Volga

I

Introduction

Volga, river in western Russia, longest and one of the most important rivers of Europe. The Volga River rises northwest of Moscow in the Valday Hills and flows 3,700 km (2,300 mi) to the southeast before emptying into the Caspian Sea near the city of Astrakhan’. It is navigable for about 3,200 km (about 2,000 mi), and large numbers of ships ply its waters with freight and passengers. The Volga is fed by more than 200 tributaries (about 70 of which are navigable), including the Kama, Samara, Oka, and Vetluga. Together, the Volga and its tributaries occupy a watershed covering about 1,450,000 sq km (about 560,000 sq mi), or about 40 percent of European Russia.

II

Description

From its headwaters in the Valday Hills, midway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the Volga flows southeast, toward Moscow, before bending northeast. Near the bend, the Volga is connected to the Moscow Canal, which flows south and joins the Moscow River north of the city of Moscow. From its intersection with the canal, the Volga continues northeast and meets the Rybinsk Reservoir. The reservoir is also served by the Volga-Baltic Waterway, which flows north and west before reaching the Baltic Sea at Saint Petersburg; and by the White Sea-Baltic Waterway, which flows north into Lake Onega and the White Sea. From the Rybinsk Reservoir, the Volga turns east and south through several more reservoirs; between the Oka River and the city of Kazan’, it doubles in volume. At Kazan’, west of the Ural Mountains, the Volga veers sharply south, narrowing at the city of Saratov. The river continues south until reaching Volgograd, where it turns southeast and empties into the Caspian Sea. At Volgograd, the river is connected with the Volga-Don Canal, which carries water and freight west to the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Before reservoirs were created, the upper Volga was 7 to 11 m (23 to 36 ft) deep, the middle Volga 12 to 14 m (39 to 46 ft) deep, and the lower Volga 3 to 15 m (10 to 49 ft) deep. At its widest point the river spans more than 1.6 km (1 mi).

III

Economic Importance

The Volga is an essential part of Russia’s transportation complex, carrying more than two-thirds of all traffic on the country’s inland waterways. Mechanized port facilities were first constructed along the Volga in the early 1930s; today more than 900 ports and 550 industrial docks line the river’s banks. The most important port cities are Tver’, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl’, Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan’, Ul’yanovsk, Samara, Saratov, Kamyshin, Volgograd, and Astrakhan’. Numerous complexes combining dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric facilities operate on the river, including those located at the cities of Uglich, Rybinsk, Gorodets, Nizhniy Novgorod, Cheboksary, Samara, Saratov, and Volgograd. The Volga also supports about 70 species of fish, around half of which have commercial value. These include the Caspian roach, herring, pike, and sturgeon.

The Volga has long suffered from unregulated industrial and agricultural activities in its basin. Industrial wastes and runoff from cities and farmland have polluted it; and much of its watershed has been deforested, leading to increased erosion and silting. Irrigation has extracted water in increasing amounts, which in turn has lowered the Volga’s flow and limited its ability to regenerate. Water extraction has also reduced the level of the Caspian Sea. Dams and hydroelectric plants have made it difficult for some of the river’s fish to swim to their spawning grounds upstream. Beluga sturgeon and whitefish from the Caspian Sea in particular have suffered. In the early 1990s Russia began to address these problems through legislation and a newly created Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. Regulation of logging in the Volga watershed, restrictions on the disposal of industrial waste, and artificial breeding of endangered fish species are among the measures aimed at protecting and restoring the river.

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IV

History

The Volga emerged as an important trade route between the Slavic lands of eastern Europe and points farther east in the 8th century. By the 17th century the cities of Samara, Saratov, and Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) were important trade ports along the river; so too, to a lesser degree, were Yaroslavl’, Kostroma, and Nizhniy Novgorod. Russian scientists and others conducted surveys of various stretches of the Volga between 1700 and 1900. The surveys, combined with the completion in 1808 of the canals linking the Volga and the Baltic river system, greatly accelerated economic development. Steamships and barges were the preferred modes of transport. The Volga was first harnessed to generate hydroelectric power in the late 1930s. During World War II (1939-1945), it served as an important transport route for troops and supplies, and the Battle of Stalingrad was fought along its banks.

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