Main river

The River Main (German: Main) is a river in Germany, which forms the main tributary of the Rhine River to the east. With a length of 524 kilometers (including the White Main, 574 km), it crosses the wine-growing region of Franconia, which is located in the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse.

It rises near Kulmbach at the confluence of its two headwaters, the Red Main (Roter Main) and the white Main (Weißer Main). The most important cities in its course are: Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, Aschaffenburg, Frankfurt am Main (also called simply Frankfurt), Rüsselsheim am Main and Mainz.

Origin of name

The name of the River Main comes from the time of the Celts, who called the river Moin or Mogin. When the Romans arrived in the area in the 1st century B.C. C., Latinized the name into Moenus, as it appears in Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, or Tacitus in his work Germania. Similar names exist in Ireland (Maoin) and Great Britain (Meon from lat. maionus). There are various theories about the etymology of his name. For example, certain authors allege that in ancient European languages it has the meaning of water, thus in Latvian maina, Lithuanian maiva. Others say that it may come from the Latin Circular Wall (moenia). In medieval times it was called Moyn or Moyne and it was not until the 14th century that it began to be called by the name we know today.

In the dialects of the area it is pronounced in the following ways:

• Maa in Alta Franconia (Oberfranken),
• Mee in Baja Franconia (Unterfranken),
• Määä in the Aschaffenburg region,
• Maa in the region of Frankfurt del Meno.

Geomorphology and hydrology

The first tour of the Main runs in the area of Franconia and Bavaria and through the southern part of Hesse. In the sector of the city of Wertheim, when it reaches the length of 25 km, it begins to form the border between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, in this way it ends up flowing into the Rhine in Wiesbaden in front of the old part of the city of Mainz.

Flora and fauna

The fauna of the river is rich in fish and in this way you can observe good specimens of European eel, barbel, platica, Aitel, river perch, white bream, leucisco, pike, varieties of carp, proboscis and Rapfen.

Floods

Since 1826, exact measurements of the river levels have been made, with the highest levels being:

• March 1845
• 27 November 1882
• 31 December 1882

In the 20th and 21st centuries there were on the following dates:

• 1920
• February 1908
• 30 January 1995
• 27 February 1970

Navigation

The Main is navigable for cargo ships from its mouth on the Rhine near Mainz to Bamberg (396 km). Since 1992 it has been connected to the Danube River via the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and the highly regulated Altmühl River. The river has been channeled through 34 large locks (300m x 12m) to allow CEMT V class vessels (110m x 11.45m) to navigate the full length of the river. The 16 locks on the Rhine-Main-Danube canal and those on the Danube have the same dimensions.