Volga River
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 may be found along the river.
The Russian hydronym
'о́лга is akin to the Slavic word for "wetness", "humidity" (
влага,
волога). It is transliterated as
Volga in English and as
Wolga in
German.
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.
[Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. Les Sarmates : Amazones et lanciers cuirassés entre Oural et Danube. Paris: Editions Errance, 2002.] This ancient name survives in the modern
Mordvin name for the Volga,
Рав (Raw).
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
Tolyatti,
Samara 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 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-Volga 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.
Volgograd and
Nizhny Novgorod are vital manufacturing cities on the banks of the Volga. During Soviet rule, Nizhny Novgorod was closed to foreigners. Other important cities on the river include
Saratov,
Kazan,
Tolyatti, and
Samara. Nine major
hydroelectric power stations and several large artificial lakes formed by dams lie along the Volga. The largest of the lakes are, from north to south, the
Rybinsk,
Nizhny Novgorod,
Samara, and
Volgograd reservoirs.
Confluents (downstream to upstream)
 |
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)
Human history
|
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.
|
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).
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, many of whom were invited to settle in Russia by
Catherine the Great and her successors as part of a campaign to improve the country by importing skills. 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 WWII.
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) *
Cities on the Volga*
Rivers of Russia*
The Volga Boatmen's Song*
Volga Delta*
Information and a map of the Volga's watershed*
Volga Delta from Space
