Lake Beloye or White Lake (, ; ) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the northwestern part of

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The oblast has a population of 1,202,444 (Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, t ...

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 ...

. Administratively, the lake is divided between Belozersky District (south) and

Vashkinsky District Vashkinsky District () is an administrativeLaw #371-OZ and municipalLaw #1108-OZ district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Vologda Oblast, twenty-six in Vologda Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and border ...

(north) in the oblast. The town of

Belozersk Belozersk (), known as Beloozero () until 1777, is a town and the administrative center of Belozersky District in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the southern bank of Lake Beloye, from which it takes the name, northwest of Vologda, the admi ...

is located on its coast. In terms of area, Lake Beloye is the second natural lake of Vologda Oblast (behind

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...

), and the third lake also behind the

Rybinsk Reservoir Rybinsk Reservoir (, ), informally called the Rybinsk Sea, is a water reservoir (water), reservoir on the Volga River and its tributary, tributaries the Sheksna River, Sheksna and Mologa River, Mologa, formed by Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station dam, ...

. It is one of the ten biggest natural lakes in Europe.

Geography

The basin of the lake includes parts of Belozersky, Vashkinsky, Babayevsky, and

Vytegorsky District Vytegorsky District () is an administrativeLaw #371-OZ and municipalLaw #1113-OZ district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Vologda Oblast, twenty-six in Vologda Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and borders ...

s of Vologda Oblast, as well as minor areas in

Kargopolsky District Kargopolsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Law #65-5-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Kargopolsky Municipal District.Law #258-vneoch.-OZ It is located in th ...

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...

. Most of the basin lies north of the lake, in the Andoma Hills, and includes smaller lakes, many of them being of glacial origin. These lakes include Lake Kovzhskoye, Lake Kemskoye,

Lake Kushtozero A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a depression (geology), basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land an ...

Lake Sholskoye A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

Lake Druzhinnoye A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

, and, south of Lake Beloye,

Lake Lozskoye A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

. The lake has an approximately round shape with a diameter of . Its area is , and the area of its basin is . The lake drains into the

Sheksna River The Sheksna () is a river in the Belozersky, Kirillovsky, Sheksninsky, and Cherepovetsky districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga. It is long, and the area of its basin .Rybinsk Reservoir Rybinsk Reservoir (, ), informally called the Rybinsk Sea, is a water reservoir (water), reservoir on the Volga River and its tributary, tributaries the Sheksna River, Sheksna and Mologa River, Mologa, formed by Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station dam, ...

of the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

. The Sheksna flows out of the eastern corner of the lake. The main tributaries of Lake Beloye are the Kovzha, the

Kema Kema or KEMA may refer to: * KEMA, an energy consultancy company * Kema (river), a river in Russia * Kema District, a district in North Sulawesi, Indonesia * Kema Chikwe, Nigerian politician * Kema Jack (born 1982), footballer from Papua New Guinea ...

, and the Megra. The lake and the

Belozersky Canal The Belozersky Bypass Canal () is a canal around the south-western part of Lake Beloye in Belozersky District of Vologda Oblast in north-western Russia. It connects Kovzha River to Sheksna River, and is part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway. Th ...

around it are a part of the

Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...

. The

was constructed to connect the Sheksna and the Kovzha Rivers in order to bypass Lake Beloye, where sometimes strong wind occur. The canal follows the southern and the western coasts of the lake.

History

According to the ''

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

'', Sineus, a brother of

Rurik Rurik (also spelled Rorik, Riurik or Ryurik; ; ; died 879) was a Varangians, Varangian chieftain of the Rus' people, Rus' who, according to tradition, was invited to reign in Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod in the year 862. The ''Primary Chronicle' ...

, became the prince of Beloozero in 862. If this would be correct, Belozersk would be one of the oldest towns in Russia. However, most likely Sineus never existed, and the earliest archaeological data in or around Belozersk belong to the 10th century. In the 10th-13th centuries the area was controlled by the

Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic () was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The ...

, then in the 13th century it was part of the

Principality of Beloozero The Principality of Beloozero () was a Russian principality which flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries in the Russian North. In terms of the current administrative division of Russia, the principality was located in the west of Volog ...

, and in the 14th century it entered the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

. The Mariinsk Canal system was constructed in the early 19th century, and after the reconstruction in the 20th century it became the Volga–Baltic Waterway.

Economic importance

Lake Beloye is located at the intersection of the most important waterways of Russia. The ancient Vytegorsko-Belozersky waterway passed through the lake. At the beginning of the 19th century, the lake became an integral part of the Mariinsky water system. In the XX century, the Volga-Baltic Waterway passed through the White Lake, which inherited the route of the Mariinsky water system. Wastewater from agricultural and municipal enterprises and the woodworking industry flows into the lake. The main local sources of pollution are located in

and

Lipin Bor Lipin Bor () is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Vashkinsky District, Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the northern shore of Lake Beloye. It also serves as the administrative center of Lipinoborsky Selsoviet, one ...

. The lake is also used for water supply of settlements lying on its shores.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Beloye LBeloye