Volga, << VOL guh or VOHL guh, >> River is the most important river in Russia and the longest river in Europe. It flows 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) through western Russia. The Volga begins in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows southeastward into the Caspian Sea near the city of Astrakhan.
The Volga has about 200 tributaries, the most important of which are the Kama, the Oka, the Vetluga, and the Sura rivers. Almost half of Russia’s population lives in the area drained by the Volga and its tributaries.
Although all parts of the Volga are frozen for at least three months of each year, the river is a major artery for transporting passengers and freight. More than 900 ports line its banks. Canals link the Volga with the Baltic Sea and the White Sea, as well as with the Black Sea via the Sea of Azov. A canal connects Moscow to the Volga.
Volgograd and Nizhniy Novgorod (formerly Gorki) are important manufacturing cities on the banks of the Volga. A number of hydroelectric power stations and several large artificial lakes formed by dams lie along the Volga. The largest lakes are, from north to south, the Rybinsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, and Volgograd reservoirs.
The Volga contains many kinds of fish, including most of Russia’s sturgeon. Sturgeon eggs are used to make the well-known delicacy caviar. However, dams built along the river prevented many fish from swimming upstream to spawn. Industrial pollution, agricultural runoff, and logging during the period when Russia was part of the Soviet Union severely damaged the river. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, environmental groups drew attention to the Volga’s decline, and the Russian government made efforts to revive the river. But high pollution levels and overfishing remain serious problems.
In the 100’s A.D., the scholar Ptolemy mentioned the Volga in his Geography. A powerful Bulgarian empire once flourished where the Kama River joins the Volga. Volgograd was the scene of the Battle of Stalingrad, the major victory of the Soviet Union over Germany in World War II (1939-1945). See Stalingrad, Battle of .
See also Kazan ; Neva River ; Samara .
