Knee (geography)


A knee, or river knee, is a bend in a river changing its course significantly within a short distance to a different direction. It is different from a riverbend which is a single isolated bend, and from a meander which consists of several bends in a sinuous course, both without changing the river's main course. In European history, many river knees have proven to be strategically favorable locations to found cities.
Many rivers have significant bends due to geological reasons:
Furthermore, some riverbends are called "knees" although they are actually single bends or a part of meanders: