Var (river)

This article is about river in southern France. For river in Romania, see Var (Olt).

The Var (French: [vaʁ] ^ⓘ, Occitan: [ˈbaɾ]; Italian: Varo; Latin: Varus) is a river located in the southeast of France. It is 114 km (71 mi) long.^[1] Its drainage basin is 2,812 km² (1,086 sq mi).^[2]

Var
Rooftops of Entrevaux and the gorge of the Var
Location
Country	France
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Maritime Alps
• elevation	1,800 m (5,900 ft)
Mouth
• location	Mediterranean Sea
• coordinates	43°39′13″N 7°11′59″E
Length	114 km (71 mi)
Basin size	2,812 km2 (1,086 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	50 to 100 m3/s (1,800 to 3,500 cu ft/s)

The Var flows through the Alpes-Maritimes département for most of its length, with a short (~15 km or ~9 mi) stretch in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence département. It is a unique case in France of a river not flowing in the département named after it (see Var). This is the result of the Nice Préfecture being too small to be considered a département by itself in the administrative reshuffling of 1860.^[3] Hence, some land had to be taken out of neighbouring Var region causing the eponymous département to lose its namesake.^[4]

Until the beginning of the 19th century, the river had no bridges; it was the border between France and the County of Nice, then part of Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Name

The river name is attested in Latin as Vārus and in Ancient Greek as Ouãros (Οὐᾶρος). It stems from the Indo-European root *uōr- (earlier *uer-), meaning 'water, river' (cf. Sanskrit vār, Old Norse vari).^[5]

Hydrography

The Var rises near the Col de la Cayolle (2,326 m/7,631 ft), located in the Parc National du Mercantour in the Maritime Alps.The river flows generally southeast to its outflow into the Mediterranean Sea between Nice and Saint-Laurent-du-Var. Its main tributaries are the Cians, the Tinée, the Vésubie, the Coulomp, the Estéron, the Tuébi, the Chalvagne, the Barlatte, the Bourdous and the Roudoule.^[1]

The Var flows through the following départements and towns:

• Alpes-Maritimes: Guillaumes
• Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: Entrevaux
• Alpes-Maritimes: Puget-Théniers, Carros, Saint-Laurent-du-Var