por He Thames Riverknown in the Anglo-Saxon language under the name of River Thames, is one of the most important bodies of fresh water in the United Kingdom for being the one with the largest volume. It constitutes the vigorous river column that crosses London, dividing the English capital longitudinally between north and south.
Its blue-silver color is much more than an ornamental element in the landscape, since the River Thames has been the source of water that has supported and still supports the biological and economic life of the city since its origins.
The Thames is of great importance to London, since it has not only contributed to the hydration and food production of its inhabitants for hundreds of years, but has also served as a channel for thousands of boats. It has also been one of the protagonists in the history of the industrial and commercial flourishing of the United Kingdom and Europe.
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History
Its origins date back to the Quaternary era, when we find an incipient Thames flowing into the great Rhine River. However, tectonic movements separated England from the continental mass, turning it into an island. Added to this, the passing of the years and some temperature incidents and eventual freezing, made the Thames end up becoming independent, outlining its current winding route and defining the attributes that characterize it today.
Origin of his name
The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was the one who gave this river its name, baptizing it Thames, when having embarked on his invading expedition to England -in 56 BC. C.- saw his passage prevented by this to continue his conquering plan.
Four centuries later, Roman navigators made use of the currents of the Thames to make their way to trade and exchange goods with merchants from the Mediterranean Sea. Over time, the Thames became so frequented by ships from all corners of the world, that it came to generate a queue of ships that waited long hours and even whole days to reach port and disembark.
Due to this congestion of the nautical traffic, an uncontrolled vandalism was generated. The pirates of the Thames took advantage of the fatigue and carelessness of the crew to assault and rob the ships and, in this way, seize the merchandise that they later sold at low cost on the mainland.
river cops
Another clandestine activity that flourished due to the slow transit of ships to the London port was illegal smuggling into the city, since many merchants traded with sailors to remove the products before the ships made landfall. To prevent this and other crimes, the first police force was created to monitor a river, an institution that remains active on the Thames to date.
water transportation route
The Thames came to constitute a kind of fluvial “highway” that all the inhabitants used to get around, since it was much easier, faster and cheaper to hire the services of the boatmen who used their boats as passenger buses. They preferred this to paying for a horse-drawn coach that had to trudge its way over the rough roads of medieval England.
It is no coincidence that the river bank has a large number of castles and high-class buildings, since it was considered a sign of prestige that the personal residence had the Thames itself as a patio full of boats.
consequences of war
Over a long period of time and as a result of the war outbreaks that impacted all of Europe, the Thames lost the filtering structures that allowed it to keep its cleanest waters. This caused all the city’s sewage to end up in its flow, without prior treatment.
The result of this situation was that pollution levels skyrocketed to such a degree that by the 1950s the Thames was considered a huge repository for London’s waste.
Features of the River Thames
The River Thames has been London’s great water boulevard. Since the city began to develop, its waters have had many functions, among them that of a circulation channel, point of embarkation and disembarkation of ships, space for the exit of manufactured products and entry of raw materials. It has also been a conditioned space for the departure of travelers and the entry of tourists.
It has also been a discreet companion in the evolution of London, witnessing its successes and suffering its excesses. The currents of it were at some point a kind of aquatic pen for the breeding of birds -especially swans-, destined to delight the royal palates.
When its waters froze into a thick layer as a result of unexpected glacial peaks, the nobility played sleigh races on its surface while the people held veritable musical and gastronomic festivals with massive attendance on its solidified currents.
Inspiring innovations
The Thames is the source of inspiration for several technological innovations that sought to exploit the potential of its spaces. Proof of this is the famous Thames tunnel, which connected the town of Rotherhithe with that of Wapping by subfluvial route, since this construction is located under the River Thames, being the only one of its kind at the time of its inauguration.
The tunnel under the Thames is 23 meters deep and 396 meters long. It was a design by Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Brunel that began operations in 1943 with the purpose of serving as a track for carriages. Today, instead of horses, trains travel through it.
This river also has a structure 520 meters long at the height of Woolwitch, which is the second barrier in the world for the protection of a city against an uncontrolled rise in the river level (the first barrier is in the Netherlands).
A row of 10 steel chambers, 20 meters high, is mobilized to regulate the flow of water when its level rises or falls above or below normal. This extraordinary feat of engineering arose from an unexpected rise in the North Sea, which at one point threatened to inundate London.
Source, route and mouth
The River Thames is born at Thames Head or Head of the Thames, its source basin. It is located in the town of Kembl and it is estimated that from its point of birth to its mouth in the North Sea, it has an approximate distance of 346 kilometers. On its way through London, it is crossed by 214 bridges that connect various parts of the city.
Pollution
The 19th century marked a turning point in the biological dynamics of the River Thames. Product of the dizzying pace of the industrial revolution, the foresight was not taken to develop a legal framework for the regulation of activities in order to protect the river.
This resulted in society focusing on production, without thinking about the fate of the toxic waste generated by the factories, which ended up in the Thames riverbed.
On the other hand, the final destination of the waste of the inhabitants -which increases with the years- was also the body of the river. The biological and industrial waste caused an infinity of bacteria to proliferate in the water, which devastated the oxygen in it, rendering the life of the typical species of this habitat unviable.
poisonous fertilizers
Another problem was that the population demanded more food, which translated into cultivating much and better. For this, fertilizers and pesticides were developed to make planting more efficient. But efficiency comes at a price, and nitrites and other pollutants were washed away and carried into the Thames.
These oversights and omissions that were applied for two centuries, led to the accelerated disappearance of fauna and flora in the Thames ecosystem. In the same way, it triggered several epidemics in the population and a dense environment, which led the leaders of the English parliament to deliberate on the matter. Positive results are still awaited.
In the 1950s, the Thames suffered one of its most serious periods with the so-called biological death. As a result of this event, the alarms were activated and more forceful actions began to be carried out to recover the London river. At present, life has returned to the waters and now they face other new pollution problems.
Economy
The Thames constitutes a structural axis of the economy of the United Kingdom. Around its channel, a network of productive activities is established that generate important contributions to the country’s GDP. It is estimated that the port of London alone -the second largest in the world- generates 43,500 jobs, of which 27,000 are direct jobs and the rest belong to activities linked to the distribution chains of merchandise and products.
Tourism is also an important source of income, since millions are collected from tourist trips and guided nautical visits. Hundreds of boats manned by specialized personnel travel the waters of the Thames, showing the astonished visitors the stupendous and historical buildings, which tell the history of each era of the city through architecture.
Tourist attractions
From the river you can see the famous Tower Bridge and the London Eye; the centennial Big Ben, the classic Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral, the iconic Shakespeare’s Globe and London Bridge.
Rowing or regatta competitions are held annually between the most famous university institutions in the United Kingdom, Oxford and Cambridge, which are televised and achieve high levels of rating in the world, which also generates great visits from numerous people to see live the legendary competition. Without the Thames, the colossal English capital would simply not exist.
Cities crossed by the River Thames
The River Thames runs through the towns of Oxford, Wallingford and Reading, continuing its thick flow through Marlow, Maidenhead, Eton and Windsor, culminating in Gravesend to reach the North Sea, where it flows. On its route, the most significant monuments of the city of London are displayed.
tributaries
Towards the Thames there are four other rivers: the Churn, the Coln, the Isis or Windrush and the Leach. These tributaries join their waters to those of the rising Thames and contribute to swell its flow, which on average has just over 65 m³/s. Such a number of tributaries is the reason and cause of the great volume and size of this river, through whose waters the most modern boats in the world transit.
Flora
As for the flora of the Thames, there is a great variety of plankton and algae that serve as food for the fish that inhabit the river. The most representative plants are the Snakehead Fritillary, Loddon’s lily, orchids, fields of dandelions, maximum breezecuckoo flower and Meadowsweet. The vegetation shines with willows,…