Sambre
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Sambre is a river in northern France and in Wallonia, Belgium. It is a left-bank tributary of the Meuse, which it joins in the Wallonian capital Namur.
The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne département. It passes through the Franco-Belgian coal basin, formerly an important industrial district. The navigable course begins in Landrecies at the junction with the Canal de la Sambre à l'Oise, which links with the central French waterway network (or did, until navigation was interrupted in 2006 following structural failures).
Events
- The mother of René Magritte, a famous surrealist painter, killed herself by drowning in this river.
Battles
The 19th-century theory that the Sambre was the location of Julius Caesar's battle against a Belgic confederation (57 BC), was discarded a long time ago, but is still repeated.
Heavy fighting occurred along the river during World War I, especially at the siege of Namur in 1914 (Battle of Charleroi) and in the last month of the war Battle of the Sambre (1918).
