Narewka (river)

Narewka
Нараўка
Narewka; Нараўка
	Narewka River in the Bialowieza Forest, Poland
	Narewka (in red) on the map of the tributary rivers of Narew (blue)
Location
Country	Belarus, Poland
Voblast / Voivodeship	Hrodna, Podlaskie
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	south-eastern part of the Bialowieza Forest, Belarus
• coordinates	52°52′25″N 24°13′9″E / 52.87361°N 24.21917°E
• elevation	159 m (522 ft)
Mouth
• location	Narew near Bieńdziuga, Poland
• coordinates	52°55′53″N 23°39′06″E / 52.9314°N 23.6517°E
• elevation	137 m (449 ft)
Length	61.1 km (38.0 mi)
Basin size	711 km2 (275 sq mi)
Discharge
• location	Wilcze Gardło on the Narew
Basin features
Progression	Narew→ Vistula→ Baltic Sea

The Narewka (Polish pronunciation: [naˈrɛfka]; Belarusian Нараўка) River is a left-bank tributary of the Narew River in western Belarus and northeastern Poland.

Etymology edit

The Narewka River's name comes from a Proto-Indo-European root, *nr, primarily associated with "water" (compare Narva, Neretva, Neris, Ner, and Nur).^[1]

Geography edit

The Narewka flows through the European region known as the Wysoczyzny Podlasko – Bialoruskie (Podlasie–Belarus Plateau) in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship and Belarus' Grodno Region. A major part of the river flows through the Białowieża Forest. The Narewka River is the main watercourse of the Polish part of the Białowieża Forest.

The river is 61.1 km long, including 21.7 kilometers in the Republic of Belarus.

Catchment (basin) covers an area Narewka 710.7 km², of which the Polish border is 491.32 km. Within the forest is 380 km² catchment area, part of which falls in the Białowieża National Park. Catchment forest cover is 49.9%. Until dry, the Narewka flowed through quite a muddy valley. In the 1960s has been draining uroczyska "Wild Nikora.

The width of the trough Narewka ranges from 5 to 15 m (at the mouth). The maximum depth at the measuring point in Bialowieza: 201 cm. The rate of flow is 2 km/h.

History edit

Narewka River is marked on the first map of Bialowieza, line drawn in 1784 by the royal surveyor Michael Połchowskiego. The documents appear much earlier.

In December 1409 Władysław Jagiełło took place in Bialowieza Forest a great hunt, making the stocks of meat before the battle of Grunwald. The meat is in the spring of next year, the river was floated Narewka, Narew and the Vistula to Plock.

In 1559 a partial separation was carried out from Bialowieza Forest Bielsko (Ladzkiej). Narewka River to the mouth of the Narew, along with the river Wieliczanka constituted the boundary between forests.