Misplaced Pages

#931068

57-669: The construction of the road was decreed by the Tsar and was not finished until the mid-19th century. Previously, Siberian transport had been mostly by river via Siberian River Routes . The first Russian settlers arrived in Siberia by the Cherdyn river route which was superseded by the Babinov overland route in the late 1590s. The town of Verkhoturye in the Urals was the most eastern point of

114-542: A Great Wall gate at Kalgan . In the early 19th century, the route was moved to the south. From Tyumen the road proceeded through Yalutorovsk , Ishim , Omsk , Tomsk , Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk before rejoining the older route at Irkutsk. It remained a vital artery connecting Siberia with Moscow and Europe until the last decades of the 19th century, when it was superseded by the Trans-Siberian Railway and Amur Cart Road . The automobile equivalent

171-415: A ban was put on sable hunting in order to keep this animal from extinction. The Babinov Road was the first overland path across the Urals. It was established by Artemy Babinov in the late 1590s. In 1598 Verkhoturye was founded along this road as the gateway to Siberia. Road building in Siberia began in the 1730s, and from the 1760s the overland route from Yekaterinburg to Kyakhta began to replace

228-738: 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 Aq Itil 'White Itil' which unites with the Kara Itil 'Black Itil' at the modern city of Ufa . The name Indyl ( Indɨl ) is used in the Cherkess language. In Asia the river was known by its other Turkic name Sarı-su 'yellow water', but

285-539: A length of about 160 kilometres (99 miles) and includes as many as 500 channels and smaller rivers. The largest estuary in Europe, it is the only place in Russia where pelicans , flamingos , and lotuses 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 and hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal ,

342-691: A short portage to the Lena, and down the Lena to Yakutsk. Yakutsk is about 2400 km from the Taz Estuary. After about 1700 most trade shifted south and the route west of Turukhansk was largely abandoned. From the mouth of the Lena River , along the coast to the mouth of the Kolyma River , up to Bolshoy Anyuy River , portage, down the Anadyr River to Anadyrsk (1650). One could continue down

399-778: Is 800 km east southeast of Yakutsk and 5,600 km east of Moscow. After 1715 there were shipbuilding facilities at Okhotsk, allowing sea travel to the Kamchatka Peninsula , the Kuril Islands , the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. See also History of fur trade by Sea of Okhotsk . To the Amur: From 1643 to 1689 the Russians attempted to penetrate from the Lena south to the Amur region but were driven back by

456-479: Is preserved in many Slavic languages, vlaga ( влага ) 'moisture', Bulgarian vlaga ( влага ) 'moisture', Czech vláha 'dampness', Serbo-Croatian : vlaga ( влага ) 'moisture', Slovene vlaga 'moisture', Polish wilgoć 'moisture' and Macedonian vlaga ( влага ) 'moisture', among others. The Scythian name for the Volga was Rahā , literally meaning 'wetness'. This

513-461: Is related to the Avestan name for a mythical stream, Raŋhā ( 𐬭𐬀𐬢𐬵𐬁 ), which means "wet" or "moisture", and was derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁res- or *h₁ers- ). This name can be compared to several Indo-Iranic terms, such as: The Scythian name survives in modern Moksha as Rav ( Рав ). The Greek author Herodotus recorded two more ancient Iranic names of

570-848: Is the Ob – Irtysh river system. It belongs to the closed basin of the Caspian Sea , being the longest river to flow into a closed basin. The source of the Volga lies in the village of Volgoverkhov'e in Tver Oblast . Rising in the Valdai Hills 225 meters (738 ft) above sea level northwest of Moscow and about 320 kilometers (200 mi) southeast of Saint Petersburg , the Volga heads east past Lake Sterzh , Tver , Dubna , Rybinsk , Yaroslavl , Nizhny Novgorod , and Kazan . From there it turns south, flows past Ulyanovsk , Tolyatti , Samara , Saratov and Volgograd , and discharges into

627-618: Is the Trans-Siberian Highway . The Siberian Route was also known as the Tea Road, owing to the great quantities of tea that were transported from China to Europe through Siberia. Charles Wenyon, who passed by the "Great Post Road" in 1893, subscribed to the popular belief that "the best tea produced in China for the exportation goes to Russia". In 1915, China exported to Siberia 70,297 tons of tea, which accounted for 65% of

SECTION 10

#1732765764932

684-488: Is widely regarded as the national river of Russia . The hypothetical old Russian state, the Rus' Khaganate , arose along the Volga c.  830 AD . Historically, the river served as an important meeting place of various Eurasian civilizations. The river flows in Russia through forests , forest steppes and steppes . Five of the ten largest cities of Russia , including the nation's capital, Moscow , are located in

741-597: The Arab world . Khazars were replaced by Kipchaks , Kimeks and Mongols , who founded the Golden Horde 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

798-792: The Battle of Stalingrad , 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 planned to use access to the oil fields of Azerbaijan to fuel future German conquests. Apart from that, whoever held both sides of

855-690: The Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast . Buzhan ( Persian : بوژان‎ , romanized :  Būzhān ; also known as Būzān ) is also a village in Nishapur , Iran . 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

912-788: The Lower Tunguska . East up the Lower Tunguska. Where it turns south, portage to the Chona River , a tributary of the Vilyuy River - the junction of these two rivers has now been flooded, forming the Viluyskoe Reservoir. East along the Vilyuy to the Lena River , and then up the Lena to Yakutsk. It was also possible to continue up the Lower Tunguska to near Kirensk (1630) (175 km northeast of Ust-Kut), make

969-615: The Oirats also used their own name, Ijil mörön or 'adaptation river'. Presently the Mari , another Uralic group, call the river Jul ( Юл ), meaning 'way' in Tatar . Formerly, they called the river Volgydo , a borrowing from Old East Slavic . The Volga is the longest river in Europe , and its catchment area is almost entirely inside Russia , though the longest river in Russia

1026-793: The Volga–Don Canal , and the Volga–Baltic Waterway form navigable waterways connecting Moscow to the White Sea , the Baltic Sea , the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea . High levels of chemical pollution have adversely affected the river and its habitats. The fertile river valley provides large quantities of wheat and other agricultural produce, and also has many mineral riches. A substantial petroleum industry centers on

1083-467: The 12th century Lay of Igor's Campaign . The Volga Boatman's Song is one of many songs devoted to the national river of Russia. Construction of Soviet Union -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

1140-684: 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 area around the Volga was inhabited by the Slavic tribes of Vyatichs and Buzhans , by Finno-Ugric , Scandinavian , Baltic , Hunnic and Turkic peoples ( Tatars , Kipchaks ) in the first millennium AD, replacing the Scythians . Furthermore,

1197-577: The Anadyr to the Pacific, but the area was too barren to be of interest. The area northeast of this route was avoided because of the warlike Chukchis. About 1700 Russians entered the Kamchatka Peninsula from Anadyrsk and later sailed there from Okhotsk . It is 1800 km from Yakutsk to the Bering Strait. After the conquest of Astrakhan in 1566, Russia expanded southeast around the southern base of

SECTION 20

#1732765764932

1254-668: The Babinov Road. The much longer Siberian route started in Moscow as the Vladimir Highway and passed through Murom , Kozmodemyansk , Kazan , Perm , Kungur , Yekaterinburg , Tyumen , Tobolsk , Tara , Kainsk , Tomsk , Yeniseysk and Irkutsk . After crossing Lake Baikal the road split near Verkhneudinsk . One branch continued east to Nerchinsk while the other went south to the border post of Kyakhta where it linked to camel caravans that crossed Mongolia to

1311-552: The Caspian Sea below Astrakhan at 28 meters (92 ft) below sea level. The Volga has many tributaries , most importantly the Kama , the Oka , the Vetluga , and the Sura . The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which flows through an area of about 1,350,000 square kilometres (521,238 square miles) in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga Delta has

1368-829: 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 in the Orenburg Oblast , Buzan and

1425-682: The Lena about 1400 km to Yakutsk , which is 4900 km east of Moscow. Yakutsk is a major stopping point and administrative center. Then 125 km down the Lena to the Aldan, up the Aldan River to Ust-Maya , then up the Maya River or its right branch, the Yudoma River . Okhotsk: From either of the last two, it is about 150 km over 2000 ft mountains to the Pacific ( Okhotsk Coast 1639, Okhotsk town, 1647). Pack horses were used here. Okhotsk

1482-760: The Manchus. See Russian-Manchu border conflicts . From 1689 to 1859 the Russo-Chinese border was the Argun River and the Stanovoy Mountains . In 1859 Russia annexed the Amur region. From the west, the Russians penetrated to Ulan-Ude (1666), Chita (1653) and Nerchinsk (1654) toward the Argun. From 1727 much Russo-Chinese trade shifted to Kyakhta near where the Selenge River crosses

1539-640: 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' . 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 remainder of the Mari people migrated to the east far inland. In the course of several centuries

1596-427: The Ob to the Vakh , 500 km up the Vakh, then portage to the Sym, down it to the Yenisei, upstream to Yenisesk. Yenisey and Lena Basins: Yeniseysk is on the Yenisei River just north of its juncture with the Angara River . From Yeniseysk east up the Angara to the Ilim River , upstream to Ilimsk (1630), portage to Kuta River , short trip downstream to Ust-Kut (1631) on the Lena River . From here northeast down

1653-404: The Pacific in only 57 years (1582-1639). These river routes were crucial in the first years of the Siberian fur trade as the furs were easier to transport over water than land. The rivers connected the major fur gathering centers and provided for relatively quick transport between them. Distances are straight lines and only approximate. Siberian rivers can be very crooked. Dates usually refer to

1710-494: The Siberian rivers. When the ground was frozen solid this might take 70 or 80 days. The Trans-Siberian Railway began in 1891. In the twentieth century the Trans-Siberian Highway was built, and the stretch north of the Amur was completed in 2013. The result is a pattern in which the Russians form a long narrow belt along the southern border with some extensions northward, mainly to where minerals can be found. The rivers are still used, but largely for north-south transport to and from

1767-456: The Slavs assimilated the indigenous Finnic populations, such as the Merya and Meshchera 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 earliest Turkic tribes arrived in the 7th century and assimilated some Finno-Ugric and Indo-European population on

Siberian Route - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-400: The Trans-Siberian Railway. Volga River 8,103.078 m /s (286,157.5 cu ft/s) 2,806.467 m /s (99,109.4 cu ft/s) Yaroslavl (Basin size: 153,657.8 km (59,327.6 sq mi): 1,008.277 m /s (35,607.0 cu ft/s) The Volga ( Russian : Волга , pronounced [ˈvoɫɡə] ) is the longest river in Europe and

1881-473: The Urals. This involved increasing political control over the Nogai Horde , the Kalmyks and the northern Kazakhs , followed by varying degrees of peasant colonization. Another route was up the Irtysh toward the Altai country ( Semipalatinsk , 1718). By the beginning of the 18th century the number of fur-bearing animals had declined sharply across Siberia as trappers and traders collected furs without any thought for sustainable population control, and in 1913

1938-402: The Volga formed the boundary between the territories of the Cimmerians in the Caucasian Steppe and the Scythians 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 in the Caspian and Transcaspian steppes. Between the 6th and

1995-534: The Volga valley. Other resources include natural gas , salt , and potash . The Volga Delta and the Caspian Sea are fishing grounds . A number of large hydroelectric reservoirs were constructed on the Volga during the Soviet era . They are: 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 ,

2052-537: The Volga's drainage basin. Because the Volga drains into the Caspian Sea , which is an endorheic body of water, the Volga does not naturally connect to any of the world's oceans. Some of the largest reservoirs in the world are located along the Volga River. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture – Russian literature and folklore often refer to it as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga). The Russian hydronym Volga ( Волга ) derives from Proto-Slavic * vòlga 'wetness, moisture', which

2109-417: 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 , with over 200 petroleum tankers , is one of them. In the later Soviet era , up to the modern times, grain and oil have been among the largest cargo exports transported on

2166-450: The Volga: The Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as Itil or Atil . In modern Turkic languages , the Volga is known as İdel ( Идел ) in Tatar , Atăl ( Атӑл ) in Chuvash , Iźel in Bashkir , Edıl in Kazakh , and İdil in Turkish . The Turkic names go back to the ancient Turkic form " Etil / Ertil ", the origin and meaning of which are not clear. Perhaps this form has

2223-403: The Whites eastward, from the Middle Volga at Kazan to the Kama and eventually to Ufa on the Belaya . During the Civil War, Joseph Stalin ordered the imprisonment of several military specialists on a barge in the Volga and the sinking of a floating prison in which the officers perished. During World War II, the city on the big bend of the Volga, currently known as Volgograd , witnessed

2280-420: The country's overall tea exports. The route is the namesake of the Russian Caravan blend of tea. It was imported primarily in the form of hefty hard-packed tea bricks which allowed each camel to carry large quantities in a more compact manner and could also pass for units of currency. From Kyakhta, tea was transported to the Irbit fair for further commercial transactions. Another popular Chinese import item

2337-406: The current Russo-Mongol border. From at least the 12th century, Russian Pomors navigated the White and Barents Seas. At some date, they entered the Ob Gulf or portaged across the Yamal Peninsula . From the Gulf of Ob to the Taz Estuary , up the Taz River , past Mangazeya (1601), portage to Yanov Stan on the Turukhan River , leading to Turukhansk (1607) on the Yenisei at its juncture with

Siberian Route - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-462: 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 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 world of

2451-440: The foundation of the first Russian settlement. Over the Urals: From the Volga River , up the Kama to Perm (1472), then up the Chusovaya River , or the Vishera (see Cherdyn Route ). The Urals here are only about 350 meters high, about 150 meters above the surrounding lowlands. Down either the Tavda River or Tura River and a short way up the Tobol River to its juncture with the Irtysh River at Tobolsk (1582). This

2508-405: The lakes of the North ( Lake Ladoga , Lake Onega ), Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea 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 290 by 30 metres (951 ft × 98 ft) on

2565-410: 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. During the Russian Civil War , both sides fielded warships on the Volga. In 1918, the Red Volga Flotilla participated in driving

2622-489: 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 3,531 km (2,194 mi), and a catchment area of 1,360,000 km (530,000 sq mi). It is also Europe's largest river in terms of average discharge at delta – between 8,000 m /s (280,000 cu ft/s) and 8,500 m /s (300,000 cu ft/s) – and of drainage basin . It

2679-406: The middle and lower Volga. The Turkic Christian Chuvash and Muslim Volga Tatars are descendants of the population of medieval Volga Bulgaria . Another Turkic group, the Nogais , formerly inhabited the lower Volga steppes. The Volga region is home to a German minority group, the Volga Germans . Catherine the Great had issued a manifesto in 1763 inviting all foreigners to come and populate

2736-528: The movements of peoples from Asia to Europe . A powerful polity of Volga Bulgaria 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 , Finnic areas with the various Slavic tribes and Turkic, Germanic , Finnic and other people in Old Rus' , and Volga Bulgaria with Khazaria , Persia and

2793-402: 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 stance, though much of the fighting was close quarters combat , with no clear offensive or defensive side. Many different ethnicities lived on the Volga river. Numerous were the Eastern Slavic Vyatchi tribes which took a decisive role in

2850-470: 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 Mongols 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 . The Volga, widened for navigation purposes with construction of huge dams during

2907-495: The river could move forces across the river, to defeat the enemy's fortifications beyond the river. By taking the river, Hitler's Germany 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

SECTION 50

#1732765764932

2964-612: The river played a vital role in the commerce of the Byzantine people . The ancient scholar Ptolemy of Alexandria 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 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

3021-401: The three great Siberian rivers, the Ob , the Yenisey , and the Lena all flow into the Arctic Ocean , the aim was to find parts or branches of these rivers that flow approximately east-west and find short portages between them. Since Siberia is relatively flat, portages were usually short. Despite resistance from the Siberian tribes, Russian Cossacks were able to expand from the Urals to

3078-431: The years of Joseph Stalin '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 , so that vessels of considerable dimensions can travel from the Caspian Sea almost to the upstream end of the river. Connections with the river Don and the Black Sea are possible through the Volga–Don Canal . Connections with

3135-419: Was dried rhubarb root, which was sold west of St. Petersburg "for fifteen times what it cost in Kyakhta". Siberian River Routes Siberian River Routes were the main ways of communication in Russian Siberia before the 1730s, when roads began to be built. The rivers were also of primary importance in the process of Russian conquest and exploration of vast Siberian territories eastwards. Since

3192-495: Was the approximate route used by Yermak . Tobolsk is about 700 km east of Perm and 1800 km east of Moscow. The Siberian Route , a road begun in the 1730s, ran southeast from Perm to Kungur , then over another low pass to Yekaterinburg (1723) and Tobolsk . By 1885 there was a railway from Perm to Yekaterinburg. Another branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway (1891) goes south of the Urals through Chelyabinsk (1736), Omsk (1716) and Novosibirsk (1893). Ob Basin: Near Tobolsk

3249-427: Was the capital of the Khanate of Sibir , which was conquered in 1582. North down the Irtysh to its juncture with the Ob River , then 750km up the Ob to Narym (1594), and up the Ket River (1602) about 300 km to its headwaters. Here a portage leads to the Yenisei River at Yeniseysk (1619). Yeniseysk is about 1400 km from Tobolsk and 3200 km from Moscow. An alternative route led from the Irtysh-Ob juncture 450 km up

#931068