The River Bann (from Irish: An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: Bann Wattèr) is the longest river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length of the River Bann, including its path through the 30 km (19 mi) long Lough Neagh is 159 km (99 mi). Another length of the River Bann given is 90 mi. The river winds its way from the southeast corner of Ulster to the northwest coast, pausing in the middle to widen into Lough Neagh. The River Bann catchment has an area of 5,775 km. The River Bann has a mean discharge rate of 92 m/s. According to C. Michael Hogan, the Bann River Valley is a settlement area for some of the first human arrivals in Ireland after the most recent glacial retreat.
The river has played an important part in the industrialisation in Northern Ireland, especially in the linen industry. Today salmon and eel fisheries are the most important economic features of the river. The river is often used as a dividing line between the eastern and western areas of Northern Ireland, often labelled the "Bann divide". Towns, councils and businesses "west of the Bann" are often seen as having less investment and government spending than those to the east. It is also seen as a religious, economic and political divide, with Catholics and Irish nationalists being in the majority to the west, and Ulster Protestants and unionists in the majority to the east; and with the financial and industrial capital of Greater Belfast to the east with the west of the Bann being more agricultural and rural.
