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For other uses, see Rhône (disambiguation).
Rhône (French: Le Rhône)
German: Rhone
Leman img 0573.jpg
View over the Rhône flowing from Valais into Lake Geneva
Countries Switzerland, France
Source Rhône Glacier
 - elevation 2,208 m (7,244 ft)
Mouth Mediterranean Sea
 - elevation 0 m (0 ft)
 - coordinates 43°19′51″N 4°50′44″E﻿ / ﻿43.33083°N 4.84556°E﻿ / 43.33083; 4.84556Coordinates: 43°19′51″N 4°50′44″E﻿ / ﻿43.33083°N 4.84556°E﻿ / 43.33083; 4.84556
Length 813 km (505 mi)
Basin 98,000 km2 (37,838 sq mi)
Rhone drainage basin.png

The Rhône (/ˈrn/; French: Le Rhône [ʁon]; German: Rhone [ˈroːnə]; Walliser German: Rotten [ˈrotən]; Italian: Rodano [ˈrɔːdano]; Arpitan: Rôno [ˈʁono]; Occitan: Ròse [ˈrɔze]) is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in the Rhône Glacier in the Swiss Alps at the far eastern end of the Swiss canton of Valais, passing through Lake Geneva and running through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhône (French: Le Grand Rhône) and the Little Rhône (Le Petit Rhône). The resulting delta constitutes the Camargue region.


Mouth of the Rhône


The Greco-Roman as well as the reconstructed Gaulish name is masculine, as is French le Rhône. This form survives in the Italian namesake, Rodano. German has adopted the French name but given it the feminine gender, die Rhone. The original German adoption of the Latin name was also masculine, der Rotten; it survives only in the Upper Valais (dialectal Rottu).

In French, the adjective derived from the river is rhodanien, as in le sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhône"), which is the name of the long, straight Saône and Rhône river valleys, a deep cleft running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif Central.


Before railroads and highways were developed, the Rhône was an important inland trade and transportation route, connecting the cities of Arles, Avignon, Valence, Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean ports of Fos-sur-Mer, Marseille and Sète. Travelling down the Rhône by barge would take three weeks. By motorized vessel, the trip now takes only three days. The Rhône is classified as a Class V waterway from the mouth of the Saône to the sea. The Saône, which is also canalized, connects the Rhône ports to the cities of Villefranche-sur-Saône, Mâcon and Chalon-sur-Saône. Smaller vessels (up to CEMT class I) can travel further northwest, north and northeast via the Centre-Loire-Briare and Loing Canals to the Seine, via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône (recently often called the "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne") to the Marne, via the Canal des Vosges (formerly called the "Canal de l'Est – Branche Sud") to the Moselle and via the Canal du Rhône au Rhin to the Rhine.

The Rhône is infamous for its strong current when the river carries large quantities of water: current speeds up to 10 kilometres per hour (6 mph) are sometimes reached, particularly in the stretch below the last lock at Valabrègues and in some of the diversion canals. The ten river locks are operated daily from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. Night operation can be requested and is usually granted.[1]


The Rhône Glacier above Oberwald, Switzerland is the source of the river.
The Rhône flowing through the valleys of the Swiss Alps and arriving into Lake Geneva, in Switzerland.

The Rhône rises as an effluent of the Rhône Glacier in the Valais, in the Swiss Alps, at an altitude of approximately 2,208 metres (7,244 ft).[2] From there it flows south through Gletsch and the Goms, the uppermost, valley region of the Valais before Brig. Shortly before reaching Brig, it receives the waters of the Massa from the Aletsch Glacier. It flows onward through the valley which bears its name and runs initially in a westerly direction about thirty kilometers to Leuk, then southwest about fifty kilometers to Martigny .


At Martigny, where it receives the waters of la Drance on its left bank, the Rhône makes a strong turn towards the north. Heading toward Lake Geneva, the valley narrows, a feature that has long given the Rhône valley strategic importance for the control of the Alpine passes. The Rhône then marks the boundary between the cantons of Valais (left bank) and Vaud (right bank), separating the Valais Chablais and Chablais Vaudois. It enters Lake Geneva near Le Bouveret.

On a portion of its extent Lake Geneva marks the border between France and Switzerland. On the left bank of Lake Geneva the river receives the Morge River. This river marks the border between France (Haute-Savoie) and Switzerland (Valais). The Morge enters Lake Geneva at Saint-Gingolph, a village on both sides of the border. On the right bank of the lake the Rhône receives the Venoge (river) and the Morges River.

Lake Geneva ends in Geneva, where the lake level is maintained by the Seujet dam. The average discharge from Lake Geneva is 251 cubic metres per second (8,900 cu ft/s).[3] In Geneva, the Rhône receives the waters of the Arve from the Mont Blanc. After a course of 290 kilometres (180 mi) the Rhône leaves Switzerland and enters the southern Jura Mountains. It then turns toward the south past the Bourget Lake which it is connected by the Savières channel. At Lyon, which is the biggest city along its course, the Rhône meets its biggest tributary, the Saône. The Saône carries 400 cubic metres per second (14,000 cu ft/s) and the Rhône itself 600 cubic metres per second (21,000 cu ft/s). From the confluence, the Rhône follows the southbound direction of the Saône. Along the Rhône Valley, it is joined on the right (western) bank by the rivers Eyrieux, Ardèche, Cèze, and Gardon coming from the Cévennes mountains; and on the left bank by the rivers Isère, with an average discharge of 350 cubic metres per second (12,000 cu ft/s), Drôme, Ouvèze, and Durance at 188 cubic metres per second (6,600 cu ft/s) from the Alps.

From Lyon, it flows south, between the Alps and the Massif Central. At Arles, the Rhône divides into two major arms forming the Camargue delta, both branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, the delta being termed the Rhône Fan. The larger arm is called the "Grand Rhône", the smaller the "Petit Rhône". The average annual discharge at Arles is 1,710 cubic metres per second (60,000 cu ft/s).[3]



The Rhône has been an important highway since the times of the Greeks and Romans. It was the main trade route from the Mediterranean to east-central Gaul.[4] As such, it helped convey Greek cultural influences to the western Hallstatt and the later La Tène cultures.[4] Celtic tribes living near the Rhône included the Seduni, Sequani, Segobriges, Allobroges, Segusiavi, Helvetii, Vocontii and Volcae Arecomici.[4]






Along the Rhône[edit]

Cities and towns along the Rhône include:

The Rhône through Geneva, Switzerland
The Rhône (left) meeting the river Arve in Geneva



The Rhône in Lyon under the old Boucle's Bridge
The Rhône at Avignon

See also[edit]

Almost all affluents of more than 36 km length. → This map in 20% projection – 749 x 1114 px

References and notes[edit]

  1. ^ NoorderSoft Waterways Database
  2. ^ "255 Sustenpass" (Map). Rhône source (online map) (2015 ed.). 1:50 000. National Map 1:50 000 – 78 sheets and 25 composites (in German). Cartography by Swiss Federal Office for Topography, swisstopo. Berne, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Office for Topography, swisstopo. 2013. ISBN 978-3-302-00255-2. Retrieved 2015-10-18. 
  3. ^ a b "Le Rhône" (in French). Geneva, Switzerland: La fédération Genevoise des Sociétés de Pêche. March 2001. Retrieved 2015-10-18. 
  4. ^ a b c Freeman, Philip. John T. Koch, ed. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. I. ABC-CLIO. p. 901. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. 
  5. ^ McKnight, Hugh (September 2005). Cruising French Waterways (4th ed.). Sheridan House. ISBN 978-1-57409-210-3. 

Further reading[edit]

  • Champion, Maurice (1858–1864), Les inondations en France depuis le VIe siècle jusqu'a nos jours (6 Volumes) (in French), Paris: V. Dalmont  Scans: Volume 3 (1861) (Bassin du Rhône starts at page 185), Volume 4 (1862).
  • Pardé, Maurice (1925), "Le régime du Rhône", Revue de géographie alpine (in French), 13 (13-3): 459–547 .
  • Pritchard, Sara B. (2011), Confluence: The Nature of Technology and the Remaking of the Rhône, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-04965-9  A social, environmental, and technological history of the transformation of the river since 1945.

External links[edit]