facts about volga river：Volga River

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Fylhtq Bdfyjd

Europe[1]’s longest river[2] and the principal waterway of Russia[3], the Volga arises in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows southeastward for 2,325 miles (3,740 kilometers) to empty into the Caspian Sea[4]. Known as Mother Volga, it is a symbol of Russia and a central theme in songs and stories.

The course consists of three parts: the Upper Volga, from the river’s source to its confluence with the Oka River near Nizhni Novgorod; the Middle Volga, from the Oka to the Kama, its major tributary near Kazan; and the Lower Volga, from the junction of the Kama to the mouth of the Volga at Astrakhan’. After passing a series of lakes in its upper course, the river heads eastward to Rzhev and Kalinin and through the Rybinsk Reservoir. It then flows southwestward through a narrow valley and crosses an area of plains to Nizhni Novgorod. In its middle portion the river turns southward toward the Kuybyshev Reservoi...