Seine

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Map of France

Seine (Hindi: सीन नदी, /seɪn, sɛn/ SAYN, SEN, French: [sɛn] ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France.

Variants

• Seine River

Name

The name Seine comes from Gaullish Sēquana, from the Celtic Gallo-Roman goddess of the river, as offerings for her were found at the source. Sometimes it is associated with Latin; the Latin word seems to derive from the same root as Latin sequor (I follow) and English sequence, namely Proto-Indo-European *seikw-, signifying 'to flow' or 'to pour forth'.

It rises at Source-Seine, 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre (and Honfleur on the left bank). It is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen, 120 kilometres from the sea. Over 60 percent of its length, as far as Burgundy, is negotiable by large barges and most tour boats, and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating; excursion boats offer sightseeing tours of the river banks in the capital city, Paris.

Sources

The Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864. A number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, a dog, and a dragon. On the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana "Seine goddess" and other ex-votos found at the same place are now exhibited in the Dijon archaeological museum.

Course

The Seine can artificially be divided into five parts:

• the Petite Seine "Small Seine" from the sources to Montereau-Fault-Yonne
• the Haute Seine "Upper Seine" from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris
• the Traversée de Paris "the Paris waterway"
• the Basse Seine "Lower Seine" from Paris to Rouen
• the Seine maritime "Maritime Seine" from Rouen to the English channel.

Tributaries

Tributaries of the Seine are, from source to mouth:

• Ource (right)
• Barse (right)
• Aube (right)
• Yonne (left)
• Loing (left)
• Almont (right)
• Essonne (left)
• Orge (left)
• Yerres (right)
• Marne (right)
• Bièvre (left)
• Oise (right)
• Aubette de Meulan (right)
• Mauldre (left)
• Vaucouleurs (left)
• Epte (right)
• Andelle (right)
• Eure (left)
• Oison (left)
• Aubette (right)
• Cailly (right)
• Austreberthe (right)
• Commerce (right)
• Risle (left)
• Lézarde (right)

History

On 28 or 29 March 845, an army of Vikings led by a chieftain named Reginherus, which is possibly another name for Ragnar Lothbrok, sailed up the River Seine with siege towers and sacked Paris.

On 25 November 885, another Viking expedition led by Rollo was sent up the River Seine to attack Paris again.

In March, 1314, King Philip IV of France had Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, burned on a scaffold on an island in the River Seine in front of Notre Dame de Paris.

After the burning at the stake of Joan of Arc in 1431, her ashes were thrown into the Seine from the medieval stone Mathilde Bridge at Rouen, though unserious counter-claims persist.

According to his will, Napoleon, who died in 1821, wished to be buried on the banks of the Seine. His request was not granted.

At the 1900 Summer Olympics, the river hosted the rowing, swimming, and water polo events. Twenty-four years later, it hosted the rowing events again at Bassin d'Argenteuil, along the Seine north of Paris.

Until the 1930s, a towing system using a chain on the bed of the river existed to facilitate movement of barges upriver.[citation needed] Listed in World Canals by Charles Hadfield, David & Charles 1986.

The Seine was one of the original objectives of Operation Overlord in 1944. The Allies' intention was to reach the Seine by 90 days after D-Day. That objective was met. An anticipated assault crossing of the river never materialized as German resistance in France crumbled by early September 1944. However, the First Canadian Army did encounter resistance immediately west of the Seine and fighting occurred in the Forêt de la Londe as Allied troops attempted to cut off the escape across the river of parts of the German 7th Army in the closing phases of the Battle of Normandy.

Some of the Algerian victims of the Paris massacre of 1961 drowned in the Seine after being thrown by French policemen from the Pont Saint-Michel and other locations in Paris.

Dredging in the 1960s mostly eliminated tidal bores on the lower river, known in French as "le mascaret."

In 1991 UNESCO added the banks of the Seine in Paris—the Rive Gauche and Rive Droite—to its list of World Heritage Sites in Europe.

Since 2002 Paris-Plages has been held every summer on the Paris banks of the Seine: a transformation of the paved banks into a beach with sand and facilities for sunbathing and entertainment.

Jat History

Mangal Sen Jindal (1992) writes....Vikings: "The most widespread and destructive raiders came from Scandinavia. During the ninth and tenth centuries, Swedes, Danes and Norwagians- collectively known as Vikings stormed out of their remote forests and fiords. The Danes took the middle passage, raiding England and the shores of Germany, France and Spain. By the 870's they had occupied most of England, north of the Thames. Also in the middle of the ninth century their furry broke upon the continent, where their long boats sailed up the Rhine, Scheldt, Seine and Loire. In particular the Danes devastated north west France,

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History of Origin of Some Clans in India:End of p.99

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destroying dozens of abbeys and towns."

"West of the Oder estuary, on the other hand, the coast features contrast with those of Pomerania and between Rostock and Jutland the natural conditions for maritime commerce were excellent, since vessals found there abundant shelter, and could navigate well inland, off the east coast of Jutland the sea is shallow and sheltered from the west winds, and the Testiary rock which forms this low coastland has offered resistance to marine erosion: in consequence, the coast has not been smoothed out as in Pomerania but is actually deeply embayed. More-over in the Western part of the Baltic, islands are concentrated: Rugon stands at the mouth of the Oder; Funen and Zealand lie between Jutland and Sweden; and the island of Bornland and Gothland are situated in relation to neighbouring coasts as to form useful maritime stations or tradecentres."

"Moreover, as early as 1526 the Dutch had formed the idea (which however, was not realized) of making Goteborg in south-western Sweden a great staple port, so that goods could be carried overland into the Baltic and the sound dues could be evaded. In order to avoid payment of the toll dues they sought also the route along the coasts of Norway to the Arctic and white Sea ports of Russia."

"The Goths were the first to occupy Roman Dacia, A.D. 250 ; in 270 the province was abandoned, and the lower Danube re-fortified as the frontier line; whilst by 350 the Goths had pushed their territories as far west as the lower Tisza. Their subsequent invasion of Gaula may have followed the Roman Danubian roads; it is known merely that they crossed the Rhine and captured Metz." ...

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History of Origin of Some Clans in India:End of p.100

सीन नदी

सीन नदी - यह यूरोप में सबसे प्रसिद्ध में से एक है क्योंकि यह महाद्वीप के कलाकारों के लिए प्रेरणा का स्रोत है, हालांकि यह केवल फ्रांस से गुजरता है। यह कोटे डोर में पैदा हुआ है और 776 किमी की लंबाई और 500 वर्ग मीटर के प्रवाह के साथ अंग्रेजी चैनल में इसका मुंह है। सीन नदी का अधिकांश भाग नौगम्य है। पेरिस का आपका दौरा एक महान पर्यटक आकर्षण है क्योंकि तट पर आप शहर के कई प्रतिनिधि और कई पुलों को देख सकते हैं: पोंट नेफ, पोंट लुई-फिलिप या नॉर्मंडी ब्रिज।

References

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