The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. Situated in

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-eigh ...

, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the List of lakes by area, 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 s ...

. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment area of «Река Волга»
, Russian State Water Registry which is more than twice the size of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. It is also Europe's largest river in terms of average

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

at delta – between and – and of

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where 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, ...

. It is widely regarded as the

national river The National Park System of the United States is the collection of physical properties owned or administered by the National Park Service. The collection includes all national parks and most national monuments, as well as several other types of ...

. The hypothetical old Russian state, the Rus' Khaganate, arose along the Volga . Historically, the river served as an important meeting place of various Eurasian civilizations. The river flows in Russia through

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, forest steppes and

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslan ...

s. Four of the ten largest cities of Russia, including the nation's capital,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, are located in the Volga's drainage basin. Some of the largest

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

s in the world are located along the Volga River. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture –

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

often refer to it as Волга-матушка ''Volga-Matushka'' (Mother Volga).

Etymology

ISS-60 Volga River flowing into the Caspian Sea

The Russian hydronym () derives from Proto-Slavic *''vòlga'' 'wetness, moisture', which is preserved in many Slavic languages, () 'moisture', Bulgarian () 'moisture', Czech 'dampness',

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

: () 'moisture', Slovene 'moisture', Polish 'moisture' and

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

() 'moisture', among others. The

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Cent ...

name for the Volga was , literally meaning 'wetness'. This is related to the

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scri ...

name for the river; () (derived from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

' or ', 'wet' or 'moisture'), or 'mythical stream' (also compare the derivation Sogdian () 'vein, blood vessel' (from Old Iranian ), Persian 'vein' and

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally prese ...

() 'dew, liquid, juice; mythical river'). The Scythian name survives in modern Moksha (). The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

author

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

recorded two more ancient Iranic names of the Volga: * (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: ;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

: ), which was derived from

, meaning 'broad'. The ancient Greek name of the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine ...

river, ( ;

: ), was also connected to this term since its original Scythian form was , meaning 'having broad space'. * (

: ;

: ) The Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as or '' Atil''. In modern

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic l ...

, the Volga is known as () in Tatar, () in Chuvash, in Bashkir, in

Kazakh Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kazakhstan *Kazakhs, an ethnic group *Kazakh language *The Kazakh Khanate * Kazakh cuisine * Qazakh Rayon, Azerbaijan *Qazax, Azerbaijan *Kazakh Uyezd, administrative dis ...

, and in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. The Turkic names go back to the ancient Turkic form “/”, the origin and meaning of which are not clear. Perhaps this form has a connection with the hydronym ''Irtesh''. The Turkic peoples associated the Itil's origin with the Kama. Thus, a left tributary to the Kama was named the 'White Itil' which unites with the 'Black Itil' at the modern city of Ufa. The name () is used in the Cherkess language. In Asia the river was known by its other Turkic name 'yellow water', but the

Oirats Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai Mountains, Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western M ...

also used their own name, or 'adaptation river'. Presently the Mari, another

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian ...

group, call the river (), meaning 'way' in Tatar. Formerly, they called the river , a borrowing from Old East Slavic.

Description

The Volga is the longest

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

, and its catchment area is almost entirely inside

, though the longest river in Russia is the Ob– Irtysh river system. It belongs to the closed basin of the

, being the longest river to flow into a closed basin. Rising in the

Valdai Hills The Valdai Hills (russian: Валда́йская возвы́шенность, Valdáyskaya vozvýshennost'), sometimes referred to as just Valdai (russian: Валда́й, Valdáy), are an upland region in the north-west of central European R ...

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

northwest of

and about southeast of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, the Volga heads east past Lake Sterzh,

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russia ...

, Dubna, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl,

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

, and

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

. From there it turns south, flows past Ulyanovsk,

Tolyatti Tolyatti ( rus, Толья́тти, p=tɐlʲˈjætʲ(ː)ɪ), also known as Togliatti, formerly known as Stavropol (1737–1964), is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center ...

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901 ...

and Volgograd, and discharges into the Caspian Sea below

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of ...

at below sea level. At its most strategic point, it bends toward the Don ("the big bend"). Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is located there. The Volga has many tributaries, most importantly the rivers Kama, the Oka, the Vetluga, and the

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

. The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which flows through an area of about in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga Delta has a length of about and includes as many as 500 channels and smaller rivers. The largest

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

in Europe, it is the only place in Russia where pelicans, flamingos, and

lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

es may be found. The Volga freezes for most of its length for three months each year. The Volga drains most of Western Russia. Its many large reservoirs provide

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

and hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and the Volga–Baltic Waterway form navigable

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

s connecting Moscow to the

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is s ...

, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

. High levels of chemical

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

have adversely affected the river and its habitats. The fertile river valley provides large quantities of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeolog ...

, and also has many mineral riches. A substantial petroleum industry centers on the Volga valley. Other resources include

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

, and

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

. The Volga Delta and the

are fishing grounds.

, at the delta, is the center of the caviar industry.

Confluences (downstream to upstream)

Volga Hydroelectric Station 002 (cropped)

* Akhtuba (near Volzhsky), a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distribut ...

* Bolshoy Irgiz (near Volsk) *

(in

) * Kama (south of

) * Kazanka (in Kazan) * Sviyaga (west of Kazan) * Vetluga (near Kozmodemyansk) *

(in Vasilsursk) * Kerzhenets (near Lyskovo) * Oka (in

) *

Uzola The Uzola, also spelled as Usola (Узола, Усола in Russian) is a river in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rive ...

(near

Balakhna Balakhna (russian: Балахна́) is a town and the administrative center of Balakhninsky District in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River, north of Nizhny Novgorod, the administrative center of ...

) * Unzha (near Yuryevets) * Kostroma (in Kostroma) * Kotorosl (in Yaroslavl) *

Sheksna The Sheksna (russian: Шексна́) is a river in 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 .

(in Cherepovets) * Mologa (near Vesyegonsk) * Kashinka (near Kalyazin) * Nerl (near Kalyazin) * Medveditsa (near Kimry) * Dubna (in Dubna) * Shosha (near Konakovo) *

Tvertsa The Tvertsa () is a river in Vyshnevolotsky, Spirovsky, Torzhoksky, and Kalininsky Districts, as well as in the cities of Torzhok and Tver in Tver Oblast, Russia, a left tributary of the Volga. It is long, and the area of its basin . Th ...

(in

) *

Vazuza The Vazuza (russian: Вазу́за), a river in the Novoduginsky and Sychyovsky districts of Smolensk Oblast and in the Zubtsovsky District of Tver Oblast, Russia, becomes a right tributary of the Volga. It is long, and its drainage basin c ...

(in Zubtsov) *

Selizharovka The Selizharovka (russian: Селижа́ровка) is a river in Ostashkovsky and Selizharovsky Districts of Tver Oblast, Russia, a left tributary of the Volga. The length of the river is , and the area of its drainage basin is . It is one of ...

(in Selizharovo)

Reservoirs (downstream to upstream)

A number of large hydroelectric reservoirs were constructed on the Volga during the Soviet era. They are: * Volgograd Reservoir * Saratov Reservoir * Kuybyshev Reservoir the largest in Europe by surface * Cheboksary Reservoir * Gorky Reservoir * Rybinsk Reservoir * Uglich Reservoir * Ivankovo Reservoir

Biggest cities on the shores of the Volga

* Volgograd *

* Yaroslavl *

* Ulyanovsk * Cheboksary *

Human history

The Volga– Oka region has been occupied for at least 9,000 years and supported a bone and antler industry for producing bone arrowheads, spearheads, lanceheads, daggers, hunters knives, and awls. The makers also used local quartz and imported flints. During

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...

, the Volga formed the boundary between the territories of the

Cimmerians The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into W ...

in the Caucasian Steppe and the

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Cent ...

in the Caspian Steppe. After the Scythians migrated to the west and displaced the Cimmerians, the Volga became the boundary between the territories of the Scythians in the Pontic and Caspian Steppes and the

Massagetae The Massagetae or Massageteans (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Sakā tigraxaudā (Old Persian: , "wearer of pointed caps") or Orthocorybantians (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ),: As for the term “Orthocorybantii”, this is a translati ...

in the Caspian and Transcaspian steppes. Between the 6th and the 8th centuries, the Alans settled in the Middle Volga region and in the steppes of Russia's southern region in the

Pontic–Caspian steppe The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extends ...

. The area around the Volga was inhabited by the

Slavic tribes This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Bal ...

of Vyatichs and Buzhans, by Finnic, Scandinavian, Baltic, Hunnic and

Turkic peoples The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose memb ...

(

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, Kipchaks) in the first millennium AD, replacing the

. Furthermore, the river played a vital role in the commerce of the Byzantine people. The ancient scholar

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 import ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

mentions the lower Volga in his ''Geography'' (Book 5, Chapter 8, 2nd Map of Asia). He calls it the ''Rha'', which was the Scythian name for the river. Ptolemy believed the Don and the Volga shared the same upper branch, which flowed from the

Hyperborean In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...

Mountains. Between 2nd and 5th centuries Baltic people were very widespread in today's European Russia. Baltic people were widespread from Sozh River till today's Moscow and covered much of today's Central Russia and intermingled with the East Slavs. The Russian ethnicity in Western Russia and around the Volga river evolved to a very large extent, next to other tribes, out of the East Slavic tribe of the Buzhans and Vyatichis. The Vyatichis were originally concentrated on the Oka river. Furthermore, several localities in Russia are connected to the Slavic Buzhan tribe, like for example

Sredniy Buzhan Sredny Ostrov is a small island ('ostrov') and a military airfield in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located in the northern Kara Sea, off the archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya and almost 900 km north of Khatanga which in turn is on the Siberian ...

in the Orenburg Oblast, Buzan and the Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast. Buzhan ( fa, بوژان‎, Būzhān; also known as ''Būzān'') is also a village in Nishapur,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. In late 8th century the Russian state Russkiy Kaganate is recorded in different Northern and Oriental sources. The Volga was one of the main rivers of the Rus' Khaganates culture. Subsequently, the river basin played an important role in the movements of peoples from

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 ...

. A powerful polity of

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state ...

once flourished where the Kama joins the Volga, while Khazaria controlled the lower stretches of the river. Such Volga cities as Atil, Saqsin, or Sarai were among the largest in the medieval world. The river served as an important trade route connecting

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

, Finnic areas with the various Slavic tribes and Turkic, Germanic, Finnic and other people in Old Rus', and

with Khazaria,

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

and the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. Khazars were replaced by Kipchaks,

Kimeks The Yemek were a Turkic tribe constituting the Kimek-Kipchak confederation, whose other six constituent tribes, according to Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061), were the Imur (or Imi), Tatars, Bayandur, Kipchaks, Lanikaz, and Ajlad. Ethnonym Mino ...

and

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

, who founded 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 fragment ...

in the lower reaches of the Volga. Later their empire divided into the Khanate of Kazan and Khanate of Astrakhan, both of which were conquered by the Russians in the course of the 16th century Russo-Kazan Wars. The Russian people's deep feeling for the Volga echoes in national culture and literature, starting from the 12th century

Lay of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' ( orv, Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ, translit=Slovo o pŭlku Igorevě) is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaig ...

The Volga Boatman's Song The "Song of the Volga Boatmen" (known in Russian as Эй, ухнем! y, ukhnem!, "Yo, heave-ho!" after the refrain) is a well-known traditional Russian song collected by Mily Balakirev and published in his book of folk songs in 1866. It was s ...

is one of many songs devoted to the national river of Russia. Construction of

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-era dams often involved enforced resettlement of huge numbers of people, as well as destruction of their historical heritage. For instance, the town of Mologa was flooded for the purpose of constructing the Rybinsk Reservoir (then the largest artificial lake in the world). The construction of the Uglich Reservoir caused the flooding of several monasteries with buildings dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. In such cases the ecological and cultural damage often outbalanced any economic advantage.

20th-century conflicts

Soviet marines-in the battle of stalingrad volga banks

During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, both sides fielded warships on the Volga. In 1918, the Red Volga Flotilla participated in driving the Whites eastward, from the Middle Volga at Kazan to the Kama and eventually to Ufa on the Belaya. During World War II, the city on the big bend of the Volga, currently known as Volgograd, witnessed the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

, possibly the bloodiest battle in human history, in which the Soviet Union and the German forces were deadlocked in a stalemate battle for access to the river. The Volga was (and still is) a vital transport route between central Russia and the Caspian Sea, which provides access to the oil fields of the Absheron Peninsula.

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

planned to use access to the oil fields of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

to fuel future German conquests. Apart from that, whoever held both sides of the river could move forces across the river, to defeat the enemy's

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

s beyond the river. By taking the river, Hitler's

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

would have been able to move supplies, guns, and men into the northern part of Russia. At the same time, Germany could permanently deny this transport route by the Soviet Union, hampering its access to oil and to supplies via the Persian Corridor. For this reason, many amphibious military assaults were brought about in an attempt to remove the other side from the banks of the river. In these battles, the Soviet Union was the main offensive side, while the German troops used a more

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

stance, though much of the fighting was close quarters combat, with no clear offensive or defensive side.

Ethnic groups

Many different ethnicities lived on the Volga river. Numerous were the Eastern Slavic Vyatchi tribes which took a decisive role in the development of modern Russians. Among the first recorded people along the upper Volga were also the Finnic Mari (Мари) and Merya (Мäрӹ) people. Where the Volga flows through the steppes the area was also inhabited by the Iranian people of the

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th ...

from 200 BC. Since ancient times, even before Rus' states developed, the Volga river was an important trade route where not only Slavic, Turkic and Finnic peoples lived, but also

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

world of the Middle East met the Varangian people of the Nordic countries through trading. In the 8th and 9th centuries colonization also began from

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

. Slavs from Kievan Rus' brought Christianity to the upper Volga, and a portion of non-Slavic local people adopted Christianity and gradually became

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert H ...

. The remainder of the Mari people migrated to the east far inland. In the course of several centuries the Slavs assimilated the indigenous Finnic populations, such as the Merya and

Meshchera The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the ...

peoples. The surviving peoples of Volga Finnic ethnicity include the Maris, Erzyas and Mokshas of the middle Volga. Also Khazar and Bulgar peoples inhabited the upper, middle and lower of the Volga River basin. Apart from the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

, the earliest Turkic tribes arrived in the 7th century and assimilated some Finno-Ugric and Indo-European population on the middle and lower Volga. The Turkic

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

Chuvash and Muslim Volga Tatars are descendants of the population of medieval

. Another Turkic group, the Nogais, formerly inhabited the lower Volga steppes. The Volga region is home to a German minority group, the

Volga Germans The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...

. Catherine the Great had issued a manifesto in 1763 inviting all foreigners to come and populate the region, offering them numerous incentives to do so. This was partly to develop the region but also to provide a buffer zone between the Russians and the

to the east. Because of conditions in German territories, Germans responded in the largest numbers. Under the Soviet Union a slice of the region was turned into the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Flora and fauna

Navigation

The Volga, widened for navigation purposes with construction of huge dams during the years of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

's industrialization, is of great importance to inland shipping and transport in Russia: all the dams in the river have been equipped with large (double)

ship locks A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

, so that vessels of considerable dimensions can travel from the

almost to the upstream end of the river. Connections with the river Don and the

are possible through the Volga–Don Canal. Connections with the lakes of the North ( Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega),

and the

are possible through the Volga–Baltic Waterway; and commerce with Moscow has been realised by the Moscow Canal connecting the Volga and the Moskva River. This infrastructure has been designed for vessels of a relatively large scale (lock dimensions of on the Volga, slightly smaller on some of the other rivers and canals) and it spans many thousands of kilometers. A number of formerly state-run, now mostly privatized, companies operate passenger and cargo vessels on the river;

Volgotanker Volgotanker (russian: ОАО «Волжское нефтеналивное пароходство „Волгота́нкер“», '"Volgotanker" Volga Oil Tanker Shipping JSC') is a Russian company engaged in the business of tank storage,transp ...

, with over 200 petroleum tankers, is one of them. In the later Soviet era, up to the modern times,

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legu ...

and oil have been among the largest cargo exports transported on the Volga. Until recently access to the Russian waterways was granted to foreign vessels on a very limited scale. The increasing contacts between the European Union and Russia have led to new policies with regard to the access to the Russian inland waterways. It is expected that vessels of other nations will be allowed on Russian rivers soon.

Satellite imagery

File:Volgograd 44.67670E 48.66724N.jpg, View of the river and Volgograd from space. File:Volga-river-delta-terra-modis-2010-07-17-750-UTC.jpg, Volga river delta, Terra/ MODIS 2010-07-17. File:Volga.A2002137.0745.250m.jpg, Terra/MODIS, 2002-05-17. File:Volga.250m.jpg, Terra/MODIS, 2001-10-10.

Cultural significance

Literature

* '' Without a Dowry'', '' The Storm'' – dramas by the Russian playwright Aleksandr Ostrovsky * '' In the Forests'', ''On the Hills'' – novels by Pavel Melnikov * '' Yegor Bulychov and Others'', ''Dostigayev and Others'' – plays by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

* "Distance After Distance" – poem by Aleksandr Tvardovsky * "On the Volga" – a poem by Nikolay Nekrasov * "Volga and

" – a poem by Samuil Marshak * '' The Precipice'' – a novel by Ivan Goncharov * ''

Volga Se Ganga ''Volga Se Ganga'' ( hi, वोल्गा से गंगा, English: ''From Volga to Ganga'') is a 1943 collection of 20 historical fiction short-stories by scholar and travel writer Rahul Sankrityayan. The stories collectively trace the m ...

'' - a novel by

Hindi language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has bee ...

writer Rahul Sankrityayan

Cinema

* ''

Volga-Volga ''Volga-Volga'' (russian: Волга-Волга) is a Soviet musical comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, released on April 24, 1938. It centres on a group of amateur performers on their way to Moscow to perform in a talent contest called ...

'' (1938) – a Soviet film comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov * ''

Ekaterina Voronina Ekaterina Alexandrovna Voronina (russian: Екатерина Александровна Воронина; born 16 February 1992 in Tashkent) is an Uzbekistani track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon. Her personal best for the event ...

'' (1957) – Soviet drama film directed by Isidor Annensky * ''The Bridge Is Built'' (1965) – a Soviet film about the construction of a road bridge across the Volga in

by Oleg Efremov and Gavriil Egiazarov * '' A Cruel Romance'' (1984) – romantic drama directed by Eldar Ryazanov * '' Election Day'' (2007) – Russian comedy film directed by Oleg Fomin

Music

* '' The Song of the Volga Boatmen''

Video games