Dniester

The Dniester (/ˈniːstər/ NEE-stər)^[3][4][5][a] is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Ukrainian territory again.

Names

The name Dniester derives from

The Dniester rises in

Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the de facto end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.

History

During the

Greek authors referred to the river as Tyras (Greek: ὁ Τύρας).^[11] At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus,^[12] whence its modern name of Dniester (Niester), though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century.^[13] The form Τύρις is sometimes found.^[14]

According to

From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of the Principality of Moldavia.

Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the

After the Republic of Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.

Tributaries

From source to mouth, right tributaries, i.e. on the southwest side, are the Stryi (231 km or 144 mi), Svicha [uk] (107 km or 66 mi), Limnytsia [de] (122 km or 76 mi), Bystrytsia (101 km), Răut (283 km or 176 mi), Ichel [ro] (101 km or 63 mi), Bîc (155 km or 96 mi), and Botna (152 km or 94 mi).

Left tributaries, on the northeast side, are the

• Dniester Canyon
• Dniester Pumped Storage Power Station
• Euroregion Dniester

Notes