Dniester
| Dniester | |
|---|---|
 Rîbnițaand the Dniester river | |
 Map of the Dniester basin | |
| Location | |
| Country |
|
| Cities | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Eastern Beskids(Ukrainian Carpathians) |
| • coordinates | 49°12′44″N22°55′40″E/ 49.21222°N 22.92778°E |
| • elevation | 900 m (3,000 ft) |
| Mouth | Black Sea |
• location | Odesa Oblast |
• coordinates | 46°21′0″N30°14′0″E/ 46.35000°N 30.23333°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Length | 1,362 km (846 mi) |
| Basin size | 68,627 km2(26,497 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 310 m3/s (11,000 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Murafa,Smotrych,Zbruch,Seret,Strypa,Zolota Lypa,Stryi |
| • right | Botna,Bîc,Răut,Svicha, Lomnytsia, Ichel |
| |
| Official name | Lower Dniester |
| Designated | 20 August 2003 |
| Reference no. | 1316[1] |
| Official name | Dnister River Valley |
| Designated | 20 March 2019 |
| Reference no. | 2388[2] |
TheDniester(/ˈniːstər/NEE-stər)[3][4][5][a]is atransboundary riverinEastern Europe.It runs first throughUkraineand then throughMoldova(from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory ofTransnistria), finally discharging into theBlack Seaon Ukrainian territory again.
Names
The nameDniesterderives fromSarmatiandānu nazdya"the close river."[7](TheDnieper,also of Sarmatian origin, derives from the opposite meaning, "the river on the far side".) Alternatively, according toVasily AbaevDniesterwould be a blend ofScythiandānu"river" andThracianIster,the previous name of the river, literally Dān-Ister (River Ister).[8]TheAncient Greekname of Dniester,Tyras(Τύρας), is fromScythiantūra,meaning "rapid."[citation needed]
The names of theDonandDanubeare also from the sameIndo-Iranianword*dānu"river". Classical authors have also referred to it asDanaster.These early forms, without -i- but with -a-, contradict Abaev's hypothesis.[citation needed]Edward Gibbonrefers to the river both as the Niester and Dniester in hisHistory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[9]
InUkrainian,it is known asДністе́р(translit.Dnister), inRomanianasNistru,inRussianasДнестр(translit.Dnestr), inPolishasDniestr,inYiddishasNesterנעסטער; inTurkishasTurla(Ottoman Turkish:طورلا ، طورله), and inLithuanianasDniestras.
Geography
The Dniester rises inUkraine,near the city ofTurka,close to the border with Poland, and flows toward theBlack Sea.Its course marks part of the border of Ukraine andMoldova,after which it flows through Moldova for 398 kilometres (247 mi), separating the main territory of Moldova from its breakaway regionTransnistria.It later forms an additional part of the Moldova-Ukraine border, then flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea, where itsestuaryforms theDniester Liman.
Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents thede factoend of theEurasian Steppe.Its most important tributaries areRăutandBîc.
History
During theNeolithic,the Dniester River was the centre of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. TheCucuteni–Trypillian cultureflourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 BC, leaving behind thousands of archeological sites. Their settlements had up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them among the first large farming communities in the world.[10]
In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of EuropeanSarmatia,and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According toHerodotus(iv.51) it rose in a large lake, whilstPtolemy(iii.5.17, 8.1 &c.) places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modernCarpathian Mountains), andStrabo(ii) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lowerDanube), and formed part of the boundary betweenDaciaand Sarmatia. It fell into thePontus Euxinusto the northeast of the mouth of the Ister, the distance between them being 900 stadia – approximately 210 km (130 mi) – according to Strabo (vii.), while 210 km (130 mi) (from thePseudostoma) according toPliny(iv. 12. s. 26).Scymnus(Fr. 51) describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish.Ovid(ex Pont.iv.10.50) speaks of its rapid course.
Greek authors referred to the river asTyras(Greek:ὁ Τύρας).[11]At a later period it obtained the name ofDanastrisorDanastus,[12]whence its modern name of Dniester (Niester), though the Turks still called itTurladuring the 19th century.[13]The formΤύριςis sometimes found.[14]
According toConstantine VII,theVarangiansused boats on theirtrade route from the Varangians to the Greeks,along Dniester and Dnieper and along the Black Sea shore. The navigation near the western shore of Black Sea contained stops at Aspron (at the mouth of Dniester), then Conopa, Constantia (localities today inRomania) and Messembria (today in Bulgaria).
From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of thePrincipality of Moldavia.
Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and theSoviet Union.In 1919, onEaster Sunday,the bridge was blown up by theFrench Armyto protectBenderfrom theBolsheviks.[15]During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river.
After theRepublic of Moldovadeclared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of theMoldavian SSRrefused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, orTransnistria,with its capital atTiraspolon the river.
In Moldova, the Dniester Day (Romanian:Ziua Nistrului) is celebrated every year in the last Sunday of May.[16]
Tributaries
From source to mouth, righttributaries,i.e. on the southwest side, are theStryi(231 km or 144 mi),Svicha(107 km or 66 mi),Limnytsia(122 km or 76 mi),Bystrytsia(101 km),Răut(283 km or 176 mi),Ichel(101 km or 63 mi),Bîc(155 km or 96 mi), andBotna(152 km or 94 mi).
Left tributaries, on the northeast side, are theStrwiąż(94 km or 58 mi),Zubra,Hnyla Lypa(87 km or 54 mi),Zolota Lypa(140 km or 87 mi),Koropets(78 km or 48 mi),Strypa(147 km or 91 mi),Seret(250 km or 160 mi),Zbruch(245 km or 152 mi),Smotrych(169 km or 105 mi),Ushytsia(122 km or 76 mi),Zhvanchyk(107 km or 66 mi),Liadova(93 km or 58 mi),Murafa(162 km or 101 mi),Rusava(78 km or 48 mi),Yahorlyk(73 km or 45 mi), andKuchurhan(123 km or 76 mi).[17]
See also
Notes
References
- ^"Lower Dniester".RamsarSites Information Service.Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2024.Retrieved10 September2019.
- ^"Dnister River Valley".RamsarSites Information Service.Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2024.Retrieved10 September2019.
- ^"Dnister River".Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine.Archivedfrom the original on 19 October 2020.Retrieved16 August2022.
- ^ab"Dniester".Merriam-Webster Dictionary.Merriam-Webster.
- ^"Dniester".Dictionary Unabridged(Online). n.d.
- ^"Dniester".LexicoUK English Dictionary.Oxford University Press.Archived fromthe originalon February 12, 2022.
- ^Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair.The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West.London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. p. 106
- ^Абаев В. И.Осетинский язык и фольклорArchived2016-03-03 at theWayback Machine(tr. "Ossetian language and folklore"). Moscow: Publishing house of Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1949. P. 236
- ^Edward Gibbon.Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.Vol 1 chapt 11
- ^Mikhail Widejko (Відейко М. Ю.)."Трипільські протоміста. Історія досліджень. Київ 2002; с. 103–125"[Trypillya culture proto-cities. History of investigations. Kyiv 2002, p. 103–125)]. Iananu.kiev.ua.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-12-26.Retrieved2012-08-23.
- ^Strabo ii.
- ^Amm. Marc. xxxi. 3. § 3; Jornand. Get. 5; Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. 8
- ^Herod. iv. 11, 47, 82;Scylax,p. 29; Strab. i. p. 14;Mela,ii. 1, etc.; also Schaffarik,Slav. Alterth.i. p. 505.
- ^Stephanus of Byzantium, p. 671; Suid.s. v.
- ^Kaba, John (1919).Politico-economic Review of Basarabia.United States: American Relief Administration. p. 15.Archivedfrom the original on 21 June 2019.Retrieved16 December2022.
- ^"Pe 26 mai este marcată Ziua Nistrului, cu sloganul" Râul care ne unește ""(in Romanian).Moldpres.24 May 2024.Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2024.Retrieved24 May2024.
- ^Dnister RiverArchived2020-10-19 at theWayback MachineEncyclopedia of Ukraine, accessed 15 December 2022
General
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Smith, William,ed. (1854–1857). "Tyras".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.London: John Murray.
External links
- Kropotkin, Peter Alexeivitch;Bealby, John Thomas (1911)..Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 8 (11th ed.). p. 349.
- Volodymyr Kubijovyč,Ivan Teslia,Dnister River in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).
- Dniester.org: a trans-boundary Dniester river project
- eco-tiras.org
