Half of European cities were built on rivers, which is not surprising, because rivers have always been an important transport and economic importance for urban development. After all, people just love to relax on the banks of the rivers, enjoying the scenery and clean water, and many - and fishing in it. The size of the rivers on which cities stand can vary greatly, and this does not mean that the largest cities should stand on the largest rivers. About what is the most long river in Europe, and will be discussed below.

1. Volga (3531 km)

It is the great Russian river that is the longest waterway in Europe. It must be admitted that in terms of length, the European record holder is far behind the longest rivers in the world, such as the Amazon, the Nile, the Yangtze, but in a fairly compact Europe, this is already a good result. The Volga begins, like many other Eastern European rivers (Dnepr, Western Dvina, etc.) on the Valdai Upland, then flows along the Central Russian Upland to the southeast, at the foothills of the Urals it turns south and flows into the inner Caspian Sea. The source of the Volga is located at an altitude of 228 meters above sea level, but its delta goes 28 meters below this level. Usually the course of the Volga is divided into three sections: the upper, middle and lower Volga. In its basin, which occupies 8% of the territory of Russia, there are over 150 thousand large and small rivers.

In that part of the world that is called America, there are many waterfalls, not only in its southern mainland, but North America can also be proud of something. US residents...

2. Danube (2860 km)

This is the longest river Western Europe. It begins in Germany, and then flows through the territories of 10 countries until it flows into the Black Sea. During such a long journey, the landscapes of the banks of the Danube change very much: high mountains, glaciers, mountain plateaus, karst plateaus, plains and fields overgrown with forests. The Danube water has a yellowish-brown tint due to the abundance of suspended particles of silt carried away from the banks, therefore the “blue” Danube, sung by Johann Strauss, is also considered the most muddy European river. For Western Europe, the Danube is not only the longest, but also the most full-flowing river.

3. Ural (2428 km)

The origins of the Ural River are located in Bashkiria, on the top of Mount Kruglyaya Sopka. Almost all its way, the Urals flow through the territory of Russia, capturing a small piece of Kazakhstan, after which, like the Volga, it flows into the Caspian. The upper part of the Ural channel is the conditional border of the division of the Eurasian continent into 2 continents - Europe and Asia. The cities of Orenburg and Magnitogorsk were built on the Ural River. In terms of shipping, the Urals does not have much of great importance- There are few river boats here. But on the other hand, fish are actively caught here, since there are a lot of them in the Urals - catfish, stellate sturgeon, pike perch, sturgeon. The Ural basin covers an area of ​​231,000 sq. km.

4. Dnieper (2201 km)

The Dnieper River, flowing through the territories of Russia, Belarus and then Ukraine, and for the latter it is the longest river. The Dnieper begins not far from the Volga - on the Valdai Hills, but at the end of the path it flows into the Black Sea. On the banks of the Dnieper there are such large cities as Kyiv and Dnepropetrovsk. The Dnieper, like a typical flat river, has a calm, slow flow, and everyone has long forgotten about the Dnieper rapids, which have become the bottom of the reservoirs. More than 70 species of fish live in the Dnieper, including sturgeon, carp, ram and herring. Also, many types of algae grow in the Dnieper water: green ones are the most common, but there are also golden, diatoms, and cryptophytes.

5. Don (1870 km)

The sources of the Don are on the Central Russian Upland, and it flows into the Sea of ​​Azov. Eat misconception that the source of the Don is in the Shatsky reservoir, but in fact its beginning is the Urvanka stream, which flows in Novomoskovsk Tula region(on the site of a formal source, tap water flows). The Don is a navigable river, and its basin covers 422,000 sq. km. River ships rise from the mouth of the Don to the city of Liski. Many cities were built on this ancient Russian river, including such large ones as Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Azov. Unfortunately, the Don was heavily polluted, which led to a reduction in its fish stocks. But even now, almost 70 species of fish live in it. Most often, roach, bream, rudd, pike and perch are caught here.

6. Pechora (1809 km)

This northern river flows through the territory of the Komi and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and then flows into the Barents Sea. The sources of the Pechora are in the Northern Urals. Naryan-Mar stands on its banks. Pechora is navigable, but only as far as Troitsko-Pechorsk. Whitefish, salmon and vendace are actively caught here. The Pechora basin, which occupies 322,000 sq. km, rich in mineral deposits: coal, gas and oil.

On our planet, only 14 mountain peaks have a height of more than 8000 meters. Most of the peaks are located in the Himalayas and are known to everyone under the name "laqu...

7. Kama (1805 km)

This is the longest of the rivers in Europe, which is a tributary and the largest river in the Western Urals. The sources of the Kama are located on the Upper Kama Upland, near the village of Karpushata. In the area of ​​the Kuibyshev reservoir, the Kama flows into the Volga, the longest European river. The area of ​​the Kama basin is 507,000 sq. km, where there are almost 75 thousand rivers and streams. True, the vast majority of them are only about a dozen kilometers long. Interestingly, the Kama is much older than the Volga; before the last glaciation, it itself flowed into the Caspian Sea, while the Volga merged with the Don. After the passage of the glacier, which greatly changed the terrain, much has changed - the Kama has become the largest tributary of the Volga.

8. Oka (1498 km)

The largest right tributary of the Volga is the Oka River, which has a basin of 245,000 sq. km. It begins as an ordinary spring near the village of Alexandrovka in Oryol region. Many ancient Russian cities were built on the Oka: Ryazan, Kaluga, Murom, Nizhny Novgorod, so it, like the Volga, is closely connected with the history of Russia. Divyagorsk was also built there - one of the oldest cities in Rus', which is now almost completely washed away by the fast waters of the river. Due to the gradual shallowing of the Oka, navigation on it is unstable, which has been suspended more than once (2007, 2014, 2015). For the same reason, the number of fish in the Oka is gradually decreasing.

9. Dniester (1352 km)

The Dniester River begins in the Lviv region, in the village of Volchie, and at the end of the way to the south it flows into the Black Sea, crossing the territories of Ukraine and Moldova during this time. In many places, the border between these countries runs along the Dniester. Tiraspol, Rybnitsa, Bendery were built on the Dniester. The area of ​​the Dniester basin is approximately 72,100 sq. km. With the collapse of the USSR, shipping on this river also decreased, and after Lately almost completely disappeared, so now you can occasionally meet there only sightseeing ships and small boats.

South America for us is something unattainable and exotic. Much has been written about these places. literary works, filmed a huge amount ...

10. Vyatka (1314 km)

The Vyatka River begins, like the Kama, on the Verkhnekamsk Upland, in Udmurtia. But at the end of its journey, it nevertheless flows into this largest tributary of the Volga. The area of ​​the Vyatka basin is 129,000 sq. km. This meandering river has a typically flat character. Man uses it not only for navigation, but also for timber rafting. River routes end in Kirov, having a length of about 700 kilometers from the mouth. There is a lot of fish in Vyatka, local residents catch perch, pike, pike perch, roach and other species in it. On its banks such cities as Kirov, Orlov, Sosnovka were built.

Hands to Feet. Subscribe to our group

The river network is most developed in the northern part of the region, in the zone of excessive moisture (forest zone). As we move south, the surface and underground runoff decreases more and more, the amount of precipitation decreases, the relative evaporation losses increase, underground waters lie deeper, etc. In accordance with this, the river network becomes less and less, and in arid steppes and especially already vast drainless spaces appear in the semi-desert, that is, areas devoid of permanent rivers.

The hydrographic network in such places is represented by dry channels that operate for a short time during the period of snowmelt or heavy rains. Large rivers - the Volga and the Dnieper - flowing through the steppe spaces, receive only relatively small tributaries and little increase their water content. In the semi-desert zone, they even lose some of their water to evaporation and filtration (the Volga below Volgograd, the Urals).

In the steppe and forest-steppe zones, especially in areas where loess soils are distributed, a ravine-gully network has been widely developed, representing a dense network of temporary watercourses that operate only during the period of snowmelt or heavy rainfall. In some places, the rapidly growing network of ravines causes great damage to agriculture, destroying fertile black earth soils.

Most of the watercourses of the region are among the typical lowland rivers. They usually have well-developed valleys with wide, often swampy floodplains, abundant lakes and old rivers. Their current velocities and slopes are also low, not exceeding 0.1-0.3°/oo. Sharp fractures of the longitudinal profile are rare and confined to places of shallow occurrence of bedrock, cut in some places by rivers. There are a large number of unstable sandy rifts in the riverbeds.

On large rivers (Volga, Don, Dnieper, etc.), the asymmetry of the slopes of the valleys is clearly expressed: the right bank is usually high and steep, the left is gentle and low. The explanation for this is found in the deviation of the flow of rivers to the right under the influence of the rotation of the Earth (the Coriolis force).

The main river of the Black Sea-Caspian slope is the Volga, followed by the Dnieper and Don. Among the major rivers is also in the southeast - the Urals.

The Volga is one of the largest rivers: Europe. Among the rivers of Russia, it occupies the sixth place, yielding in terms of catchment area only to the Siberian giant rivers - the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur and Irtysh. It originates on the Valdai Hills, where the source is taken as a key, fastened with a wooden frame near the village of Volgine. The source mark is 225 m above sea level. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea. The length of the river is 3690 km, the basin area is 1380000 km2.

In terms of its catchment area (220,000 km 2) and length (2,530 km), the Urals is one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia. It originates on Southern Urals near the source of the river. White (left tributary of the Kama) and initially flows straight south. Near the city of Orsk, it turns sharply to the west, and, having passed in a latitudinal direction of about 850 km, in the region of the city of Uralsk it again turns south almost at a right angle and maintains this direction until it flows into the Caspian Sea. According to these three main directions, the Urals are usually divided into three sections: the upper one - from the source to the city of Orsk, the middle one - between the cities of Orsk and Uralsk, and the lower one - from the city of Uralsk to the mouth.

Economic importance and use of the rivers of the southeastern part of the region

Of the rivers in the southeastern part of the region, the Urals are of the greatest importance, the waters of which in the upper reaches are widely used for water supply to cities and enterprises of the industrial Urals. A number of reservoirs have been built here, supplying water to Magnitogorsk, the Orsk-Khalilovsky plant and other cities and industrial enterprises. In the lower reaches, the Ural is used for navigation.

In terms of the catchment area of ​​422,000 km 2, the Don ranks fourth among the rivers of the European part of Russia, second only to the Volga, Dnieper and Kama. The length of the river is 1970 km. The source of the Don is located in the northern part of the Central Russian Upland, at an altitude of about 180 m above sea level. For its beginning, the place of exit from the lake was previously taken. Ivan. In reality, there is usually no runoff from Ivan Lake to the Don. For the origins of the Don, it is customary to consider the keys located somewhat south of the lake. Ivan.

The Dnieper is the third largest river in the European part of the country after the Volga and Kama. It originates in the Smolensk region from a moss swamp (near the village of Kletsovo), at an altitude of about 220 m above sea level. Flowing through the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, the Dnieper collects water from a vast basin with an area of ​​503,000 km 2. The length of the river from its source to its confluence with the Dnieper-Bug Estuary of the Black Sea is 2285 km.

The Dnieper is one of the lowland rivers. The river valley is well developed and has a wide floodplain, where the channel is divided into numerous branches. By the nature of the valley and channel, as well as by a number of other features, the Dnieper is usually divided into three sections: the upper one - from the source to the city of Kiev, the middle one - from the city of Kiev to the city of Zaporozhye and the lower one - from the city of Zaporozhye to the mouth.

The Upper Dnieper covers most of the basin (approximately 65%), located in the forest zone and characterized by the most developed river network. Above the city of Kyiv, its large tributaries flow into the Dnieper: the Berezina, Sozh, Pripyat and Desna. In this part of the basin, the main flow of the river is formed, more than 80% of the total flow already passes in the alignment of Kyiv. From the source and almost to the city of Orsha, the Dnieper flows along the border of the penultimate glaciation. Here, in some places, when crossing the moraine ridges, the river valley narrows and the river forms rapids, full of boulders.

5 km above the city of Orsha, the Dnieper crosses a ridge of gray sandstone and forms the well-known Kobelyak rapids, which are a significant obstacle to navigation in low water.

Below the city of Orsha, up to the city of Kyiv, the Dnieper flows along the bottom of a wide valley, reaching in places a width of 10-14 km. Among the vast, sometimes swampy floodplain, the Dnieper channel forms numerous bends.

A characteristic feature of the middle Dnieper is a pronounced asymmetric valley, the right root bank of which is high and steep, and the left bank is gentle and low. Here the river, as it were, presses its right bank against the Volyn-Podolsk upland and goes around it. On the left, an ancient terrace adjoins the Dnieper, which looks like a wide, gently sloping plain. The main tributaries of the middle Dnieper are Sula, Psel, Vorskla. In the lower part of this section, from the city of Dnepropetrovsk to the city of Zaporozhye, the Dnieper crosses the Azov-Podolsky crystalline massif for 90 km in its lowest part. Here were the famous Dnieper rapids with a total drop of more than 32 m, which for many centuries was an obstacle to navigation.

During the years of Stalin's five-year plans, the most powerful hydroelectric power station in Europe, the Dneproges, was created in the region of the Dnieper rapids; its 37 m high dam completely blocked the rapids, forming a reservoir in their place, named after V. I. Lenin. So, in those days, the problem of improving the navigation conditions of the Dnieper was radically solved.

Below the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, the Dnieper enters the Black Sea lowland. The terrain along both banks of the river takes on a steppe, flat character. The slope of the river becomes insignificant (0.09-0.05°/oo); the total drop from Zaporozhye to the mouth is only 14 m. The riverbed is divided into many branches, forming flat sandy islands overgrown with reeds. These are the so-called Dnieper floodplains, which are up to 20 km wide and limited on the left side of the river. Konka, which makes up the boundary of the left floodplain of the Dnieper.

Below the city of Kherson, the Dnieper forms a delta, flowing into the Dnieper Estuary with many branches. Having a large catchment area, the Dnieper is not characterized by high water content. Its average annual water flow at its mouth is 1700 m 3 /sec, which corresponds to a runoff modulus of 3.1 l/sec km 2. In terms of its water content, the Dnieper ranks sixth among the rivers of the European part of the former Soviet Union, yielding not only to the Volga and Kama, but also to the Pechora, Northern Dvina and Neva. With a catchment area slightly inferior to the Kama, the average annual water flow of the Dnieper is about 2 times less than the flow of the latter.

As on other rivers of the European part, the Dnieper experiences a high spring flood, which is formed due to the melting of snow accumulated over the winter in its basin. More than 50% of the total annual flow passes in spring. The peak of the flood in the upper reaches is in mid-April, and in the lower reaches - in early May. After the passage of the flood, the level in the river drops sharply and during June, July and August there is a low low water. The lowest level is observed in July.

The amplitude of level fluctuations is quite significant, especially in the upper reaches. In the Smolensk region, for example, it reaches 12 m. Below is information on the length, catchment areas, and water discharges of the main tributaries of the Dnieper (Table 1).

Table 1. Information on the main tributaries of the Dnieper

River use. The Dnieper has long played an important role in the economic life of our country. Back in the 10th-12th centuries, the famous route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed along it.

Navigation begins on the section of the upper Dnieper near the city of Dorogobuzh and is carried out along the rest of the river. The importance of the Dnieper as a waterway especially increased after the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, when the Dnieper basin received direct communication with the sea. With the help of connecting water systems, the Dnieper is connected with adjacent basins: the Berezinsky system connects it with the Western Dvina basin, the Dnieper-Neman Canal - with the Neman basin, the Dnieper-Bug Canal - with the Western Bug basin.

It should be noted that these Black Sea-Baltic water systems, built at the beginning of the last century, are unsuitable for modern navigation. The rivers included in the systems (Neman and Zapadnaya Dvina) are not regulated and, differing in rapids, are inaccessible for through navigation. During Patriotic War the structures of the Dnieper-Bug Canal were destroyed, but restored after the war.

Russia occupies a vast geographical area, and it is not surprising that numerous rivers spread over its expanses, which played an important historical role in the settlement and development of new lands. Almost all the largest cities of the country are located on the rivers.

In total, there are about 3 million rivers on the territory of the Russian Federation, and all of them are an important component of the life of many people, animals and plants. Rivers provide us with food, water, electricity, places for recreation, and also serve as transportation routes connecting different settlements. It is an indispensable source of water for Agriculture and industry.

In this article, you can get acquainted with the largest rivers in Russia, get them brief description and to look geographical location on the map of the country.

Rivers of the Russian Federation

Map of the largest rivers of Russia

The territory of the country is divided into European and Asian parts. The dividing line, as a rule, is considered the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea. The rivers of the European part flow into the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The rivers of the Asian part flow into the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

The largest rivers in European Russia are the Volga, Don, Kama, Oka and Northern Dvina, while some rivers originate in Russia but flow into other countries, such as the Dnieper and Western Dvina. The following large rivers flow through the Asian expanses of the country: the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Angara, Lena, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma.

Of the five main drainage basins: the Arctic, Pacific, Baltic, Black Sea and Caspian, the first, located in Siberia and including the northern part of the Russian Plain, is the most extensive. To a greater extent, this basin is filled by the three largest rivers in Russia: the Ob (3650 km), which together with its main tributary, the Irtysh, forms a river system 5410 km long, the Yenisei (3487 km), and the Lena (4400 km). The sum of their catchment areas exceeds 8 million km², and total consumption water is about 50,000 m³/s.

major rivers Siberia provides transport arteries from the inside to the Arctic Sea Route, although they are blocked by ice for a long period each year. The slight slope of the Ob River makes it slowly wind through the vast floodplain. Due to the flow to the north, from the upper reaches to the lower limits of the thaw, extensive floods occur quite often, which leads to the development of huge swamps. Vasyugan swamps on the Ob-Irtysh interfluve cover an area of ​​more than 50,000 km².

The rivers of the rest of Siberia (about 4.7 million km²) flow into the Pacific Ocean. In the north, where the watershed is close to the coast, numerous small fast-flowing rivulets flow from the mountains, but most of southeastern Siberia is drained by the Amur River. For a larger segment of its length, the Amur forms the border separating Russia and China. The Ussuri, one of the tributaries of the Amur, forms another significant border line between the countries.

Three major drainage basins are located in the European part of Russia south of the Arctic Basin. The Dnieper, only the upper reaches of which are in Russia, as well as the Don and Volga, is the longest European river, originating in the north-west of the Valdai Upland and flowing into the Caspian Sea. Yielding only to the Siberian rivers, the Volga basin covers an area of ​​1,380,000 km². The rivers of the East European Plain have long served as important transport arteries; in fact, the Volga river system provides two-thirds of the movement of the entire Russian inland waterway.

10 largest and longest rivers in Russia

Many mighty rivers flow through the territory of the Russian Federation, but the size of some of them is truly impressive. Below is a list and maps of the largest rivers in the country, both by length and by catchment area.

Lena

The Lena River is one of the longest rivers in the world. It originates near Lake Baikal in southern Russia and flows west, and then, above Yakutsk, smoothly turns north, where it flows into the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean basin). Near the mouth, the river forms a huge delta with an area of ​​32,000 km, which is the largest in the Arctic and the most extensive protected area. wildlife in Russia.

The Lena Delta, which floods each spring, is an important nesting and migratory area for birds and supports a rich fish population. The river is inhabited by 92 planktonic species, 57 benthos species and 38 fish species. Sturgeon, burbot, chum salmon, whitefish, nelma and albula are the most commercially important fish species.

Swans, dippers, geese, ducks, plovers, waders, snipes, phalaropes, terns, skuas, birds of prey, sparrows and gulls are just some of the migratory birds that nest in the Lena's productive wetlands.

Ob

The Ob is the seventh longest river in the world, stretching for a distance of 3650 kilometers in the West Siberian region of the Russian Federation. This river, which is of great economic importance for Russia, arises at the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers in Altai. It mostly passes through the territory of the country, although many of its tributaries originate in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The Ob is connected to its largest tributary by the Irtysh River, at about 69° east longitude. It flows into the Kara Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, forming the Gulf of Ob. The river has a huge drainage area, which is about 2.99 million km².

The habitat surrounding the Ob consists of vast expanses of steppe and taiga flora in the upper and middle reaches of the river. Birches, pines, firs and cedars are some of the famous trees growing in these areas. Thickets of willow, wild rose and bird cherry also grow along the watercourse. The river basin abounds in aquatic flora and fauna, including more than 50 species of fish (sturgeon, carp, perch, nelma and peled, etc.) and about 150 species of birds. Minks, wolves, Siberian moles, otters, beavers, stoats and other native mammal species. In the lower reaches of the Ob, the arctic tundra is characterized by snow-covered landscapes for most of the year. Polar bears, arctic foxes, polar owls and arctic hares represent this region.

Volga

The longest river in Europe, the Volga, often considered the national river of Russia, has a large basin covering almost two-thirds of European Russia. The Volga originates in the north-west of the Valdai Upland, and flows south overcoming 3530 km, where it flows into the Caspian Sea. About 200 tributaries join the river along the entire route. Eleven major cities of the country, including Moscow, are based along the Volga basin, whose area is 1.36 million km².

The climate in the river basin varies along its course from north to south. The northern regions are dominated by temperate climate with cold snowy winters and warm wet summers. The southern regions are characterized by cool winters and hot dry summers. The Volga Delta is one of the richest habitats, home to 430 plant species, 127 fish species, 260 bird species and 850 aquatic species.

Yenisei

The mouth of the Yenisei River is located near the city of Kazyl, where it merges with the Small Yenisei River, which originates in Mongolia and flows north, where it drains a vast territory of Siberia before emptying into the Kara Sea (Arctic Ocean), having traveled 3,487 km. The Angara River, which flows out of Lake Baikal, is one of the main tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yenisei.

About 55 species of local fish live in the waters of the Yenisei, including Siberian sturgeon, flounder, roach, northern pike, Siberian minnow, tench and sterlet. Most of the river basin is surrounded by, mainly consisting of the following species of coniferous trees: fir, cedar, pine and larch. In some areas of the upper reaches of the Yenisei, there are also steppe pastures. In the north, boreal forests give way to arctic forests. Musk deer, elk, roe deer and Japanese mouse- some species of mammals living in taiga forests along the river. Also, there are such birds as the Siberian blue robin, Siberian lentil, stone capercaillie and forest snipe. Ducks, geese and swans are found in the lower reaches during the summer.

Lower Tunguska

The Lower Tunguska is a right tributary of the Yenisei, flowing through the Irkutsk region and Krasnoyarsk region Russia. Its length is 2989 km, and the basin area is 473 thousand km². The river extends near the watershed between the Yenisei and Lena river basins and flows north and then west across the Central Siberian Plateau.

In the upper reaches, the river forms a wide valley with numerous shallows, but after turning to the west, the valley narrows, and numerous gorges and rapids appear. The vast Tunguska coal basin lies in the river basin.

Amur

The Amur is the tenth longest river in the world, located in East Asia and forms the border between the Far Eastern District Russian Federation and Northeast China. The river originates at the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers. The Amur flows for 2825 km to the northwestern part Pacific Ocean and empties into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

The river has many vegetation zones V various parts its basin, including taiga forests and swamps, Manchurian mixed forests, Amur meadow steppes, forest-steppes, steppes and tundra. Wetlands along the Amur Basin are among the most valuable ecosystems that are home to a huge variety of flora and fauna. These are important haunts for millions of migratory birds, including white storks and Japanese cranes. The river basin is home to over 5,000 species of vascular plants, 70 species of mammals, and 400 species of birds. Rare and endangered species are found here, such as Amur tiger And far eastern leopard are the most iconic mammal species in the region. A wide variety of fish species inhabit the waters of the Amur: about 100 species in the lower reaches and 60 in the upper. Chum salmon, burbot and whitefish are among the most commercially important northern fish species.

Vilyuy

Vilyuy is a river in Central and Eastern Siberia, flowing mainly through the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in eastern Russia. This is the largest tributary of the Lena, 2650 km long and with a basin area of ​​​​about 454 thousand km².

Vilyui originates on the Central Siberian Plateau and first flows east, then south and southeast, and again east to the place where it flows into the Lena (about 300 km northwest of the city of Yakutsk). The river and adjacent reservoirs are rich in commercial fish species.

Kolyma

With a length of more than 2,100 kilometers and a basin area of ​​643,000 km², the Kolyma is the largest river in Eastern Siberia that flows into the Arctic Ocean. The upper reaches of this river system began to develop as early as the Cretaceous, when the main watershed between the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Arctic Ocean was formed.

At the beginning of its journey, Kolyma makes its way through narrow gorges with numerous rapids. Gradually, its valley expands, and below the confluence with the Zyryanka River, it flows through the wide marshy Kolyma lowland, and then flows into the East Siberian Sea.

Ural

The Ural is a large river flowing in Russia and Kazakhstan, 2428 km long (1550 km on the territory of the Russian Federation), and with a basin area of ​​​​about 231 thousand km². The river originates in the Ural Mountains on the slopes of the Round Sopka and flows in a southerly direction. In the city of Orsk, it turns sharply to the west through the southern outskirts of the Urals, past Orenburg, and again turns south, heading towards the Caspian Sea. Its flow has a large spring maximum, and freeze-up lasts from late November to April. Navigation on the river is carried out to the city of Oral in Kazakhstan. The dam and hydroelectric power station were built on the Iriklinskoye reservoir, south of the city of Magnitogorsk.

Wetlands in the Ural Delta are especially important for migratory birds as a major haunt along the Asian Flyway. The river is also important for many Caspian Sea fish species that visit its deltas and migrate upstream to spawn. In the lower reaches of the river, there are 47 species from 13 families. The cyprinid family accounts for 40% of the species diversity of fish, sturgeon and herring - 11%, perch - 9% and salmon - 4.4%. The main commercial species are sturgeon, roach, bream, pike perch, carp, asp and catfish. TO rare species include Caspian salmon, sterlet, nelma and kutum. About 48 species of animals live in the Ural delta and nearby areas, of which 21 species belong to the order of rodents.

Don

The Don is one of the largest rivers in the Russian Federation and the 5th longest river in Europe. Its basin is located between the Dnieper-Donets depression in the west, the Volga basin in the east, and the basin of the Oka River (a tributary of the Volga) in the north.

The Don originates in the city of Novomoskovsk 60 km southeast of Tula (120 km south of Moscow), and flows for a distance of about 1870 km to the Sea of ​​Azov. From its source, the river heads southeast to Voronezh and then southwest to its mouth. The main tributary of the Don is the Seversky Donets.

Table of the largest rivers of the Russian Federation

river name	Length in Russia, km	Total length, km	Swimming pool, km²	Water consumption, m³/s	Place of confluence (Mouth)
R. Lena	4400	4400	2.49 million	16350	Laptev sea
R. Ob	3650	3650	2.99 million	12492	Kara Sea
R. Volga	3530	3530	1.36 million	8060	Caspian Sea
R. Yenisei	3487	3487	2.58 million	19800	Kara Sea
R. Lower Tunguska	2989	2989	473 thousand	3680	R. Yenisei
R. Amur	2824	2824	1.86 million	12800	Sea of ​​Okhotsk
R. Vilyuy	2650	2650	454 thousand	1468	R. Lena
R. Kolyma	2129	2129	643 thousand	3800	East-Siberian Sea
R. Ural	1550	2428	231 thousand	400	Caspian Sea
R. Don	1870	1870	422 thousand	900	Sea of ​​Azov

The rivers of Russia, like a web, have enveloped the entire territory of the country, because their total number, from the smallest to the largest, is more than 2.5 million. We will not list all of them in this article. And just make a list of the largest, longest, largest rivers in Russia, their names. And we will try to describe each of them separately, especially fishing. After all, rivers are of great interest from the angler's point of view, and there are a lot of them.

Top 10 longest rivers in Russia flowing under one name:

№	river name	Total length km.	Where does it flow
1	Lena	4400	Laptev sea
2	Irtysh	4248	Ob
3	Ob	3650	Ob Bay of the Kara Sea
4	Volga	3531	Caspian Sea
5	Yenisei	3487
6	Lower Tunguska	2989	Yenisei
7	Amur	2824
8	Vilyuy	2650	Lena
9	Ishim	2450	Irtysh
10	Ural	2422	Caspian Sea

Top 10 Russian rivers by total catchment area, thousand km2:

№	river name	Basin area: sq/km	Where does it flow
1	Ob	2 990 000	Ob Bay of the Kara Sea
2	Yenisei	2 580 000	Yenisei Bay of the Kara Sea
3	Lena	2 490 000	Laptev sea
4	Amur	1 855 000	Amur Estuary, Sea of ​​Okhotsk
5	Volga	1 360 000	Caspian Sea
6	Kolyma	643 000	East-Siberian Sea
7	Dnieper	504 000	Black Sea
8	Don	422 000	Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov
9	Khatanga	364 000	Khatanga Bay of the Laptev Sea
10	Indigirka	360 000	East-Siberian Sea

List of the largest rivers in Russia, and fishing on them:

A	Abakan	Agul	Ai	Aksai	Alatyr
	Amur	Anadyr	Angara	Akhtuba	Aldan
B	Barguzin	White (Agidel)	Bityug	Biya
IN	Volga	Vazuza	Vuoksa	Varzuga	Great
	Vetluga	Vishera	Vorya	Volkhov	Crow
	Vyatka
G	Gnilusha
D	Gum	Don	Dubna	Dnieper
E	Yenisei	Her
AND	Zhabnya	Zhizdra	Zhukovka
Z	Zeya	Zilim	zusha
AND	Izh	Izhma	Izhora	ik	Ilek
	Ilovlya	Inga	Ingoda	Inzer	and the way
	Irkut	Irtysh	Iset	iskona	Istra
	Ishim	Isha	And I
TO	Kagalnik	Kazanka	Kazyr	Kakwa	Kama
	Kamenka	Kamchatka	Caen	Kantegir	Katun
	Kelnot	Kema	Kem	Kerzhenets	kilmez
	kiya	Klyazma	Kowashi	Cola	Kolyma
	conda	Kosva	Kuban	Kuma
L	Laba	Lena	Lovat	Lozva	Lopasnya
	meadows	Luh
M	mana	Manych	Bear	Mezen	Miass
	Mius	moksha	Mologa	Moscow river	Msta
H

Lena flows out of Lake Baikal, forms a bend and continues northward to the Laptev Sea, where it forms a large delta. The length of the river route is 4400 km, the basin area is 2490 thousand square meters. km., and water consumption - 16350 m3 / s. The length of the Lena takes 11th place in the world, and the longest river in Russia. The name comes from the language of the Evenks ("elyuene" - big river) or Yakuts (“Ulakhan-Yuryakh” - big water).

The Ob flows through Western Siberia for 3650 km, flowing into the Kara Sea, where it forms a vast, up to 800 km long, bay, called the Ob Bay. It is formed in Altai from the confluence of two rivers: the Biya and the Katun. It ranks first in terms of basin area, that is, the largest river in Russia (2990 thousand sq. Km) and third in terms of water content (behind the Yenisei and Lena). Water consumption - 2300 m3/s. The name of the river comes from the language of the Komi people, in which “ob” means “grandmother”, “aunt”, “respected elderly relative”.

The Volga is one of the largest rivers on Earth and the largest river in Europe. Its length is 3531 km and it crosses 4 republics and 11 regions of Russia before flowing into the Caspian Sea. The river basin occupies 1855 thousand square meters. km (a third of the European part of Russia) with a water flow of 8060 m3/s. There are 9 hydroelectric power plants with reservoirs on the Volga and up to half of all Russian industry and agriculture is concentrated. The Yenisei crosses Russia and Mongolia for 4287 kilometers (of which 3487 km pass through Russia) and flows into the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea. There is a division of the river into the Big and Small Yenisei (Biy-Khem and Kaa-Khem). The river has a basin area of ​​2580 thousand square meters. km (second place after Lena) and water consumption of 19800 m3/s. Sayano-Shushenskaya, Krasnoyarsk and Mainskaya hydroelectric power stations block the waters of the Yenisei in three places. The origin of the name is associated with the distorted Tungus name "enesi" (big water) or the Kyrgyz "enee-Sai" (mother river).

The Amur flows through the territory of Russia, Mongolia and China and flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Amur Estuary). This river Rossi has a length of 2824 km, the basin area is 1855 thousand square meters. km and water consumption equal to 10900 m3/s. The Amur crosses four physical and geographical zones: forest, forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert, and up to thirty different peoples and nationalities live on the banks of the river. The origin of the name causes a lot of controversy, but the most common opinion derives it from "Amar" or "Damar" (Tungus-Manchurian group of languages). In China, the Amur is called the Black Dragon River, and for Russia it is a symbol of Transbaikalia and the Far East.

The Kolyma begins at the confluence of the Kulu and Ayan-Yuryakh (Yakutia) rivers and flows into the Kolyma Bay after 2129 kilometers of its way. The river basin covers an area of ​​643 thousand square meters. km, and the water consumption is 3800 m3/s. In the Magadan region, this is the largest water artery.

The Don flows from the Central Russian Upland in the Tula region for 1870 kilometers and flows into the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of ​​Azov. Being one of the largest rivers in the south of the Russian Plain, the Don has a basin area of ​​422 thousand square meters. km and water consumption 680 m3/s. According to scientists, some sections of the riverbed are about 23 million years old. The ancient Greeks mentioned the Don under the name Tanais, and the modern name belongs to the Iranian peoples of the Northern Black Sea region and simply means "river". Khatanga is born from the confluence of the Kotui and Kheta rivers (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and flows into the Laptev Sea, forming the Khatanga Bay. The length of the river is 1636 km with a basin area of ​​364 thousand square meters. km and water consumption of 3320 m3/s. The first mention of Khatanga was based on the reports of the Tungus and dates back to the beginning of the 17th century.

Indigirka is formed from the rivers Tuora-Yuryakh and Taryn-Yuryakh (Khalkansky mountain range) and flows for 1726 kilometers through the lands of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), flowing into the East Siberian Sea. The area of ​​its water basin is 360 thousand square meters. km, and water consumption - 1570 m3 / s. The word "indigir" is of Evenk origin and means "people from the Indi clan". The river is known for its sights - the village of Oymyakon (the north pole of cold) and the city-monument Zashiversk, the population of which completely died out from smallpox in the 19th century.

The Northern Dvina flows through the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions from the south to the north and, before it flows into the Dvina Bay (White Sea) in the form of a wide delta, it travels 744 km. Two rivers, the South and Sukhona, give rise to it, so that later the river basin occupies an area equal to 357 thousand square meters. km, and the water consumption was 3490 m3/s. This is an important navigable artery that provides the water passage Severodvinsk - Veliky Ustyug, as well as the historical center of the beginning of shipbuilding in Rus'.

The Volga originates in the Valdai Upland. This is one of the largest rivers in Europe, receiving up to one and a half hundred tributaries along the way, including the Kama and Oka, the largest of them. There are numerous reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations on the river. The water canal system connects the river with the Baltic, White, Black and Azov seas. Akhtuba is the longest branch of the Volga. The total floodplain of these two rivers covers 7600 sq. km.

Kama is considered the fifth river in Europe in terms of the length of the channel - 2030 km, as well as an important river highway. Being a tributary of the Volga, it also absorbs the waters of smaller rivers on its way, such as Vyatka, Vishera, Belaya, Chusovaya. There are more than two hundred large tributaries near the Kama alone. The Kamskaya, Botkinskaya and Nizhnekamskaya hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs were built on the river.

The Oka is a tributary of the Volga (Nizhny Novgorod region). The riverbed is characterized by differences in slope and width. Among the major tributaries are the Ugra, the Moskva River, the Klyazma and the Moksha. Hydrological studies make it possible to divide the Oka route into three parts: the upper one (Aleksin - Shchurovo), the middle one (Shchurovo - the mouth of the Moksha), and the lower one (the mouth of the Moksha - the Volga).

Don - the river is calm and slow due to a slight slope along the entire route. Among its largest tributaries are the Seversky Donets, Manych and Sal. The river is actively used for generating electricity, navigation and irrigation of adjacent lands. The Dnieper in the European part of Russia ranks third (behind the Volga and Kama) in terms of the size of the basin, with an area of ​​503 thousand square meters. km. On the way to 2285 km, the Dnieper follows from the source to the Black Sea (Dneprovsko-Bug Estuary). This is a flat river with a wide floodplain and numerous branches and significant fluctuations in water level (up to 12 m in the Smolensk region). In ancient times, a section of the legendary route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” (10-12 centuries) passed along the Dnieper.

The Ural is one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia and is located in the southeast of the Black Sea-Caspian slope. Its length is 2530 km from its source to its confluence with the Caspian Sea, and the basin area covers 220 thousand square meters. km. Due to the strong tortuosity of the channel, it is customary to divide the Urals into three parts: the upper (source - Orsk), the middle (Orsk - Uralsk) and the lower (Uralsk - mouth). A network of reservoirs has been built in the Urals, providing water to the cities and enterprises of the region.

The Yenisei is one of the largest rivers of the Earth in terms of the length of the channel and the area of ​​the water basin. On the territory of Russia, the Yenisei basin unites up to two hundred thousand rivers and up to one and a half thousand lakes. The width of the channel varies from 800 meters at the source (Angara region) to 2-5 kilometers in the Ust-Port and Dudinka regions, and the width of the river valley varies from 40 km (Lower Tunguska region) to 150 km (Dudinka region). Research of the river began in the first half of the 18th century, thanks to the hydrograph Dmitry Ovtsyn, who was part of the Great Northern Expedition.

Lena is the largest river in the north of Russia. It flows along the Central Yakut lowland, forming a wide (up to 25 km) valley and feeding on a large number of lakes, swamps, rivers and streams. The Kharaulsky mountains and the Chekanovsky ridge narrow the valley to two kilometers, and a hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Lena it expands again and forms a delta of 30 thousand square meters. km. The Great Northern Expedition marked the beginning of a systematic study of the river, and its first scientific and geographical description was made by the naturalist Johann Gmelin.

The Ob has the largest water reserve in the north of the country. It combines the flows of the two rivers that form it: this is the Biya, originating in Lake Teletskoye, and the Katun, fed by the glaciers of the Belukha Mountain (Altai). The channel, which is deep at the beginning of the course, is divided into the Greater and Lesser Ob, then merges into one stream (the Salekhard region), and in the delta it again bifurcates into the Khamanel and Nadym Ob. Arrival at the mouth great river ships of the Second Kamchatka Expedition marked the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route.

The Kolyma flows through the northeast of Siberia. After a deep and narrow valley of the upper reaches, on a granite ridge, the river forms the steps of the Great Kolyma Rapids. In the middle of its journey, the Kolyma splits into numerous (up to ten) channels, and three rivers come to the Kolyma Bay: Kamennaya (Kolyma), Pokhodskaya and Chukochya. The river basin is famous for finds of fossil animal bones and gold deposits.

RIVER REST

Volga - the largest river in Europe, 3888 km long with a basin area of ​​\u200b\u200b1360 thousand km 2. It originates in the Valdai Upland, flows into the Caspian Sea, forming a delta with an area of ​​19 thousand km 2. It has about 200 tributaries, the largest being Kama and Oka. The flow is strongly regulated by a cascade of hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs. The largest hydroelectric power stations are Volzhskaya (Kuibyshevskaya), Volzhskaya (Volgogradskaya), Cheboksarskaya. The Volga is connected to the Baltic Sea by the Volga-Baltic Waterway, to the White Sea by the North Dvina Water System and the White Sea-Baltic Canal, to the Azov and Black Seas by the Volga-Don Shipping Canal, and to the Moscow River by the Moscow Canal. The Volga-Kama, Zhigulevsky and Astrakhan reserves are located in the Volga basin, natural national park Samarskaya Luka.

Kama - the fifth longest river in Europe (2030 km): only the Volga, Danube, Ural and Dnieper are longer than it, Kama is one of the most important river routes, it has more than 200 large tributaries, such as Vishera, Chusovaya, Belaya, Vyatka, etc. The Kama River is regulated for a considerable length by the dams of the Kamskaya, Botkinskaya and Nizhnekamskaya hydroelectric power stations, above which reservoirs have been created. At the confluence of the Kama and the Volga, there is the Volzh-1-sko-Kama Reserve.

The nature of the Kama basin It is diverse and includes the slopes of the Ural Range, ancient plateaus, and low-lying plains. In the upper reaches there are coniferous forests, in the lower reaches there are oak groves and lindens.

Oka - the second largest tributary of the Volga, has a length of 1478 km. It originates on the Central Russian Upland, 4 km from the village. Maloarkhangelsk. It flows into the Volga near Nizhny Novgorod. According to hydrological data and the nature of the route, it is divided into upper, middle and lower sections. Upper Oka - from the city of Aleksin to the village. Shchurovo. Average - from s. Shchurovo (the mouth of the Moscow River) to the mouth of the river. Moksha. Here it differs sharply from the upper section - the slopes decrease, the river becomes more abundant. For 100 km (R. Shchurovo - Kuzminsk) there is a sluice section. The Lower Oka (from the mouth of the Moksha River to Nizhny Novgorod) is characterized by frequent narrowing and widening of the channel from 1 to 2 km. The right bank (from Pavlov to Gorky) is high, the left bank (from Murom to Nizhny Novgorod) is low. On the banks of the Oka, on the one hand, there are cliffs, on the other, flood meadows. Closer to the confluence of the Volga, the Oka becomes full of water, coniferous forests and copses appear on the banks.

The main tributaries of the Oka: Ugra, Moscow River, Klyazma, Moksha. On the left bank in the middle reaches is the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The Oka is navigable from the city of Chekalin, regular shipping is from Serpukhov.

Don begins on the Central Russian Upland. The length of the Don is about 1970 km, the area of ​​the basin exceeds 440 thousand km2. It flows into the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov, forming a delta with an area of ​​340 km2. Small slopes in the lower reaches provide a very slow current. Main tributaries: Khoper, Medveditsa, Sal, Seversky Donets. On the Don are the Tsimlyanskaya hydroelectric power station and a reservoir, the Nikolaevsky, Konstantinovsky and Kochetkovsky hydroelectric facilities. Navigation from the mouth of the river. Sosny (1604 km), regular navigation - from the city of Liski. In the Don basin - Galichya Gora nature reserve. The largest cities: Liski, Kalach-on-Don, Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Volgodonsk.