The Angara (; ) or Angar ( мүрэн) is a major river in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, which traces a course through

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara River, Angara, Lena River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is ...

and

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

. It drains out of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

and is the

headwater The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Yenisey The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

. It is long, and has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of . It was formerly known as the Lower or Nizhnyaya Angara (distinguishing it from the Upper Angara). Below its junction with the

Ilim The Ilim () is a river in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Angara. It flows north between and parallel to the rivers Angara and Lena, and then swings west to join the Angara south of Ust-Ilimsk. Geography The Ust-Ilimsk Dam on ...

, it was formerly known as the Upper Tunguska (, ''Verhnyaya Tunguska'', distinguishing it from the

Lower Tunguska The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right tributa ...

) and, with the names reversed, as the Lower Tunguska.

Course

Leaving Lake Baikal near the settlement of Listvyanka, the Angara flows north past the Irkutsk Oblast cities of

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Angarsk Angarsk ( rus, Ангарск, p=ɐnˈgarsk) is a city and the administrative center of Angarsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Kitoy River, from Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History Ang ...

Bratsk Bratsk (, ; ) is a Types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara, Angara River near the vast Bratsk Reservoir. It had population of . Etymology The name of the city, which is from the same ro ...

, and

Ust-Ilimsk Ust-Ilimsk ( rus, Усть-Илимск, p=usʲtʲ ɪˈlʲimsk) is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara River. Population: 53,000 (1977). History An '' ostrog'' (fortress) was built on the present site of the town in the ...

. It then crosses the

Angara Range The Angara Range () is a mountain range in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, part of the Central Siberian Plateau.Google Earth There are large iron ore deposits in the area of the Angara Range. Geography The Angara Range is made up o ...

and turns west, entering Krasnoyarsk Krai, and joining the Yenisey near

Strelka Strelka may refer to: Places * Strelka (inhabited locality), several inhabited localities in Russia including: ** Strelka, Amur Oblast ** Strelka, Lesosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai ** Strelka, Vologda Oblast ** Strelka, Voronezh Oblast * a small cap ...

, south-east of

Lesosibirsk Lesosibirsk () is a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. Population: History The village of Maklakov Lug (), later known as Maklakovo () existed on the territory of modern Lesosibirsk since 1640. In the early 20th centu ...

Dams and reservoirs

Four dams of major hydroelectric plants - constructed since the 1950s - exploit the waters of the Angara: *

Irkutsk Dam The Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station (Irkutsk HPS) is a rock-fill dam on the Angara River with an adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is located adjacent to Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast in Russia and is the first dam on the Angara cascades. Con ...

, forming the

Irkutsk Reservoir Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the 25th-largest city in Russia by population, the ...

, which floods the valley of the river from its source to Irkutsk, and slightly raises the water level in Lake Baikal *

Bratsk Dam The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station (also referred to as The ''50 years of Great October'' Dam) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is the second level of the Angara River hydroelectric st ...

, forming the

Bratsk Reservoir Bratsk Reservoir () is a reservoir (water), reservoir on the Angara River, located in the Lena-Angara Plateau of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. It is named after the city of Bratsk, the largest city adjacent to the reservoir. It has a surface area of an ...

Ust-Ilimsk Dam The Ust-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Station (Ust-Ilimsk HPS) is a concrete gravity dam on the Angara River and adjacent hydroelectric power station. It is located near Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk Oblast in Russia and is the third dam on the Angara cascades. ...

, at

, forming the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir *

Boguchany Dam The Boguchany Dam () is a large hydroelectric dam on the Angara River in Kodinsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It has an installed capacity of 2,997 MW. Construction of the power plant was completed when a ninth and final generator was brought ...

, at

Kodinsk Kodinsk () is a town and the administrative center of Kezhemsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Angara River, north of Krasnoyarsk. Population: History It was founded in 1977 as the settlement of Kodinskoye () servicing th ...

The reservoirs of these dams flooded a number of villages along the Angara and its tributaries (including the historic fort of

Ilimsk Ilimsk () was a small town in Siberia, within today's Irkutsk Oblast of Russia. The town was flooded by the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir in the mid-1970s. Ilimsk was founded in 1630 on the Ilim River, a tributary of the Angara River, as Ilimsky Ost ...

on the Ilim), as well as numerous agricultural areas in the river valley. Due to its effects on the way of life of the rural residents of the Angara valley, dam construction was criticized by a number of Soviet intellectuals, in particular by the Irkutsk writer

Valentin Rasputin Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin (; ; 15 March 193714 March 2015) was a Soviet and Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for ...

- both in his novel ''

Farewell to Matyora ''Farewell to Matyora'' () is a 1976 novel by Valentin Rasputin. The novel treats Rasputin's major theme of the baneful impact of industrialization and urbanization on peasant life.Rina Lapidus, ''Passion, Humiliation, Revenge: Hatred in Man-Woman ...

'' (1976) and in his non-fiction book ''

Siberia, Siberia ''Siberia, Siberia'' () is a non-fiction book by the Russian writer Valentin Rasputin. It was originally published in Russian in 1991 by Molodaya Gvardiya (publisher), Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard). The second and third editions appeared in 20 ...

'' (1991).

Navigation

The Angara is navigable by modern watercraft on several isolated sections: * from Lake Baikal to Irkutsk * from Irkutsk to Bratsk * on the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir * from the Boguchany Dam (Kodinsk) to the river's fall into the Yenisey. The section between the Ust-Ilimsk Dam and the Boguchany Dam has not been navigable due to rapids. However, with the completion of the Boguchany Dam, and filling of its reservoir, at least part of this section of the river will become navigable as well. Nonetheless, this will not enable through navigation from Lake Baikal to the Yenisey, as none of the existing three dams has been provided with a

ship lock A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

or a

boat lift A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock. It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, li ...

, nor will the Boguchany Dam have one. Kitchen-21-Russia-Angara-2815

Despite the absence of a continuous navigable waterway, the Angara and its tributary the

were of considerable importance for Russian colonization of Siberia since ca. 1630, when they (and the necessary portages) formed important water routes connecting the Yenisey with Lake Baikal and the

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

. The river lost its transportation significance after the construction of an overland route between

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

and

and, later, the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

Tributaries

The largest tributaries of the Angara are, from source to mouth:Ангара

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

* Irkut (left) *

Kitoy The Kitoy (, ) is a river in Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast in Russia, a left tributary of the Angara. The length of the river is 316 km. The area of its basin is 9,190 km². The Kitoy freezes up in the second half of October and stays iceb ...

(left) * Belaya (left) * Oka (left) * Iya (left) *

(right) * Kova (left) *

Koda KODA (99.1 FM, "Sunny 99.1") is an American commercial adult contemporary-formatted radio station in Houston, Texas. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. Its studios and offices are located along the West Loop Freeway in Uptown Houston. KOD ...

(right) * Chadobets (right) * Mura (left) * Irkeneyeva (right) *

Taseyeva The Taseyeva ( rus, Тасе́ева, p=tɐˈsʲeɪvə) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the largest, left tributary of the Angara and is long. If its right source river, the Chuna (river), Chuna, is included, it is long. Its drain ...

(left)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* .

External links

Angara River, southeast-central Russia

Map of region showing mouth of Angara RiverMap book of region showing mouth of Angara River

{{Authority control Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast Rivers of Krasnoyarsk Krai Articles containing video clips