As one might expect in an area whose name comes from old Slavic

words roughly meaning "by the sea," Pomerania has numerous rivers, many of which empty into the Baltic Sea. While not as long or important as major European rivers like the Volga, Danube or Rhine, Pomeranian rivers played a significant role in the lives of the people who lived near them.

Some things don’t change much over the course of time, and the importance of rivers is one of them. Rivers have been and still are boundaries and barriers. Throughout the history of warfare, the crossing of rivers has proven decisive — think Washington crossing the Delaware or Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon. From the earliest man-made bridges consisting of a tree trunk laid across a stream to modern marvels of engineering, rivers have been of critical importance to trade and commerce. Before railroads and highways, rivers provided transportation for people and goods. People settled near rivers, and towns with bridges became more important than those without. ...

This article is a brief excerpt from Die Pommerschen Leute (The Pomeranian People), a quarterly newsletter designed for people who have an interest in Pomeranian ancestry. Click here for more information.