The Schunter is a river in Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, with a length of 58 km, right tributary of the Oker

Oker

The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction.- Course :...

. It originates in the Elm hills near Räbke

Räbke

Räbke is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is part of the collective municipality of Nord-Elm. The village is situated north of the wooded Elm hill range at the Schunter river....

 west of Helmstedt

Helmstedt

Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. Helmstedt has 26,000 inhabitants . In former times the city was also called Helmstädt....

, flows northward to Süpplingenburg

Süpplingenburg

Süpplingenburg is a municipality of 700 inhabitants in the district of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is part of the collective municipality of Nord-Elm....

, then turns westward and joins the Oker at Schwülper

Schwülper

Schwülper is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a member municipality of the Samtgemeinde Papenteich. The Municipality Schwülper includes the villages of Hülperode, Klein Schwülper, Lagesbüttel, Rothemühle, Groß Schwülper, Walle-Municipal Council:The council...

, downstream of Braunschweig

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

 (Brunswick). Another municipality on the Schunter is Lehre

Lehre

Lehre is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The current population is 11,539 and is situated approximately 13 km southwest of Wolfsburg, and 12 km northeast of Braunschweig....

.

The river was first mentioned as Schuntra in a 781 deed. The name may be of Slavic

Slavic languages

The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

 origin as sukątora means "with many angles". Its clear spring waters formerly supplied the paper mills of Räbke. In the 18th century it was also used for timber rafting

Timber rafting

Timber rafting is a log transportation method in which logs are tied together into rafts and drifted or pulled across a water body or down a flatter river. It is arguably the second cheapest method of transportation of timber, next after log driving...

 of logs harvested in the Elm range.

Tributaries

Left tributaries (from source to mouth): Schierpkebach Lutter Lauinger Mühlenriede Scheppau Scheppau The Scheppau is a stream in Lower Saxony, Germany, approximately 10 km long. It originates on the slope of the Elm hills and is a left tributary of the Schunter. It flows west and north of Königslutter and joins the Schunter in Glentorf, between Königslutter and Wolfsburg.... Teichgraben Sandbach Wabe

Right tributaries: Laagschunter Lange Welle Uhrau Neindorferbach Heiligendorferbach Beberbach

Sources

• Theodor Müller: Schifffahrt und Flößerei auf der Schunter im 18. Jahrhundert. In: Forschungen zur Braunschweigischen Geschichte, 1954, 135-159
• Gunhild Ruben: Herzog Karl I. und der Schifffahrtskanal vom Elm nach Braunschweig. Braunschweig 2002
• Uwe Kleineberg: Chronik 975 Jahre Wenden. Braunschweig 2006, p.135ff