The Vistula (/ˈvɪstjʊlə/; Polish: Wisła [ˈviswa] ⓘ; German: Weichsel [ˈvaɪksl̩] ⓘ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length.

[4] It flows through Poland's largest cities, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk.

The Vistula has given its name to the last glacial period that occurred in northern Europe, approximately between 100,000 and 10,000 BC, the Weichselian glaciation.

[9] The 12th-century Polish chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek Latinised the river's name as Vandalus, a form presumably influenced by Lithuanian vanduõ 'water'.

Jan Długosz (1415–1480) in his Annales seu cronicae incliti regni Poloniae contextually points to the river, stating "of the eastern nations, of the Polish east, from the brightness of the water the White Water...so named" (Alba aqua),[10] perhaps referring to the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka).

The delta currently starts around Biała Góra near Sztum, about 50 km (31 mi) from the mouth, where the river Nogat splits off.

List of right and left tributaries with a nearby city, from source to mouth: According to flood studies carried out by Zbigniew Pruszak, who is the co-author of the scientific paper Implications of SLR[16] and further studies carried out by scientists attending Poland's Final International ASTRA Conference,[17] and predictions stated by climate scientists at the climate change pre-summit in Copenhagen,[18] it is highly likely most of the Vistula Delta region (which is below sea level[19]) will be flooded due to the sea level rise caused by climate change by 2100.

In the last million years, an ice sheet entered the area of Poland eight times, bringing along with it changes of reaches of the river.

Three principal geographical and geological land masses of the continent meet in its river basin: the Eastern European Plain, Western Europe, and the Alpine zone to which the Alps and the Carpathians belong.

During periods of warmer weather, the ancient Vistula, "Pra-Wisła", searched for the shortest way to the sea—thousands of years ago it flowed into the North Sea somewhere at the latitude of contemporary Scotland.

The climate of the Vistula valley, its plants, animals, and its very character changed considerably during the process of glacial retreat.

[22][23] Large parts of the Vistula Basin were occupied by the Iron Age Lusatian and Przeworsk cultures in the first millennium BC.

[24] The Vistula Basin along with the lands of the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Oder came to be called Magna Germania by Roman authors of the first century AD.

[28] A number of West Slavic Polish tribes formed small dominions beginning in the eighth century, some of which coalesced later into larger ones.

[31] For hundreds of years the river was one of the main trading arteries of Poland, and the castles that line its banks were highly prized possessions.

[32] In the 14th century the lower Vistula was controlled by the Teutonic Knights Order, invited in 1226 by Konrad I of Masovia to help him fight the pagan Prussians on the border of his lands.

At this time the surrounding lands were inhabited by Pomeranians, but Gdańsk soon became a starting point for German settlement of the largely fallow Vistulan country.

[37] In the 16th century most of the grain exported was leaving Poland through Gdańsk, which because of its location at the end of the Vistula and its tributary waterway and of its Baltic seaport trade role became the wealthiest, most highly developed, and by far the largest centre of crafts and manufacturing, and the most autonomous of the Polish cities.

Most river shipping travelled north, with southward transport being less profitable, and barges and rafts often being sold off in Gdańsk for lumber.

From 1867 to 1917, after the collapse of the January Uprising (1863–1865), the Russian tsarist administration called the Kingdom of Poland the Vistula Land.

[citation needed] The Polish September campaign included battles over control of the mouth of the Vistula, and of the city of Gdańsk, close to the river delta.

During the Invasion of Poland (1939), after the initial battles in Pomerelia, the remains of the Polish Army of Pomerania withdrew to the southern bank of the Vistula.

[43] After defending Toruń for several days, the army withdrew further south under pressure of the overall strained strategic situation, and took part in the main battle of Bzura.

[46][47][48] In early 1945, in the Vistula–Oder Offensive, the Red Army crossed the Vistula and drove the German Wehrmacht back past the Oder river in Germany.