The Vistula River is among the most important rivers of Europe. From its source in the Carpathian Mountains, the river travels north to empty into the Baltic Sea. In ancient times the Vistula is part of the lucrative Amber Roads trade network.
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Vital Statistics
The Vistula is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 km (651 mi) in length. Its drainage basin, extending to three other countries covers 193,960 km2 (74,890 sq mi), of which 168,868 km2 (65,200 sq mi) is in Poland.
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains), where it begins with the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka) and the Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wisełka).
Vistula flows through Poland's largest cities, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk. The river empties into Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany) or Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea.
READ: Lora Ley Fantasy Fiction - German Mythology Adventures
At the Baltic Sea the Vistula splits into six main branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa). The latter two feed the Vistula Lagoon, separated from the Bay of Gdansk and the Baltic Sea by a narrow sand dune spit.
The last glacial period in northern Europe, c. 100,000 - 10,000 BCE, is called the Weichselian glaciation after the German name for the river, Weichsel. As the ice melts, rivers form along the edges of retreating glaciers and in valleys.
Nature, Myth & History
History of the Vistula and its valley begins in the Quaternary period, 2 million years ago. The climate is colder. In the last million years ice sheets enter the area of Poland eight times, continually changing the course of the river.
In the warmer periods between glaciations, the Vistula deepens and widens its valley. The present shape of the river forms within the last 14,000 years, after the complete retreat of ice sheet.
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
The melt and movement of the glaciers create a complex network of waterways and wetlands. After c. 10,000 BCE the temperature rises about four degrees, and life grows in places once claimed by ice. Humans wander north in hunter-gatherer societies.
The Vistula River is a significant trade route since Neolithic times. As the Amber Roads begin to take shape, traders and travelers make their way down the Vistula, Oder, Elbe and Neman rivers, along mysterious channels and overland through deep forests.
READ: Lora Ley Fantasy Fiction - German Mythology Adventures
Rivers are the ancient highways. Trade routes can run as far south as the Black Sea and from there along the coast, long before the Greeks start of establish Black Sea colonies c. 6th century BCE. The Black Sea opens trade to the Mediterranean.
The earliest boats are dugouts and river rafts where timber is plentiful. Reed boats appear in early civilizations such as in Mesopotamia, waterproofed with bitumen, itself a strong trade item.
READ - Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries
By the early Bronze Age watercraft evolve to accommodate multiple rowers, steering rudder and a mast with single maneuverable sail. Boats develop for work, war and trade.
Many gradually settle into communities with longhouses and at least one outer wall. The people farm, but much of their attention is given to raising livestock, raiding and hunting.
Rye wheat (Secale), potatoes and broad beans do well in the northern climate. Growing season is short and winters can be lethal. Unlike the more temperate south the Baltic north creates an environment where the hardiest survive.
As a result, the people on the Baltic shores at the time of written record (Tacitus, Germania, 98 CE) are robust farmers and hunters, hearty partiers and ferocious warriors. They drink beer, according to Tacitus, but their favorite beverage is mead.
People inhabit the Baltic coast and Vistula basin long before the Romans appear in history.
Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements in the Vistula vicinity include Babia Góra in SE Poland and sites at Jawiszowice.
Corded Ware, Tumulus, Urnfield and Lusatian people occupy the region in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Here the Iron Age begins later, c. 500 BCE, after the Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1700 - 500 BCE).
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
The Vistula Basin along with the lands of the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Oder are named Magna Germania by 1st century CE by authors such as Tacitus. The inhabitants aren't all Germanic people and the contemporary sources are vague.
Tacitus himself admits confusion over the concept. The Romans don't conquer Germania and never arrive at the Baltic. Writers like Tacitus receive second-hand information from tradespeople, resettled tribes or captives. The picture of the Baltic north is murky.
Ptolemy, writing in the time of Hadrian in the second century CE, describes the Vistula as the border between Germania and Sarmatia. The Sarmatians are nomadic horse people of the Ukrainian Steppe. Lands of tribal societies become more detailed.
See MAP
Later attestations to tribal cultures along the Vistula include the Gepidae; the Gutones, possibly Goths; Lugii and Burgundiones; and the Rugii at the coast. To the north are the Aesti in Lithuania and the Sitones, a society apparently run by man-hating women.
READ - Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries
The Baltic Sea - Vistula - Dnieper - Black Sea route with its rivers is part of the Amber Roads, the most ancient trade routes of Europe. Amber and other items are traded from Northern Europe to various destinations including Greece, ancient near East and Egypt.
A recent find of Baltic amber in Spain dates back to the 4th millennium BCE. While the Vistula isn't the only way to the balmy south, it's one of the most important. Trade items besides amber include spices, fabric, furs, copper, salt, obsidian and flint.
READ: Lora Ley Fantasy Fiction - German Mythology Adventures
For centuries the Vistula is subject to severe floods from various causes, including rain, snow melt and ice jams. Land in some areas is depopulated by floods, and later resettled.
A famous fairy tale about the Vistula is the story of the Wawel dragon. This dragon lives beneath the town, stealing animals and young women to eat. The King offers his daughter in marriage to any who could slay the dragon.
Many heroes become roast hero sandwiches. Finally a young shoemaker arrives at the castle. He fills a skin with salt and puts it at the entrance to the dragon's lair. The dragon gobbles it up. Then it becomes terribly thirsty.
It rushes to the Vistula to quench its thirst, but can't drink enough water. The dragon drinks so much water it swells up and explodes. The shoemaker gets the princess, and the whole country celebrates.
READ - Reiker For Hire - Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries
16th century folklore centers around Princess Wanda, who becomes queen of the Poles upon her father's death. She refuses to marry a German prince, who then invades Poland. Wanda throws herself into the Vistula and drowns to be sure he won't invade Poland again.
In Slavic paganism, female water spirits are similar to Greek naiads or Germanic nixies. They can be white (benevolent) or black (malevolent). Beautiful young women who sometimes enchant men, they may be called Boginki, Navki, Rusalki, and Vily.
Commentaires