The
Ural (,
Kazakh:
Жайық,
Jayıq or
Zhayyq), known as
Yaik () before 1775, is a river flowing through
Russia and
Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern
Ural Mountains and ends at the
Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi (2,428 km). It forms part of the
traditional boundary between
Europe and
Asia.
The Ural arises on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, flows south through
Magnitogorsk, and around the southern end of the Urals, through
Orsk where it turns west for about 300 km, to
Orenburg, when the
Sakmara River joins. From Orenburg it continues west, passing into Kazakhstan, then turning south again at
Oral, and meandering through a broad flat plain until it reaches the Caspian a few miles below
Atyrau, where it forms a fine
digitate delta at ().
Tributaries
Tributaries, in order going upstream:
History
In the Middle Ages, the city of
Saray-Jük on the lower Ural was an important trade center on the
Silk Road. It later became an important center for the
Golden Horde and the
Nogai Horde,
After the Russian conquest (late 16th century), the shores of the Ural became home to the
Ural Cossacks, one of whose main activities was fishing for the
sturgeon and related fishes (including the true sturgeon,
starry sturgeon, and
beluga) in the Ural River and the Caspian. A great variety of fishing techniques existed, the most famous of them was
bagrenye (багренье): spearing hibernating sturgeons in their underwater lairs in December. Another fishing technique was constructing a
weir, known as
uchug (
учуг) across the river, to catch fish going upstream to spawn. While the
uchug weirs were also known in the
Volga Delta, the
bagrenye was thought to be a uniquely Ural technique.
The cossacks, known originally as the Yaik Cossacks, disliked the central government's attempts to impose rules and regulations on them, and on occasions rose in rebellions. After the largest rebellion -
the one led by Yemelyan Pugachev -
Empress Catherine had them renamed to "Ural Cossacks", and the Yaik River, to the Ural River.
The famous
Civil War commander
Vasily Chapayev is thought to have drowned in the Ural, on September 5, 1919.
Gallery
