Dnepr

Dnepr (also Dnieper; ancient Borysthenes, Russian Dnepr, Belorussian Dnyapro, Ukrainian Dnipro), river and important traffic artery of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, about 2,285 km (1,420 mi) long. The Dnepr is the third longest river of Europe, exceeded in length only by the Volga and Danube rivers. The Dnepr rises south-west of Moscow, in the Valday Hills, and flows in a general southerly direction to empty into the Black Sea, near Kherson, in Ukraine. The Dnepr is navigable throughout its entire course and is entirely ice-free for eight months of the year. In 988 the river at Kiev was the scene of the first mass baptism of Russian Christians under their leader Vladimir.

The Dnepr drains an area of about 518,000 sq km (200,000 sq mi). The upper course of the river flows partly through hilly country and skirts the eastern end of the Polesye. The middle and lower reaches pass through the fertile agricultural and highly industrialized areas of Ukraine, where the river attains its greatest breadth: about 2 km (1 mi). The chief tributaries of the Dnepr are the Berezina, Desna, and Pripyat rivers. Kiev is the principal city on the Dnepr. Other important cities on the river include, from south to north, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, and Dniprodzerzhynsk in Ukraine, Mahilyow in Belarus, and Smolensk in Russia. A large hydroelectric power station above Zaporizhzhya supplies power to the cities along the southern reaches of the river. Grain, timber, and metals are transported on the Dnepr.

In ancient times the Dnepr was an important commercial artery between the northern and southern parts of eastern Europe. As the size of ships increased, the commercial importance of the Dnepr lessened, principally because of the impossibility of navigating the rapids above Zaporizhzhya. The problem of making the entire river navigable was solved in 1932, when the great Dneproges Dam and hydroelectric station above Zaporizhzhya was completed. The dam sufficiently raised the water level above the rapids to allow vessels to pass safely. Construction of canals linking the upper Dnepr with the Western Bug river, and the Berezina and Piypyat rivers with the Daugava and Neman rivers respectively, made the Dnepr the main link in a waterway from the Black to the Baltic seas.