Biebrza : Tributaries, Natural environment, History, Cultural and linguistic environment Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biebrza

River in Poland

53°13′02″N 22°25′52″E / 53.2171°N 22.4310°E / 53.2171; 22.4310Length164 km (102 mi)Basin size7,092 km² (2,738 sq mi)Discharge • average35.3 m³/s (1,250 cu ft/s) Basin featuresProgressionNarew→ Vistula→ Baltic Sea

The Biebrza (Lithuanian: Bebra,^[1] Belarusian: Bobra, German: Bober) is a river in northeastern Poland, a tributary of the Narew River (near Wizna), with a length of 164 kilometers (102 mi) and a basin area of 7,092 km² (7,067 in Poland).^[2]

Larger towns in the area:

Lipsk
Sztabin
Goniądz
Osowiec-Twierdza
Radzilow
Wizna

The region is usually divided into lower, central, and upper basin areas, each with its own different characteristics.

Tributaries

Right tributaries: Netta, Lega, Ełk, Wissa
Left tributaries: Sidra, Brzozówka

Natural environment

Today, the river is best known for the vivid wildlife in the peatbogs and marshes in its flood areas.

History

Historically, the borderland regions of Mazovia and Lithuania, the area retains much of its cultural diversity today.

Cultural and linguistic environment

The basin of the Biebrza River is inhabited not only by hundreds of rare and endangered sorts of birds, but also by people representing diverse cultures, languages, and religions. Although most of the population of the region speaks standard Polish, some people in the upper river basin (municipalities of Lipsk, Dąbrowa Białostocka and partly Sztabin) speak a local dialect of Belarusian (called by them prosty jazyk 'simple language'). The people there belong to the Orthodox or Roman Catholic church. On the north bank of the upper Biebrza there are also a few villages where so-called "old believers" live, who speak an archaic dialect of Russian. Some of these communities have preserved much of their traditional culture in spite of long-lasting communist government policies aimed at assimilation of non-Polish cultural and linguistic minorities.