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Back to article: DRAVE, or DRAVA (Ger. Drau, Hung. Drava, Lat. Dravus)

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DRAVE, or DRAVA (Ger. Drau, Hung. Drava, Lat. Dravus), one of the principal right-bank affluents of the Danube, flowing through Austria and Hungary. It rises below the Innichner Eck, near the Toblacher Feld in Tirol, at an altitude of a little over 4000 ft., runs eastward, and forms the longest longitudinal valley of the Alps. The Drave has a total length of 45o m., while the length of its Alpine valley to Marburg is 15o m., and to its junction with the Mur 25o m. Owing to its great extent and easy accessibility the valley of the Drave was the principal road through which the invading peoples of the East, as the Huns, the Slays and the Turks, penetrated the Alpine countries. The Drave flows through Carinthia and Styria, and enters Hungary near Friedau, where up to its confluence with the Danube, at Almas, 14 m. E. of Esseg, it forms the boundary between that country and Croatia-Slavonia. At its mouth the Drave attains a breadth of 1055 ft. and a depth of 20 ft. The Drave is navigable for rafts only from Villach, and for steamers from Bares, a distance of 95 m. The principal affluents of the Drave are: on the left the Isel, the Gunk, the Lavant, and the largest of all, the Mur; and on the right the Gail and the Drann.