The longest rivers in Russia

There is a lot of water in Russia - through its vast territory, which occupies one-seventh of the land, flows more than two and a half million rivers... Most of them are known and loved only by those who live (or rest) on their shores. However, rivers of a completely different order are more interesting and important - giant waterways that can be seen from space. For centuries, these giants served our ancestors as sources of water, food, as transport routes and continue to serve people to this day.

Determining which is the longest river in Russia is not so easy. Historically, the lands east of the Urals were populated unevenly at different periods of time. And therefore, along its course, the river could repeatedly change its name. Sometimes it happened that the alleged tributary of the "main" river turned out to be longer and fuller than the river itself. Therefore, in order to avoid confusion for the rating of the longest rivers in Russia, we have chosen only those that flow under the same name from source to mouth.

10. Ural - length 2428 km

The majestic Siberian Ural opens the rating of the longest rivers in Russia without tributaries. Although it occupies a modest tenth place, if you look only at Europe, in length it is second only to the Volga and Danube. Once the Cossacks, who began to explore the expanses of the Trans-Urals, called him Yaik. And until now, under the old name, he appears in numerous Cossack songs.

Ural is a capricious river; over the centuries it has repeatedly changed its course, leaving scattered oxbow lakes, lakes and a dense network of channels in abundance in its basin. The Ural, like the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea.

9. Ishim - 2450 km

For its neighbors, Ishim matters more. In Russia, on the banks of this river there is a single city of Ishim. While there are several of them in neighboring Kazakhstan, including even the capital of this country. True, you have to pay for popularity - according to the latest data from ecologists, it is better not to swim in Ishim. The waters of the river carry, in addition to ordinary household waste, also industrial waste - oil products, compounds of iron, oil and manganese. And all this wealth is also seasoned with pesticides washed into the river during the spill every year. Ishim flows into the Irtysh.

8. Vilyui - 2650 km

The Vilyui is the longest tributary of the Lena River, which itself is far from being a small river. It flows through the territory of Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. There are two hydroelectric power plants on the river, launched back in Soviet times. They provide light, heat and energy to nearby mining facilities.

At one of the tributaries of the Vilyui there is a place of pilgrimage for ufologists, affectionately nicknamed by the old-timers "the Valley of Death". According to rumors, there are huge mysterious objects, similar to cauldrons, ranging in size from six to nine meters in diameter, and made of an incomprehensible metal.

7. Amur - 2824 km

“Clouds are walking gloomily over Cupid” - is sung in an old Soviet song. It is on this river, separating the lands of the then USSR, and of today's Russia, from China, where three tankmen, the heroes of the song, serve.

The very name of the river speaks of its size - "Amur" comes from the word "Damur", which means in the language of local residents, Manchus, literally "big river". It begins in the steppes of Mongolia and flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Cupid is exceptionally rich in fish - up to 139 different species of fish live in it. But only one quarter of this abundance is of commercial value.

6. Lower Tunguska - 2989 km

The lower Tunguska is almost as long as the river, where it flows into - the Yenisei. Although in the summer months the river is full-flowing (water discharge reaches 31 thousand m3 / s), but in winter it barely collects a quarter of this amount. The reason is permafrost; Underground springs shackled with cold barely support the life of the river. But during the melting of the snow, Tunguska crushes rocks and uproots trees.

5. Yenisei - 3487 km

From the tributary of the Yenisei we pass to the Yenisei itself. The river separates Eastern Siberia from Western Siberia. The beginning of the Yenisei, the confluence of two tributaries, is located near the city of Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva. And it flows into the Kara Sea several thousand kilometers to the north, forming a whole bay of its name.

Along the entire length of the Yenisei, there are many cities, several hydroelectric power plants and a number of reservoirs. Also on the banks of the Yenisei there are several of the most beautiful nature reserves in Russia - such as the Krasnoyarsk "Pillars" and the Sayano-Shushensky nature reserve.

4. Volga - 3531 km

The longest river in Europe is undoubtedly worthy of the title of "mother". Since ancient times, Slavs and peoples settled on its banks, which in the future became part of Russia. The Volga was first mentioned in his "Notes" by the ancient geographer Herodotus. In the Middle Ages and Modern Times, it served as a trade route connecting the north of the country with the south, and during the years of industrialization after the establishment of Soviet power, hydroelectric power plants on the Volga provided industrial enterprises of the young state with electricity.

The Volga begins with a modest, unremarkable spring flowing on the Valdai Upland and ends with a delta more than 170 km wide.

3. Ob - 3650 km

The third longest river in Russia is the Ob. It would be the first if we count it together with the longest tributary, the Irtysh. Then its length would be an impressive 5410 km. The Ob basin is the largest in Russia - its total area is 2990 thousand km2.

Despite the size and high water content (during the flood period the Ob can spread up to 30 km wide), the Ob spends most of the year under the ice. There are many cities along the entire length of the river, including such large ones as Novosibirsk. The Ob flows into the bay named after itself in the Kara Sea.

2. Irtysh - 4248 km

If the development of Siberia went the other way, the Irtysh would be in the first place in the rating. But it happened as it happened, and the much longer Irtysh is considered only a tributary of the Ob, and together they occupy 6th place in list of the longest rivers in the world.

The Irtysh originates in China, where the Chinese take almost a third of the flow for their needs, then flows through the territory of Kazakhstan, where the river is already so large that ships can walk on it.

The Irtysh feeds both industrial and agricultural enterprises of Kazakhstan and provides water to the capital of the country, Astana. On the territory of Russia, the river also does not have to rest - there are many cities and several power plants on it.

1. The longest river in Russia - Lena (4400 km)

In the Yakut language, Lena's name sounds like “big river". The longest river in Russia stretches 4400 km from the Baikal ridges to the Arctic Ocean and flows into the Laptev Sea. It flows in harsh conditions - the surrounding land is bound by permafrost. Therefore, there are few cities on the Lena, and the largest of them is Yakutsk.

For many hundreds of kilometers, the river flows through an almost deserted area. Like other rivers in permafrost conditions, Lena "feeds" almost completely on melted snow and rain, so in winter the water level in it is low. Lena spends most of the year under a thick layer of ice, freeing herself from it only for a short 4-5 warm months.Although the navigation period is short, the Lena river is used to float cargo, take cruises, people go boating, go on river trips and visit sights. One of the most famous is the Shishkin Rocks, where the works of ancient people have survived to this day.

List of largest rivers in Russia

The table shows 75 rivers with a length of at least 1000 km.