Volga

Coordinates: 45°41′42″N 47°53′51″E / 45.69500°N 47.89750°E / 45.69500; 47.89750
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Volga
Togliatti
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationValdai Hills, Tver Oblast
 • coordinates57°15′4.7″N 32°28′5.1″E / 57.251306°N 32.468083°E / 57.251306; 32.468083
 • elevation228 m (748 ft)[1]
MouthCaspian Sea
 • location
Astrakhan Oblast
 • coordinates
45°41′42″N 47°53′51″E / 45.69500°N 47.89750°E / 45.69500; 47.89750[2]
 • elevation
−28 m (−92 ft)[1]
Length3,531 km (2,194 mi)[3]
Basin size1,360,000 km2 (530,000 sq mi)[3] 1,404,107.6 km2 (542,129.0 sq mi)[4]
Discharge 
 • locationAstrakhan (Basin size: 1,391,271.8 km2 (537,173.0 sq mi)
 • average8,060 m3/s (285,000 cu ft/s)

8,103.078 m3/s (286,157.5 cu ft/s)[4]

Volga Delta: 8,110.544 m3/s (286,421.2 cu ft/s)[4]
 • minimum5,000 m3/s (180,000 cu ft/s)
 • maximum48,500 m3/s (1,710,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationVolgograd (Basin size: 1,359,396.8 km2 (524,866.0 sq mi)
 • average8,150 m3/s (288,000 cu ft/s) 8,228.298 m3/s (290,579.6 cu ft/s)[5]
 • minimum5,090 m3/s (180,000 cu ft/s)
 • maximum48,450 m3/s (1,711,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationSamara (Basin size: 1,218,995.3 km2 (470,656.7 sq mi)
 • average7,680 m3/s (271,000 cu ft/s) 7,785.921 m3/s (274,957.2 cu ft/s)[6]
Discharge 
 • locationNizhny Novgorod (Basin size: 479,637.3 km2 (185,189.0 sq mi)
 • average2,940 m3/s (104,000 cu ft/s)

2,806.467 m3/s (99,109.4 cu ft/s)[7]

Yaroslavl (Basin size: 153,657.8 km2 (59,327.6 sq mi): 1,008.277 m3/s (35,607.0 cu ft/s)[7]

Rybinsk (Basin size: 150,119.8 km2 (57,961.6 sq mi): 993.253 m3/s (35,076.4 cu ft/s)[7]
Discharge 
 • locationTver (Basin size: 24,658.6 km2 (9,520.7 sq mi)
 • average176 m3/s (6,200 cu ft/s) 186.157 m3/s (6,574.1 cu ft/s)[7]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftKama
 • rightOka

The Volga (

national river of Russia. The hypothetical old Russian state, the Rus' Khaganate, arose along the Volga c. 830 AD.[8] Historically, the river served as an important meeting place of various Eurasian civilizations.[9][10][11]

The river flows in Russia through forests, forest steppes and steppes. Five of the ten largest cities of Russia, including the nation's capital, Moscow, are located in the Volga's drainage basin.

Some of the largest

folklore
often refer to it as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga).

Name

Cruise ship on the Volga.
Large river ending in triangular delta into sea, seen from above the atmosphere
View of the Volga Delta from the International Space Station

The Russian

Proto-Slavic *vòlga 'wetness, moisture', which is preserved in many Slavic languages, vlaga (влага) 'moisture', Bulgarian vlaga (влага) 'moisture', Czech vláha 'dampness', Serbo-Croatian: vlaga (влага) 'moisture', Slovene vlaga 'moisture', Polish wilgoć 'moisture' and Macedonian vlaga (влага) 'moisture', among others.[12]

The

Proto-Indo-European *h₁res- or *h₁ers-).[14]
This name can be compared to several Indo-Iranic terms, such as:

  • Sogdian rʾk (𐽀𐼰𐼸) 'vein, blood vessel' (from Old Iranian *rahaka),[15]
  • Persian رگ rag 'vein,'[16]
  • Vedic Sanskrit rasā́ (रसा) 'dew, liquid, juice; mythical river'), which was also the name of a tributary of the Indus river.[17]

The Scythian name survives in modern Moksha as Rav (Рав).[18][19]

The Greek author Herodotus recorded two more ancient Iranic names of the Volga:

The

The Turkic peoples associated the Itil's origin with the

Kara Itil 'Black Itil' at the modern city of Ufa.[citation needed] The name Indyl (Indɨl) is used in the Cherkess
language.

In Asia the river was known by its other Turkic name Sarı-su 'yellow water', but the Oirats also used their own name, Ijil mörön or 'adaptation river'. Presently the Mari, another Uralic group, call the river Jul (Юл), meaning 'way' in Tatar. Formerly, they called the river Volgydo, a borrowing from Old East Slavic.[citation needed]

Description

The confluence of the Oka (to the left) and the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod

The Volga is the longest

Irtysh river system.[1]
It belongs to the
Samara, Saratov and Volgograd, and discharges into the Caspian Sea below Astrakhan at 28 meters (92 ft) below sea level.[1]

The Saratov Bridge by night, Saratov Oblast
The upper Volga in the vicinity of Staritsa, 1912

The Volga has many

Oka, the Vetluga, and the Sura. The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which flows through an area of about 1,350,000 square kilometres (521,238 square miles) in the most heavily populated part of Russia.[1] The Volga Delta has a length of about 160 kilometres (99 miles) and includes as many as 500 channels and smaller rivers. The largest estuary in Europe, it is the only place in Russia where pelicans, flamingos, and lotuses may be found.[citation needed] The Volga freezes for most of its length for three months each year.[1]

The Volga drains most of

hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and the Volga–Baltic Waterway 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
have adversely affected the river and its habitats.

The fertile river valley provides large quantities of

fishing grounds
.

Confluences (downstream to upstream)

The Starovolzhsky Bridge in Tver
Volga Hydroelectric Station

Reservoirs (downstream to upstream)

A number of large hydroelectric reservoirs were constructed on the Volga during the Soviet era. They are:

Biggest cities on the shores of the Volga

Human history

monasteries
are located along the banks of the Volga

The Volga–Oka region has been occupied for at least 9,000 years and supported a bone and antler industry for producing bone arrowheads, spearheads, lanceheads, daggers, hunters knives, and awls. The makers also used local quartz and imported flints.[25]

During classical antiquity, the Volga formed the boundary between the territories of the Cimmerians in the Caucasian Steppe and the Scythians in the Caspian Steppe.[21] After the Scythians migrated to the west and displaced the Cimmerians, the Volga became the boundary between the territories of the Scythians in the Pontic and Caspian Steppes and the Massagetae in the Caspian and Transcaspian steppes.[22]

Between the 6th and the 8th centuries, the Alans settled in the

Middle Volga region and in the steppes of Russia's southern region in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.[26]

The area around the Volga was inhabited by the

Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast.[31][30] Buzhan (Persian: بوژان‎, romanizedBūzhān; also known as Būzān) is also a village in Nishapur, Iran. In late 8th century the Russian state Russkiy Kaganate is recorded in different Northern and Oriental sources. The Volga was one of the main rivers of the Rus' Khaganates culture.[32]

Subsequently, the river basin played an important role in the movements of peoples from

.

Khazars were replaced by

The Volga Boatman's Song
is one of many songs devoted to the national river of Russia.

Construction of Soviet Union-era dams often involved enforced resettlement of huge numbers of people, as well as destruction of their historical heritage. For instance, the town of Mologa was flooded for the purpose of constructing the Rybinsk Reservoir (then the largest artificial lake in the world). The construction of the Uglich Reservoir caused the flooding of several monasteries with buildings dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. In such cases the ecological and cultural damage often outbalanced any economic advantage.[34]

20th-century conflicts

Soviet Marines charge the Volga river bank.

During the

Belaya.[35]

During the Civil War, Joseph Stalin ordered the imprisonment of several military specialists on a barge in the Volga and the sinking of a floating prison in which the officers perished.[36][37]

During World War II, the city on the big bend of the Volga, currently known as

Hitler planned to use access to the oil fields of Azerbaijan to fuel future German conquests. Apart from that, whoever held both sides of the river could move forces across the river, to defeat the enemy's fortifications beyond the river.[38] By taking the river, Hitler's Germany would have been able to move supplies, guns, and men into the northern part of Russia. At the same time, Germany could permanently deny this transport route by the Soviet Union, hampering its access to oil and to supplies via the Persian Corridor
.

For this reason, many

defensive stance, though much of the fighting was close quarters combat
, with no clear offensive or defensive side.

Ethnic groups

The Volga in the Zhiguli Mountains.

Many different ethnicities lived on the Volga river. Numerous were the Eastern Slavic

Erzyas and Mokshas of the middle Volga. Also Khazar and Bulgar peoples inhabited the upper, middle and lower of the Volga River basin.[45]

Apart from the Huns, the earliest Turkic tribes arrived in the 7th century and assimilated some Finno-Ugric and Indo-European population on the middle and lower Volga. The Turkic Christian Chuvash and Muslim Volga Tatars are descendants of the population of medieval Volga Bulgaria. Another Turkic group, the Nogais, formerly inhabited the lower Volga steppes.

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.[46] This was partly to develop the region but also to provide a buffer zone between the Russians and the Mongols to the east.[citation needed] Because of conditions in German territories, 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.

Flora and fauna

Navigation

The Volga at Volgograd
In some locations, the Volga has a rocky west bank.

The Volga, widened for navigation purposes with construction of huge dams during the years of

ship locks, so that vessels of considerable dimensions can travel from the Caspian Sea
almost to the upstream end of the river.

Connections with the river

Moskva River
.

This infrastructure has been designed for vessels of a relatively large scale (lock dimensions of 290 by 30 metres (951 ft × 98 ft) on the Volga, slightly smaller on some of the other rivers and canals) and it spans many thousands of kilometers. A number of formerly state-run, now mostly privatized, companies operate passenger and cargo vessels on the river;

petroleum tankers
, is one of them.

In the later

Soviet era, up to the modern times, grain
and oil have been among the largest cargo exports transported on the Volga. [47] Until recently access to the Russian waterways was granted to foreign vessels 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 Russian rivers soon.[48]

Satellite imagery

  • View of the river and Volgograd from space.
    View of the river and Volgograd from space.
  • Volga river delta, Terra/MODIS 2010-07-17.
    Volga river delta,
    MODIS
    2010-07-17.
  • Terra/MODIS, 2002-05-17.
    Terra/MODIS, 2002-05-17.
  • Terra/MODIS, 2001-10-10.
    Terra/MODIS, 2001-10-10.

Cultural significance

Literature

Cinema

Music

Video games

See also

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ Volga at GEOnet Names Server
  3. ^ a b c «Река Волга» Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Russian State Water Registry
  4. ^ a b c "Rivers Network". 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Rivers Network". 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Rivers Network". 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d "Rivers Network". 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  8. ^ Gannholm, Tore. "Birka, Varangian Emporium". Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. OCLC 733913679
    .
  10. .
  11. .
  12. ^ See Max Vasmer's dictionary under "Волга".
  13. ^ Brunner, C. J. (1986). "ARANG". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022. Middle Persian Arang/Arag renders Avestan Raŋhā, which is cognate with the Scythian name Rhâ (*Rahā) transmitted by Ptolemy
  14. ^ J.P. Mallory & D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, s.v. "dew" (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997), 158-9.
  15. ^ Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italian Languages, s.v. "rōs, rōris" (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 526-7.
  16. ^ Nourai, Ali. 2013. An Etymological Dictionary of Persian, English and Other Indo-European Languages. Index of Words in Different Languages, vol. 1, p. 130.
  17. ^ Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. Les Sarmates: Amazones et lanciers cuirassés entre Oural et Danube. Paris: Editions Errance, 2002.
  18. .
  19. .
  20. ^ a b Harmatta 1999, p. 129.
  21. ^ from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  22. ^ from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  23. (In tatar: Әхмәтьянов Р. Г. Татар теленең кыскача тарихи-этимологик сүзлеге. — Казан: Тат. кит. нәшр., 2001. б. 76. )
  24. ^ "Kama River | river, Russia | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  25. ^ Zhilin, M. (2015). Early Mesolithic bone arrowheads from the Volga-Oka interfluve, central Russia. 32. 35-54.
  26. ^ "VORGESCHICHE DER URALISCHEN SPRACHFAMILIE, GESCHICHTE DER KLEINEREN URALISCHEN SPRACHEN: CHRONOLOGIE" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  27. ^ Katona, Cseste (2018). Co-operation between the Viking Rus' and the Turkic nomads of the steppe in the ninth-eleventh centuries (PDF) (MA thesis). Central European University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  28. ^ "Marija Gimbutas. "A Survey Study of the Ancient Balts - Reviewed by Jonas Puzinas". www.lituanus.org. Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  29. .
  30. ^ a b "Weather Sredniy Buzhan | Forecast, Radar, Lightning & Satellite". Meteologix. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  31. ^ "Early East Slavic Tribes in Russia". Study.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  32. ^ Gannholm, Tore. "Birka, Varangian Emporium". Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  33. ^ "The Volga". www.volgawriter.com. Archived from the original (Microsoft FrontPage 12.0) on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  34. . Page 31.
  35. ^ Brian Pearce, Introduction Archived 3 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine to Fyodor Raskolnikov s "Tales of Sub-lieutenant Ilyin."
  36. from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  37. .
  38. ^ "::The Battle of Stalingrad". Historylearningsite.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  39. ^ "Early East Slavic Tribes in Russia | Study.com". Study.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  40. .
  41. ^ Bašić, Marko (14 May 2015). "Noble Sarmatian Grave Discovered In Russia". Slavorum. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  42. OCLC 56535045
    .
  43. ^ "When the Arabs met the Vikings: New discovery suggests ancient links". The National. 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  44. ^ "The Volga Trade Route". www.pbs.org. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  45. ^ "Unique History of Volga River That You Need to Know - Learn Russian Language". Learn Russian Language. 30 June 2018. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  46. ^ "Catherine's Manifesto 1763". NORKA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  47. .
  48. ^ "NoorderSoft Waterways Database". Noordersoft.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2010.

Sources

Further reading

External links

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article: Volga. Articles is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.Privacy Policy