By late 1867 the Berlin-Görlitz line was complete and the route, which passed through the countryside of the Spreewald and the Lower Lusatia and the towns of Königs Wusterhausen, Lübben and Lübbenau, officially opened on 31 December 1867.
Important towns beside Cottbus and the historic capitals Lübben and Luckau include Calau, Doberlug-Kirchhain, Finsterwalde, Forst, Guben/Gubin, Lauchhammer, Lübbenau, Senftenberg, Spremberg, Vetschau, and Żary in present-day Poland.
On 31 January 1942 Spreewald was on her approach to Bordeaux in France when she was torpedoed by U-333, whose commander, Kapitänleutnant Peter-Erich Cremer, believed her to be a British ship.
Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Spree-Neiße, the districts Kamenz and Riesa-Großenhain in Saxony, and the district Elbe-Elster.
In the Spreewald the river passes through the towns of Lübbenau, Lübben and Leibsch.