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The Vistula has its source in the south of the country, at Barania Góra (1220m high) in the Beskidy Mountains where it starts with White Little Vistula (Biala Wiselka) and Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wiselka). It then continues to flow over the vast Polish plains, passing several large Polish cities along its way, including Cracow, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Plock, Wloclawek, Torun, Swiecie, Tczew and Gdansk. With a delta and several branches ( Leniwka, PrzekopThe Przekop is a artificially created channel, one of the branches of Vistula in her delta. It flows in Poland to Gdansk Bay. Currently main current of Vistula flows through Przekop. Also known as Przekop Wisly. Geography of Poland., Smiala WislaThe Smiala Wisla is a river, one of the branches of Vistula. It flows in Poland to Gdansk Bay. The Smiala Wisla is an western border of Sobieszewo Island and was created in 1840 during the flooding when it became a new mouth of Vistula. Polish rivers., Martwa WislaThe Martwa Wisla is a river, one of the branches of Vistula. It flows in Poland to Gdansk Bay. Polish rivers., NogatNogat is one of the arms of the Vistula river, in the Vistula delta. Goes to Vistula Bay. Main cities: Malbork. and SzkarpawaThe Szkarpawa is a river, in the Vistula delta, one of the branches of Vistula. It flows in Poland to Gdansk Bay. Polish rivers.) it empties into the Vistula LagoonVistula Lagoon (or Bay Gulf is the sweet water lagoon on the Baltic Sea that is cut off from Gdansk Bay by the Vistula Spit. It takes a few branches of Vistula, notably Nogat and Pregolya rivers and is connected to Gdansk Bay by the Strait of Baltiysk. and Gdansk BayThe Bay of Gdansk (also known as the Gdansk Bay or Gulf of Gdansk in Polish Zatoka Gdanska in German Danziger Bucht is a southeastern bay of the Baltic sea enclosed by a large curve of the shores of Gdansk Pomerania in Poland ( Cape Rozewie, Hel Peninsula of the Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is in northeastern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of east and central Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat and the North Sea by way of the Oresund, the Great Belt and the Small Belt. It is

1 History

The name Vistula is probably "Old-European" ("Venedian" ?) and was recorded by Tacitus in AD 98 in his Germania. During that time the Vistula River ran into the Mare Suebicum, which was later called Baltic Sea. According to him, near the delta lived the East Germanic tribes of the Suebi and Burgundians, on both banks the Goths and east of them the Aesti , Galindi , Sudauer , Borusci , Veneti, and more. There he described people on the most eastern part of the Mare Suebicum, the Fenni.

250px Bugo-Narew estuary into Vistula at Modlin

However, Tacitus' knowledge of the different peoples was second-hand at best; as such, it should be taken with a grain of salt. He also used the term "Germans" not for describing ethnicity, for example when describing Wenets (Veneds, Venets), Peucyns and Fenns he wrote, that he isn't sure if he should call them Germans, since they have settlements and they fight on foot, or rather Sarmats since they have some similar customs to them.

The Vistula river is only a short portage from the Dnieper River, and thence to the Black Sea. Boats could be rolled from one river to the next there. What later became the city of Kiev in Ukraine was earlier known by its Gothic name of Danapirstadir "City on the Dnieper". The Baltic Sea-Vistula-Dnieper-Black Sea water route was one of the most ancient trade-routes, the Amber Road, on which amber and other items were traded from Northern Europe to Greece, Asia, Egypt, and elsewhere.