Ural, or Yaik - a river flowing through the territories of Russia and Kazakhstan. This is the third longest water flow in Europe (the Volga and the Danube are the leaders in this indicator). Its length is 2428 km, and the basin area is 231 thousand square meters. km. The Ural is a river flowing into the Caspian Sea. Its source is located on the Ur altau ridge in Bashkortostan.
When was the Yaik River renamed Ural?
It happened in 1775, after the Peasant War was suppressed, the leader of which was E. Pugacheva. Yaik Kazakhs and Bashkirs actively participated in this war. The name of the Yaik River is the merit of Catherine II - it was she who issued a decree on the renaming of the water stream in order to erase any memories of the uprising.
In general, for the first time the name Yaik was mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1140, and the ancient name of the river, according to Ptolemy's map, sounds like Daix. This word of Turkic origin means "wide", "spread".
Geography
As already mentioned, the Ural River (Yaik) originates in Bashkiria, onslope of the Kruglyaya Sopka of the Ur altau Ridge. At first, the water flow flows from north to south, and then, having met the plateau of the Kazakh steppe on the way, it turns to the northwest. Further, beyond Orenburg, the direction becomes south-western, and near the city of Uralsk, the river again bends to the south. In this southerly direction, winding now to the east, now to the west, the Ural flows all the way to the Caspian Sea.
The water fall in the river is not very large: from the upper reaches to the city of Orsk - 0.9 m per 1 km, from Orsk to Uralsk - 30 cm per 1 km, and even less below. The channel width is insignificant, but varied. In the upper reaches, the bottom of the Urals is rocky, under the Urals it is lined with small pebbles, while in the rest, as a rule, it is sandy and clayey.
The current is quite winding, forming many loops. With a small fall in water, the river often changes its main channel throughout its length, digs new passages, leaving oxbow lakes (deep reservoirs) in all directions. Due to such a changeable current, at one time many Cossack settlements were forced to move to other places, as their dwellings were gradually undermined and demolished by water.
The climate in the region is mostly continental, with characteristic strong winds. Precipitation is relatively low, no more than 540 millimeters per year, thus the river lacks a stable source of water supply.
Between Europe and Asia
Not everyone knows that the Ural (Yaik) is a river that is a natural border between two parts of the world. Geographically, in Russia the border runs in the Chelyabinsk region, in the cities of Magnitogorsk and Verkhneuralsk, and in Kazakhstan - along the Mugodzhary ridge. The Ural is an internal European river that flows into the Caspian Sea, only the upper reaches east of the Ural Range can be attributed to Asia.
However, there is another opinion on this matter. In 2010, in Kazakhstan, in the Ustryut desert, an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society was carried out. The results showed that the Ural River does not divide anything, since it crosses an identical area, and drawing the border between Europe and Asia along it is unreasonable from a scientific point of view. The fact is that to the south of the city of Zlatoust, the Ural Range loses its axis and falls apart. Then the mountains gradually and completely disappear, thus, the main reference point for drawing the border disappears.
Shipping
Earlier the river was navigable up to Orenburg. During the Soviet Union, water transport ran between Uralsk and Orenburg. However, as a result of constant changes in natural conditions (destruction of forests, plowing of steppes), the Urals became much shallower, and this process continues to this day. Every year ecological expeditions are held here, options for saving the river are discussed. But while the Urals are getting shallow, so now it is not very navigable.
Natural Monuments
Oh, how beautiful the Urals (Yaik)! The river abounds in landscape and geological natural monuments. The most famous of them:
1. Tract White stone. This unique formation is located onon the left bank, near the village of Yangelskoye, and is a rocky outcrop of limestone, which was formed 350 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. Rare species of lichens, animals and plants, remains of fossil organisms are found here.
2. Mount Izvoz. It is located on the right bank, three kilometers from Verkhneuralsk. This botanical monument is interesting for its picturesque rocky outcrops, man-made pine plantations and artificial park structures.
There are other equally beautiful monuments: Orsk Gate, Maiden Mountain, Nikolsky cut, Iriklinskoe gorge.
The most picturesque section of the river starts below the city of Orsk, where it flows through the gorge of the Guberlinsky mountains. Tourist rafting is often organized here.
Fishing
Ural (Yaik) is a river rich in fish: pike perch, sturgeon, catfish, roach, stellate sturgeon, bream, carp, pike, roach, crucian carp, dace and many other vertebrates are found here. In past centuries, the Urals was famous for its sturgeon species, they even say that in the 1970s 33% of the world's sturgeon production was caught on the river. Now such a fish has become a rarity here, but all the same - fishing in the Urals is good, hardly any fisherman will be left without a catch!
Interesting facts
It is believed that during the Civil War, Vasily Chapaev drowned in the waves of the Urals (although there are many versions of his death to this day, and it is not known for certain which of them is true).
Several reservoirs have been created on the river. The largest is Iriklinskoe.
Ural is fleetingriver, during the period of full water, the speed of the current reaches 10 km / h.
The source of the Urals is a spring gushing from the ground at an altitude of 637 meters above sea level. This place is marked with a commemorative sign.
