|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,460|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,310|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,258|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,160|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|1,080|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|890|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|890|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|890|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|889|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|863|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|860|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|858|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|790|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|735|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|709|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|383|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|77|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|76|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|54|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|47|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|45|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|32|m3/s|abbr=onconvert|26|m3/s|abbr=on
