The Ural (russian: Урал, ), known before 1775 as Yaik (russian: Яик, ba, Яйыҡ, translit=Yayıq, ; kk, Жайық, translit=Jaiyq, ), is a river flowing through

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in the continental border between

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and discharges into the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central A ...

. At , it is the third-longest river in

after the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...

and the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, and the 18th-longest river in

. The Ural is conventionally considered part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. The Ural arises near Mount Kruglaya in the Ural Mountains, flows south parallel and west of the north-flowing Tobol, through Magnitogorsk, and around the southern end of the Urals, through Orsk where it turns west for about , to Orenburg, where the river Sakmara joins. From Orenburg it continues west, passing into Kazakhstan, then turning south again at

Oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid ** Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...

, and meandering through a broad flat plain until it reaches the Caspian a few miles below Atyrau, where it forms a fine 'digitate' (tree-like) delta.Ural River Delta, Kazakhstan
(NASA Earth Observatory)

Geography

The river begins at the slopes of the Kruglaya MountainUral River
Encyclopædia Britannica of the Uraltau mountain ridge in South Ural, on the territory of the

Uchalinsky District Uchalinsky District (russian: Учали́нский райо́н; ba, Учалы районы) is an administrativeConstitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Article 64 and municipalLaw #126-z district (raion), one of the fifty-four in ...

Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик� ...

. There it has an average width of and flows as a typical mountain river. It then falls into the Yaik Swamp and after exiting it widens up to . Below Verkhneuralsk, its flow is characteristic of a flatland river; there it enters

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...

and Orenburg Oblasts. From Magnitogorsk to Orsk its banks are steep and rocky and the bottom has many rifts. After Orsk, the river abruptly turns west and flows through a long canyon in the Guberlinsk Mountains. After

Uralsk Uralsk (russian: Уральск) is the name of several rural localities in Russia: * Uralsk, Republic of Bashkortostan, a '' selo'' in Uralsky Selsoviet of Uchalinsky District of the Republic of Bashkortostan * Uralsk, Orenburg Oblast, a ''sel ...

, it flows from north to south, through the territory of

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Батыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Batys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Западно-Казахстанская область, translit=Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The ...

and

Atyrau Region Atyrau Region ( kk, Атырау облысы / ; russian: Атырауская область) formerly known as Guryev Region (russian: Гурьевская область) until 1991, is one of the regions of Kazakhstan, in the west of the co ...

of Kazakhstan. There, the river widens and has many lakes and ducts. Near the mouth, it splits into the Yaik and Zolotoy distributariesV. A. Balkov
Ural
(in Russian). bashedu.ru and forms vast wetlands. The Yaik distributary is shallow, with almost no trees on the shores, and is rich in fish; whereas Zolotoy is deeper and is navigable. Ural River has a spectacular tree-like (or "digitate") shape of the delta (see image). This type of delta forms naturally in the slow rivers which deliver a great deal of sediments and flow into a quiet sea. In the delta, from the mouth of the Zolotoy distributary lies Shalyga Island, which is long, with heights of and maximum widths of . The tributaries, in order going upstream, are Kushum, Derkul, Chagan, Irtek,

Utva Utva Aviation Industry (commonly known as UTVA) is a Serbian manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, subsidiary of Yugoimport SDPR, headquartered in Pančevo. History Utva was founded on 5 June 1937 in Zemun, since 1940 located in Pančevo ...

, Ilek (major, left), Bolshaya Chobda, Kindel, Sakmara,

Tanalyk The Tanalyk (russian: Таналык; ba, Таналыҡ, ''Tanalıq''), is a river in Bashkortostan and Orenburg Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Ural.Or (major, left) and Suunduk. The entire length of the Ural River is considered the Europe-Asia boundary by most authoritative sources. "Europe" (plate 59); "Asia" (plate 74): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles." Rarely, the smaller, shorter Emba River is claimed as the continental boundary, but that pushes "Europe" much further into "Central Asian"

. The Ural River bridge in Orenburg is even labeled with permanent monuments carved with the word "Europe" on one side, "Asia" on the other. Regardless, Kazakhstan has some European territory and is at times included in European political and sports organizations.

Hydrography

The river is mostly fed by melting snow (60–70%); the contribution of precipitation is relatively minor. Most of its annual discharge (65%) occurs during the spring floods, which occur in March and April near the mouth and in late April through June upstream; 30% drain during the summer and autumn and 5% in winter. During the floods, the river widens to above near Uralsk and to several tens of kilometers near the mouth. Water level is highest in later April upstream and in May downstream. Its fluctuation is in the upper stream, in the middle of the river and about in the delta. The average water discharge is near Orenburg, and at the Kushum village, which is from the mouth. The maximum discharge is and the minimum is . Average turbidity is at Orenburg and near Kushum. The river freezes at the source in early November and in the middle and lower reaches in late November. It opens in the lower reaches in late March and in early April in the upper reaches. The ice drift is relatively short. The average depth is near the source, and it increases in the middle reaches and especially near the mouth. The density of underwater vegetation also increases from the source to the mouth, so as the richness of the fauna. The bottom in the upper stream is rocky, with pebble and sand; it changes to silt-sand and occasionally clay downstream. The basin is asymmetrical – its left side from the river is 2.1 times larger in area than the right side; however, the right side is more important for feeding the river. The density of the tributaries is 0.29 km/km² in the right and 0.19 km/km² in the left side of the basin. The right-side tributaries are typical mountain rivers whereas the left-side tributaries have flatland character. About from the mouth there is a dangerous spot for shipping called Kruglovskaya prorva (russian: Кругловская прорва meaning Kruglovsk abyss). Here the river narrows and creates a strong vortex over a deep pit. The climate is continental with frequent and strong winds. Typical annual precipitation is .800 km on Ural River
(in Russian)Ural River
chelindustry.ru (in Russian)

Fauna

The wetlands at and near the delta of the Ural River are especially important to migrating birds as an important stop-over along the Asian flyway. They host many endemic and endangered species, such as great white pelican, Dalmatian pelican, pygmy cormorant,

cattle egret The cattle egret (''Bubulcus ibis'') is a cosmopolitan species of heron ( family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm-temperate zones. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Bubulcus'', although some authorities regard ...

, little egret, greater flamingo,

white-headed duck The white-headed duck (''Oxyura leucocephala'') is a small diving duck some long. The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring. Its breeding habitat is ...

, ferruginous duck, Eurasian spoonbill, glossy ibis,

houbara bustard The houbara bustard (''Chlamydotis undulata''), also known as African houbara, is a relatively small bustard native to North Africa, where it lives in arid habitats. The global population is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2014. ...

, great black-headed gull, slender-billed gull, squacco heron, common crane, demoiselle crane, slender-billed curlew, black stork, red-breasted goose,

lesser white-fronted goose The lesser white-fronted goose (''Anser erythropus'') is a goose closely related to the larger white-fronted goose (''A. albifrons''). It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe. There is a re-introduction s ...

, lesser kestrel, whooper swan, tundra swan,

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

, pallid harrier,

short-toed eagle The short-toed snake eagle (''Circaetus gallicus''), also known as the short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus ...

and many others. The pygmy cormorant was observed sporadically before 1999 and more regularly after that. Cattle egret is observed since 1990 between April and September (as most other migratory birds in this area), with the total population of several dozen couples. It feeds on frogs, mollusks and small fish.Фауна: Дельта реки Урал и прилегающее побережье Каспийского моря
wetlands.kz. (Fauna of the delta of Ural River, in Russian) Upstream, there are more of the resident bird species, such as grouse, wild pigeon and partridge. Ural River is also important for many fish species of the Caspian Sea which visit its delta and migrate upstream for spawning. In the lower reaches of the river there are 47 species from 13 families. The family Cyprinidae account for 40%, sturgeon and herring make up 11%, perch and herring 9% and salmon 4.4%. The main commercial species are sturgeon,

roach Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * California roa ...

, bream,

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

, carp, asp and Wels catfish. The rare species include Caspian salmon, sterlet, white salmon and kutum. In the delta of the river and nearby regions live about 48 animal species belonging to 7

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

; most common are rodents (21 species) and predators (12). Among them,

Bobrinski's serotine Bobrinski's serotine (''Eptesicus bobrinskoi'') is a species of vesper bat. It can be found in Iran and Kazakhstan. Taxonomy Bobrinski's serotine was described as a new species in 1935 by Alexander Petrovitch Kuzyakin (also spelled Kuzjakin). ...

and

marbled polecat The marbled polecat (''Vormela peregusna'') is a small mammal belonging to the monotypic genus ''Vormela'' within the mustelid subfamily Ictonychinae. ''Vormela'' is from the German word , which means "little worm". The specific name ''pereg ...

are endemic. Key species are raccoon dog, muskrat (appeared recently), European hare, house mouse, brown rat, and wild boar. Wild boars had a density of 1.2–2.5 per hectare in 2000 and are hunted commercially. Others include elk, fox, wolf,

dwarf fat-tailed jerboa The dwarf fat-tailed jerboa (''Pygeretmus pumilio'') is a species of rodent in the family Dipodidae. It is found in China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental count ...

, great gerbil,

northern mole vole The northern mole vole (''Ellobius talpinus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is distributed over large parts of Eastern Europe and Asia. Distribution This vole is found in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan an ...

and saiga antelope. The

Turkmenian kulan The Turkmenian kulan (''Equus hemionus kulan''), also called Transcaspian wild ass, Turkmenistani onager or simply the ', is a subspecies of onager (Asiatic wild ass) native to Central Asia. It was declared Endangered in 2016. The species's p ...

(''Equus hemionus kulan'') used to live at the Ural River. It might be extinct from that region. The reptiles are represented by bog turtles, common water snakes, rat snakes and sand lizard. Bog turtles are found in all waters. Common water snakes live on the banks of canals. Rat snakes and sand lizards are few and inhabit relatively high areas of land. Two more reptiles,

Caspian whipsnake The Caspian whipsnake (''Dolichophis caspius'', sometimes also ''Coluber caspius'') also known as the large whipsnake (among various other species in genus ''Dolichophis''/'' Coluber''), is a common species of whipsnake found in the Balkan ...

and '' Coluber spinalis'', are extremely rare. Among amphibians common are lake frog and green frog. With an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 species, insects exceed all other animals of the region by diversity and biomass. Terrestrial and aquatic insects make up a significant proportion of the diet of birds. Many species are parasitic on birds and transmit infection. Other dominating inhabitants of the river are protozoa, rotifers, Cladocera and copepods. Mollusks are mostly represented by gastropods and

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of marine and freshwater Mollusca, molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hing ...

Industry

Water from the upper reaches of the Ural River is used to supply the prominent Magnitogorsk ( Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, built in the early 1930s) and Orsk-Khalilovsk metallurgical plants, and the low reaches are used for irrigation. Two reservoirs were created near Magnitogorsk, and there is a hydroelectric plant near the village of Iriklinskaya with the corresponding reservoir. Below Uralsk, there is another reservoir and the Kushumsky channel. The river is navigated up to Uralsk and there is a port in Atyrau. Fishery is well developed; the commercial fish species include sturgeon,

, herring, bream, carp and

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

. The delta of Ural River accounts for about half of the fish catchment in Kazakhstan. Also widespread is agriculture, especially growth of melons and watermelons. The city of Atyrau is a major oil producing center of Kazakhstan.

Etymology

The river was called (Daïkos) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

in the 2nd century AD. Yulian Kulakovsky reads this as Turkic " Jajyk" or "Яик" and on this basis identifies the Huns as Turkic speakers. However,

Gerard Clauson Sir Gerard Leslie Makins Clauson (28 April 1891 – 1 May 1974) was an English civil servant, businessman, and Orientalist best known for his studies of the Turkic languages. The eldest son of Major Sir John Eugene Clauson, Gerard Clauson att ...

disputes that the name could be of Turkic origin as early as the 2nd century, and instead attributes it to Sarmatian origin. Also, the version of origin from the ancient Finno-Ugric and subsequent adaptation by other language groups has not been sufficiently studied (the river originates in the alleged ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric languages). In modern Finno-Ugric, the closest surviving forms are found: "joki" (Finnish), "jogi" (Karelian), "jā" (Mansi), "ju" (Komi) - river, "jəŋk" (Khanty) - water. Also, hypothetically Finno-Ugric titles may have tributaries of the Yaik River, for example Ilek (Erzya "Ilyk" - strength) and Utva (Komi "Ytva" - spring water). In the 10th-Century work '' De Administrando Imperio'',

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus referred to the Ural River as the "Geich." The name Яйыҡ (Yayıq) is currently used in the Bashkir language and Жайық (Zhayıq) in Kazakhstan. In later European texts it is sometimes mentioned as ''Rhymnus fluvius'' and in the Russian chronicle of 1140 as Yaik. The river was renamed Ural in the Russian language in 1775, by Catherine II of Russia.

History

In the 10th to 16th centuries, the city of

Saray-Jük Saray-Jük (Сарай-Жүк) / Sarai-Dzhuk (Сарай-Джук), Saraichik or Kishi Saray (Кіші Сарай) in the Kazakh language, Saraychyq (Сарайчык) in modern Tatar, and Saray Maly (russian: Сара́й Ма́лый) literally ...

(or Saraichik, meaning "small Sarai") on the Ural River (now in Atyrau Province of Kazakhstan) was an important trade center on the Silk Road. In the 13th century, it became a stronghold of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...

. It was destroyed in 1395 by the army of

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kü ...

but then rebuilt to become the capital of Nogai Horde in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was finally reduced to a village in 1580 by the Ural Cossacks. Pike-pole1

After the Russian conquest of the Ural basin in the late 16th century, the shores of the Ural became home to the

Yaik Cossacks The Ural Cossack Host was a cossack host formed from the Ural Cossacks – those Eurasian cossacks settled by the Ural River. Their alternative name, Yaik Cossacks, comes from the old name of the river. They were also known by the names: *Rus ...

. One of their main activities was fishing for the sturgeon and related fishes (including the true sturgeon, starry sturgeon, and beluga) in the Ural River and the Caspian. A great variety of fishing techniques existed; the most famous of them was ''bagrenye'' (russian: багренье, from ''bagor'' russian: багор, meaning

pike pole A pike pole is a long metal-topped wooden, aluminium or fiberglass pole used for reaching, hooking and/or pulling on another object. They are variously used in boating, construction, logging, rescue and recovery, power line maintenance, and fire ...

): spearing hibernating sturgeons in their underwater lairs in mid-winter. The ''bagrenye'' was allowed only on one day of the year. On the appointed day, a large number of Cossacks with pike poles were gathering on the shore; after a signal was given, they rushed on the ice, broke it with their poles, and speared and pulled the fish. Another fishing technique was constructing a weir, known as the ''uchug'' ( учуг) across the river, to catch fish going upstream to spawn. Until 1918, an ''uchug'' was set up in the summer and autumn near Uralsk, so that the fish would not go upstream beyond the Cossacks' land. While the ''uchug'' weirs were also known in the

Volga Delta The Volga Delta is the largest river delta in Europe, and occurs where Europe's largest river system, the Volga River, drains into the Caspian Sea in Russia's Astrakhan Oblast, north-east of the republic of Kalmykia. The delta is located in the ...

, the ''bagrenye'' was thought to be a uniquely Ural technique. The Ural Cossacks (known originally as the Yaik Cossacks) resented the attempts by the central government to impose rules and regulations on them, and on occasions rose in rebellions. The largest rebellion, the Pugachev's Rebellion of 1773–75, involved not only the Ural, but much of south-eastern Russia, and resulted in a loss of the government control there. After its suppression, Empress Catherine issued a decree of 15 January 1775 to rename most of the places involved in the revolt, in order to erase the memory of it. Thus the Yaik River and the city of Yaitsk were renamed to the Ural River and

, respectively, and the Yaik Cossacks became the Ural Cossacks.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Rivers of Kazakhstan Rivers of Russia Tributaries of the Caspian Sea Rivers of Chelyabinsk Oblast Rivers of Bashkortostan Rivers of Orenburg Oblast Border rivers International rivers of Asia International rivers of Europe Ural Mountains History of Ural