(Polish, Warta), a river of Poland and Germany, and the chief affluent of the Oder. It rises on the north slope of the Carpathian Mountains N.W. of Cracow, flows north as far as Radomsk, then west, then north again past Sieradz, until it reaches Kola, where it again turns west, crosses the frontier into the Prussian province of Posen, where it takes a northerly direction past the town of Posen. Then once more bending west, it flows past Schwerin and Landsberg and enters the Oder from the right at Ciistrin. Its total length is 445 m. of which 21 5 are in Poland and 230 in Prussia; it is navigable up to Konin in West Poland, a distance of 265 m. Its banks are mostly low and flat, its lower course especially running through drained and cultivated marshes. It is connected with the Vistula through its tributary the Netze and the Bromberg canal. The area of its drainage basin is 17,400 sq. m.