Names in other languages include German: Rhone [ˈroːnə] ⓘ; Walser: Rotten [ˈrotən]; Italian: Rodano [ˈrɔːdano]; Arpitan: Rôno [ˈʁono]; Occitan: Ròse [ˈrɔze, ˈʀɔze]; and Romansh: Rodan.

The original German adoption of the Latin name was also masculine, der Rotten; it survives only in the Upper Valais (dialectal Rottu).

Before railroads and highways were developed, the Rhône was an important inland trade and transportation route, connecting the cities of Arles, Avignon, Valence, Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean ports of Fos-sur-Mer, Marseille and Sète.

As a result, the Rhône Valley experiences a drier climate than the rest of Switzerland, being sheltered by the three highest ranges of the Alps, making Valais the driest and largest wine region of the country.

On the left (south) bank of Lake Geneva, the river Morge joins at the village of Saint-Gingolph, and also marks the French-Swiss border.

Westward, the Dranse (unrelated to the Drance) enters the lake with its preserved delta, and then the Hermance marks another French-Swiss border.

[8] Below the dam, the Rhône receives the waters of the Arve, fed by the Mont Blanc massif, with a visibly higher sediment load and much lower temperature.

After a total of 290 kilometres (180 mi) in Switzerland, the Rhône continues west, entering France and the southern Jura Mountains.

Continuing generally westward, the Rhône then receives the waters of the Valserine, enters the reservoir created by the Génissiat Dam, and is then joined by the Ain.

[10] Celtic tribes living near the Rhône included the Seduni, Sequani, Segobriges, Allobroges, Segusiavi, Helvetii, Vocontii and Volcae Arecomici.

[11] Trade on the upper river used barques du Rhône, sailing barges, 30 by 3.5 metres (98 by 11 ft), with a 75-tonne (165,000 lb) capacity.

Goods would be transshipped at Arles into 23-metre (75 ft) sailing barges called allèges d'Arles for the final run down to the Mediterranean.

Steam passenger vessels 80 to 100 metres (260–330 ft) long made up to 20 km/h (11 kn) and could do the downstream run from Lyon to Arles in a day.

In 1933, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) was established to improve navigation and generate electricity, also to develop irrigated agriculture and to protect the riverside towns and land from flooding.

Some progress was made in deepening the navigation channel and constructing scouring walls, but World War II brought such work to a halt.

It also drew up plans for the high-capacity Rhine-Rhône Waterway, along the route of the existing Canal du Rhône au Rhin, but this project was abandoned in 1997.