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Volga River

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: European Geography

                       Volga River
   Volga in Yaroslavl (autumn morning)

                     Volga in Yaroslavl (autumn morning)

   Origin           Valdai Hills
   Mouth            Caspian Sea
   Basin countries  Russia
   Length           3,692 km (2,293 mi)
   Source elevation 225 m (738 ft)
   Avg. discharge   8,000 m³/s (282,517 ft³/s)
   Basin area       1,380,000 km² (532,821 mi²)

   The Volga, widely viewed as the national river of Russia, flows through
   the western part of the country. It is Europe's longest river, with a
   length of 3,690 km (2,293 miles), and forms the core of the largest
   river system in Europe. Some of the largest reservoirs in the world can
   be found along the river.

Nomenclature

   The Russian hydronym Во́лга is akin to the Slavic word for "wetness",
   "humidity" (влага, волога). It is transliterated as Volga in English
   and as Wolga in German. Another possibility is that the river's name
   has Finnic roots.

   The Turkic populations living along the river formerly referred to it
   as Itil or Atil. Attila the Hun might have been named after this river
   as well. In modern Turkic languages, the Volga is known as İdel (Идел)
   in Tatar, Атăл (Atăl) in Chuvash and İdil in Turkish. Another version
   of the same root is represented by Mari Юл (Jul).

   A still more ancient hydronym is the Scythian name of the river, Rha,
   which may reflect the ancient Avestan and Sanskrit names Rañha and
   Rasah for a sacred river. This ancient name survives in the modern
   Mordvin name for the Volga, Рав (Raw).

Description

   Map of the Volga watershed
   Enlarge
   Map of the Volga watershed

   Rising in the Valdai Hills 225 m (740 ft) above sea level north-west of
   Moscow and about 320 kilometres south-east of Saint Petersburg, the
   Volga heads east past Sterzh, Tver', Dubna, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Nizhny
   Novgorod and Kazan. From there it turns south, flows past Ulyanovsk,
   Tolyatti, Samara, Saratov and Volgograd, and discharges into the
   Caspian Sea below Astrakhan at 28 metres below sea level. At its most
   strategic point, it bends toward the Don ("the big bend"). Volgograd,
   formerly Stalingrad, is located there.

   The Volga has many tributaries, most importantly the Kama, the Oka, the
   Vetluga, and the Sura rivers. The Volga and its tributaries form the
   Volga river system, which drains an area of about 1.35 million square
   kilometres in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga
   Delta has a length of about 160 kilometres and includes as many as 500
   channels and smaller rivers. The largest estuary in Europe, it is the
   only place in Russia where pelicans, flamingoes, and lotuses may be
   found. The Volga freezes for most of its length during three months of
   each year.

   The Volga drains most of Western Russia. Its many large reservoirs
   provide irrigation and hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal, the
   Volga-Don Canal, and the Mariinsk Canal systems form navigable
   waterways connecting Moscow to the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the
   Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. High levels of chemical
   pollution currently give cause for environmental concern.

   The fertile river valley provides large quantities of wheat, and also
   has many mineral riches. A substantial petroleum industry centres on
   the Volga valley. Other minerals include natural gas, salt, and potash.
   The Volga Delta and the nearby Caspian Sea offer superb fishing
   grounds. Astrakhan, at the delta, is the centre of the caviar industry.

Confluents (downstream to upstream)

   Rzhev is the uppermost town situated on the Volga (early part of 20th
   century).
   Enlarge
   Rzhev is the uppermost town situated on the Volga (early part of 20th
   century).
     * Samara (in Samara)
     * Kama (south of Kazan)
     * Kazanka (in Kazan)
     * Sviyaga (west of Kazan)
     * Vetluga (near Kozmodemyansk)
     * Sura (in Vasilsursk)
     * Kerzhenets (near Lyskovo)
     * Oka (in Nizhny Novgorod)
     * Uzola (near Balakhna)
     * Unzha (near Yuryevets)
     * Kostroma (in Kostroma)
     * Kotorosl (in Yaroslavl)
     * Sheksna (in Cherepovets)
     * Mologa (near Vesyegonsk)
     * Kashinka (near Kalyazin)
     * Nerl (near Kalyazin)
     * Medveditsa (near Kimry)
     * Dubna (in Dubna)
     * Shosha (near Konakovo)
     * Tvertsa (in Tver)
     * Akhtuba (near Volzhsky) - a distributary

Reservoirs on the Volga

   Nine major hydroelectric power stations and several large artificial
   lakes formed by dams lie along the Volga. The reservoirs, upstream to
   downstream, are:
     * Volgo Lake
     * Ivankovo Reservoir (the Moscow Sea)
     * Uglich Reservoir
     * Rybinsk Reservoir
     * Gorky Reservoir
     * Cheboksary Reservoir
     * Kuybyshev Reservoir
     * Saratov Reservoir
     * Volgograd Reservoir

Human history

   Many Orthodox shrines and monasteries are strewn along the banks of the
   Volga.
   Enlarge
   Many Orthodox shrines and monasteries are strewn along the banks of the
   Volga.

   The ancient scholar Ptolemy of Alexandria mentions the lower Volga in
   his Geography (Book 5, Chapter 8, 2nd Map of Asia). He calls it the
   Rha, which was the Scythian name for the river. Ptolemy believed the
   Don and the Volga shared the same upper branch, which flowed from the
   Hyperborean Mountains.

   The downstream of the Volga, widely believed to have been a cradle of
   the Proto-Indo-European civilization, was settled by Huns and other
   Turkic peoples in the first millennium AD, replacing Scythians.

   Subsequently the river basin played an important role in the movements
   of peoples from Asia to Europe. A powerful polity of Volga Bulgaria
   once flourished where the Kama river joins the Volga, while Khazaria
   controlled the lower stretches of the river. Such Volga cities as Atil,
   Saqsin, or Sarai were among the largest in the medieval world. The
   river served as an important trade route connecting Scandinavia, Rus',
   and Volga Bulgaria with Khazaria and Persia.
   Several old towns, including Kalyazin and Mologa, were flooded by
   Soviet authorities in the 1940s.
   Enlarge
   Several old towns, including Kalyazin and Mologa, were flooded by
   Soviet authorities in the 1940s.

   Khazars were replaced by Kipchaks, Kimeks and Mongols, who founded the
   Golden Horde in the lower stream of Volga. Later the Empire broke into
   the Khanate of Kazan and Khanate of Astrakhan; subsequently they were
   conquered by Russians in the 16th century.

   In modern times, the city on the big bend of the Volga, currently known
   as Volgograd, witnessed the Battle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle
   in human history. The Russian people's deep feeling for the Volga often
   finds echoes in their songs and literature (see The Volga Boatmen's
   Song for one conspicuous example).

Ethnic groups

   The indigenous population of Upper Volga were Finnic Merya, that were
   assimilated to Russians. Other Finnic ethnic groups are Maris and
   Mordvins of middle Volga. Turkic populations appeared in the 600s and
   assimilated some Finnic and Indo-European population at the middle and
   lower Volga, later they were transformed to Christian Chuvash and
   Muslim Tatars; also to Nogais, which were supplanted to Daghestan
   later. Mongolian Buddhists Kalmyks resettled to Volga in the 17th
   century.

   The Volga region is home to a German minority group, the Volga Germans.
   Catherine the Great had issued a Manifesto in 1763 inviting all
   foreigners to come and populate the region, offering them numerous
   incentives to do so. This was partly to develop the region but also to
   provide a buffer zone between the Russians and the Mongol hordes to the
   east. Because of conditions in German territories, the Germans
   responded in the largest numbers. Under the Soviet Union a slice of the
   region was turned into the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist
   Republic to house many of the Volga Germans. Others were executed or
   dispersed throughout the Soviet Union prior to and after World WarII!

Navigation

   Owing to the Coriolis effect, the Volga has a rocky right bank.
   Enlarge
   Owing to the Coriolis effect, the Volga has a rocky right bank.

   The Volga is of great importance to inland shipping and transport in
   Russia: all the dams in the river have been equipped with large
   (double) ship locks, so that vessels of considerable dimensions can
   actually travel from the Caspian Sea almost to the upstream end of the
   river. Connections with the Don River and the Black Sea are possible
   through the Volga-Don Canal. Connections with the lakes of the north (
   Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega), Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea are
   possible through the Volga-Baltic Waterway; and a liaison with Moscow
   has been realised by the Moscow Canal connecting the Volga and the
   Moskva rivers. This infrastructure has been designed for vessels of a
   relatively large scale (lock dimensions of 290 x 30 meters on the
   Volga, slightly smaller on some of the other rivers and canals) and it
   spans many thousands of kilometers.

   Until recently access to the Russian waterways was only granted on a
   very limited scale. The increasing contacts between the European Union
   and Russia have led to new policies with regard to the access to the
   Russian inland waterways. It is expected that vessels of other nations
   will be allowed on the Russian rivers soon. (Source: NoorderSoft
   Waterways Database)
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_River"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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