page_title: IJssel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: IJssel / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Profile of Deventer in the year 1567 Nederlands: Profiel van Deventer in 1567
context_page_description: The river Ĳssel, sometimes called Gelderse Ĳssel to avoid confusion with the Hollandse Ĳssel, is the branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overĳssel. The Romans knew the river as Isala. The Ĳssel flows from Westervoort, east of the city of Arnhem, until it discharges into the Ĳsselmeer. The River Ĳssel is one of the three major distributary branches into which the Rhine divides shortly after crossing the German-Dutch border.
  The name includes the digraph ĳ, which behaves like a single letter in Dutch orthography—this explains why both letters appear capitalized.
context_section_description: The name Ĳssel (older Isla, Isala, from *Īsalō), is thought to derive from a Proto-Indo-European root *eis- "to move quickly" (Old Norse eisa "to race forward", Latin ira "anger"). Before the early Middle Ages, the Zuiderzee had not yet formed, and in its place there was an inland lake known as Vlies (Lat. Flevo), and the IJssel flowed through the surrounding lakelands. However, since the formation of the Zuiderzee and obstruction from the Afsluitdijk, the IJssel no longer flows into its estuary, the Vlie, now restricted in meaning and referring only to the strait separating the islands of Vlieland (itself named after the Vlie strait) and Terschelling. It is hypothesised that the now-poldered tidal inlets near Medemblik and the Ĳ (near Amsterdam) once were branches of river Ĳssel.
  The river was a natural line of defence and in April 1945 had to be stormed by assault troops of the Allied armies liberating the Netherlands from the occupying forces of Nazi Germany. Canadian histories refer to the river in English as "Ijssel".
caption: The Ĳssel at Deventer in 1567
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