Dnestr

The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Ukrainian territory again.

Names

The name ''Dniester'' derives from Sarmatian ''dānu nazdya'' "the close river". (The Dnieper, also of Sarmatian origin, derives from the opposite meaning, "the river on the far side".) Alternatively, according to Vasily Abaev ''Dniester'' would be a blend of Scythian ''dānu'' "river" and Thracian ''Ister'', the previous name of the river, literally Dān-Ister (River Ister). The Ancient Greek name of Dniester, ''Tyras'' (Τύρας), is from Scythian ''tūra'', meaning "rapid".

The names of the Don and Danube are also from the same Iranian word ''*dānu'' "river". Classical authors have also referred to it as ''Danaster.'' These early forms, without -''i''- but with -''a''-, contradict Abaev's hypothesis. Edward Gibbon refers to the river both as the Niester and Dniester in his ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire''.

In Ukrainian, it is known as ( translit. ''Dnister''), in Romanian as , in Russian as ( translit. ''Dnestr''), in Polish as ''Dniestr'', in Yiddish as ''Nester'' נעסטער; in Turkish as ''Turla'' (), and in Lithuanian as ''Dniestras''.

Geography

The Dniester rises in Ukraine, near the city of Turka, close to the border with Poland, and flows toward the Black Sea. Its course marks part of the border of Ukraine and Moldova, after which it flows through Moldova for , separating the main territory of Moldova from its breakaway region Transnistria. It later forms an additional part of the Moldova-Ukraine border, then flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea, where its estuary forms the Dniester Liman.

Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the ''de facto'' end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.

History

During the Neolithic, the Dniester River was the centre of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. The Cucuteni–Trypillian culture flourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 BC, leaving behind thousands of archeological sites. Their settlements had up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them among the first large farming communities in the world.

In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to Herodotus (iv.51) it rose in a large lake, whilst Ptolemy (iii.5.17, 8.1 &c.) places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modern Carpathian Mountains), and Strabo (ii) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lower Danube), and formed part of the boundary between Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister, the distance between them being 900 stadia – approximately  – according to Strabo (vii.), while (from the '' Pseudostoma'') according to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26). Scymnus (Fr. 51) describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish. Ovid (''ex Pont.'' iv.10.50) speaks of its rapid course.

Greek authors referred to the river as ''Tyras'' (). At a later period it obtained the name of ''Danastris'' or ''Danastus'', whence its modern name of Dniester (Niester), though the Turks still called it ''Turla'' during the 19th century. The form is sometimes found.

According to Constantine VII, the Varangians