Volga

Volga, river, western Russia, longest river in Europe, stretching 3,531 km (2,194 mi) in length. From its source in a small lake among the Valday Hills, the Volga flows east to a point above Moscow, north-east to the Rybinsk reservoir, south-east to Kazan, generally south to Volgograd, then south-east to its mouths in the Caspian Sea near the city of Astrakhan. The Volga has more than 200 tributaries, about 70 of which are navigable and chief of which include the Kama, Samara, Oka, and Vetluga. Together the river system drains an area of about 1,450,400 sq km (560,000 sq mi), approximately 40 per cent of European Russia; the average discharge of the river is 8.05 million litres (1.77 million gallons) per second.

The river is navigable for most of its course from about March to mid-December; during May and June, fed by the melting snow, it is subject to flooding. The Volga is an essential part of Russia’s transport complex, carrying more than two thirds of all traffic on the country’s inland waterways. Canals connect the Volga with the Baltic Sea (the Volga-Baltic Waterway), the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, the River Don (the Volga-Don Canal), the White Sea (the White Sea-Volga Waterway), and Moscow. The lower reaches are major fishing areas, supporting about 70 species of fish including the Caspian roach, herring, pike, and sturgeon.

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, Simbirsk, Samara, Volgograd, and Astrakhan. Eight complexes combining dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric facilities operate on the river. Pollution from unregulated industrial and agricultural activities, erosion and siltation caused by deforestation, and excess water extraction are among the ecological problems faced by the Volga. 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.

The Volga emerged as an important trade route between the Slavic lands of eastern Europe and points farther east in the 8th century. The Volga Valley was claimed for Russia by Ivan IV in the 16th 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 it served as an important transport route for troops and supplies, and the Battle of Stalingrad was fought along its banks.