| Biała | |
|---|---|
 Biała River in Bielsko-Biała | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Poland |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Silesian Beskids |
| • elevation | about 1,020 m (3,346 ft)[1] |
| Mouth | |
• location | Vistula |
• coordinates | 49°56′51″N19°01′34″E / 49.947460°N 19.026153°E /49.947460; 19.026153 |
| Length | 28.875 km (17.942 mi)[1] |
| Basin size | 139 km2 (54 sq mi) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Vistula→Baltic Sea |
TheBiała (German:Bialka) is a river in southernPoland. The 29 km (18 mi) long Biała is a right tributary of theVistula. It is the main river of the city ofBielsko-Biała and used to be historically important as a border river dividing not onlyBielsko andBiała but also for several centuries the states ofBohemia (succeeded by theHabsburg monarchy) andPoland.
Two sources of the river are located on the north-east slopes of theKlimczok mountain in the Silesian Beskids on the elevation of around 1,020 and 900 metres (3,350 and 2,950 ft).[1] The upper part the river, known asBiałka (diminutive form ofBiała), has characteristics of a mountain stream. The first settlement it runs through is the village ofBystra. BeforeMikuszowice it joins withBiała stream beginning on eastern slopes of Magura mountain inLittle Beskids, then the river veers north and on the length of 15.7 km (9.8 mi) it forms a pivotal line of the city of Bielsko-Biała, afterward it flows in betweenCzechowice-Dziedzice to the west andGmina Bestwina to the east, and empties to Vistula River on the elevation of 240 metres (790 ft).[1]
In the 13th century both banks of the river belonged to theSilesianDuchy of Opole and Racibórz but the valley of the river was yet sparsely populated defining a natural border betweencastellanies ofCieszyn andOświęcim and ecclesiastical border between dioceses ofWrocław andKraków. In 1290, in the process offeudal fragmentation of Poland theDuchy of Cieszyn, encompassing both Cieszyn and Oświęcim and so also both banks of the river, was split from it. Roughly at that time several new settlements were established alongside the river, including foundation of the town of Bielsko.
Mieszko I, Duke of Cieszyn, the first ruler of the duchy, died in 1315 and afterwards his sons divided its land into two parts alongside Biała River: diminished Duchy of Teschen to west andDuchy of Oświęcim to east. In the middle of the 15th century Duchy of Oświęcim was bought into theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland and so the river constituted henceforth the border between Polish and theBohemian Crown (since 1526 part of the Habsburg Monarchy). Upon theFirst Partition of Poland in 1772 the river ceased to be a state border and continued as a regional border betweenAustrian Silesia to the west andGalicia to the east. AfterWorld War I and the 1919Polish–Czechoslovak War it separated the Polish part ofCieszyn Silesia in theAutonomous Silesian Voivodeship from Lesser PolishKraków Voivodeship.
Tributaries of theVistula River | ||
|---|---|---|
| Forming rivers |
|  |
| Main tributaries of the left bank | ||
| Main tributaries of the right bank | ||
| Distributary | ||
Silesia topics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ThisSilesian Voivodeship location article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
This article related to a river in Poland is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
