Gdańsk Bay in the context of "Vistula Spit"

The Vistula (/ˈvɪstjʊlə/; Polish: Wisła [ˈviswa] ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at 1,047 kilometres (651 miles) in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers 193,960 km (74,890 sq mi), of which 168,868 km (65,200 sq mi) is in Poland.

The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland, 1,220 meters (4,000 ft) above sea level in the Silesian Beskids (western part of Carpathian Mountains), where it begins with the White Little Vistula (Biała Wisełka) and the Black Little Vistula (Czarna Wisełka). It flows through Poland's largest cities, including Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Płock, Włocławek, Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Świecie, Grudziądz, Tczew and Gdańsk. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon (Zalew Wiślany) or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta of six main branches (Leniwka, Przekop, Śmiała Wisła, Martwa Wisła, Nogat and Szkarpawa).

Gdańsk (Kashubian: Gduńsk; German: Danzig) is a city on the Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, it is Poland's sixth-largest city and its major seaport. Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River and is situated at the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay, close to the city of Gdynia and the resort town of Sopot; these form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of approximately 1.5 million.

Gdańsk was first mentioned in 997 as part of the early Polish state, and thereafter grew into a trading town under the Piast and Samboride dynasties. Shifting between Polish and Teutonic control during the Middle Ages, it subsequently joined the Hanseatic League and, with considerable autonomy, served as Poland's principal seaport and largest city until the early 18th century. With the Partitions of Poland, the city was annexed by Prussia in 1793, and was integrated into the German Empire in 1871. It was a free city from 1807 to 1814 and from 1920 to 1939. On 1 September 1939, it was the site of a military clash at Westerplatte, one of the first events of World War II. The contemporary city was shaped by extensive border changes, expulsions and resettlement after 1945. In the 1980s, Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union and movement, which helped precipitate the collapse of communism in Europe.

The Vistula Lagoon is a brackish water lagoon on the Baltic Sea roughly 56 miles (90 km) long, 6 to 15 miles (10 to 19 km) wide, and up to 17 feet (5 m) deep, separated from the Gdańsk Bay by the Vistula Spit. It is split between Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad exclave).
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The Leniwka (Polish pronunciation: [lɛˈɲifka], German : Mühlengraben) is the former name of the western branch of the Vistula (now Vistula) in northern Poland. It is 55.4 kilometres (34.4 mi) long, and flows into Gdańsk Bay, forming the borders of Sobieszewo Island. The Leniwka begins behind the lock in Biała Góra, where the Nogat, the eastern branch, also originates. The current Martwa Wisła is part of the Leniwka.

The Śmiała Wisła (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɕmjawa ˈviswa]) is a distributary river branch of the Vistula in northern Poland that flows to the Gdańsk Bay.

The Śmiała Wisła is a western border of Sobieszewo Island and was created during the 1840 flooding when it became a new mouth of the Vistula. Literally it means Daring Vistula.

The Martwa Wisła (Polish: [ˈmartfa ˈviswa]; German: Tote Weichsel; both literally "dead Vistula") is a river, one of the branches of the Vistula, flowing through the city of Gdańsk in northern Poland.

It got its name when this branch of the river became increasingly moribund. A harbor canal was dug up with the Westerplatte on one of the Martwa Wisła banks. It was constructed to flow through Gdańsk into the Gdańsk Bay. Its river mouth and environs double as a harbor channel for the Inner Port of the port of Gdańsk.

The Nogat is a 62 kilometres (39 mi) long delta branch of the Vistula River in northern Poland. Unlike the main river, it does not empty into Gdańsk Bay, but rather into the Vistula Lagoon.

The Nogat has its origin near the village of Biała Góra as a distributary of the Vistula River. Shortly afterwards, the river Liwa flows into the Nogat. The river then passes Malbork and flows north-east towards Elbląg (but does not reach the city). North-west of Elbląg, the Nogat flows into the south-western part of the Vistula Lagoon.