“Confluences of water attract confluences of people.  Throughout the history of human settlement of new landscapes the junction of rivers and streams have been places that attract activity, like crossroads on the heath.  The conjoining of these natural pathways brings people together, sometimes for the trade of goods and knowledge, sometimes for war, sometimes for marriage, following the landscape, along the valleys, down the river, to the mouth of the stream, from diverse points on a humanly constructed compass.  In Europe these meeting places can be counted among the most important seats of commerce, learning, and technology.  The ancient fortress city of Koblenz (whose name actually means confluence) sits on the confluence of the Rhine and the Mosel; Lyon, the capital of the silk trade in the Middle Ages, sits at the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone; Mainz, the capital of the German wine trade, sits at the important confluence of the Rhine and the Main rivers; in Russia, Nizhniy Novgorod, the historic center of trade between Europe and the Orient sits at the confluence of the Volga and Oka Rivers.  In India, Allahabad, located on the sacred river Ganges, is where the Yamuna and Saraswati meet to form the Ganges river and is considered one of the holiest places in Hinduism.  In North America, the merging of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers forms the beginning of the Ohio River, at the confluence in Pittsburgh.  Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known for its steel manufacture was founded as a center for the support of the Moravian missions to the Native Americans at the Forks of the Delaware, where the Lehigh flows into the Delaware.  The 18th century settlement of Shamokin (now Sunbury), lying at the Forks of the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River represents an equally important meeting place in the history of confluence and cultures between the Native Americans and Europeans.” (Katherine Faull, Professor of German and Humanities, and chair of the department of Foreign Language Programs, Bucknell University)