The Dniester ( ; , translit. Dnister) is a river in Eastern Europe.
Names
The name
Dniester derives from Iranic
Sarmatian Dānu nazdya "the close river." (By contrast, the
Dnieper River derives from the same Sarmatian Iranic, "the river on the far side.") The older name,
Tyras, is from
Scythian tūra, meaning "rapid."
In Russian, it is known as Днестр, translit. Dnestr, in Yiddish: Nester נעסטער; in Turkish, Turla and during antiquity, it was called Tyras in Latin and Danastris in Greek. Classical authors have also referred to it as Danaster.
Geography
The Dniester rises in
Ukraine, near the city of
Drohobych, close to the border with
Poland, and flows toward the
Black Sea. Its course marks part of the border of Ukraine and
Moldova, after which it flows through Moldova for , separating the bulk of Moldova's territory from
Transnistria. It later forms an additional part of the Moldova-Ukraine border, then flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea, where its
estuary forms the
Dniester 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 the de facto end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.
History
During the prehistoric
Neolithic Era, the Dniester River was the center of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. The
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture fluourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 B.C., leaving behind thousands of archeological sites of settlements of up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them some of the first farming communities in history.
In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European
Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to
Herodotus (iv. 51) it rose in a large lake, whilst
Ptolemy (iii. 5. § 17, 8. § 1, &c.;) places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modern
Carpathian Mountains), and
Strabo (ii.) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lower
Danube), and formed part of the boundary between
Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the
Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister; the distance between them being, according to Strabo, 900 stadia (Strab. vii.), and, according to
Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26), (from the
Pseudostoma).
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 as Tyras (}}, Strab. ii.). At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus (Amm. Marc. xxxi. 3. § 3; Jornand. Get. 5; Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. 8), whence its modern name of Dniester (Neister), though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century. (Cf. Herod. iv. 11, 47, 82; Scylax, p. 29; Strab. i. p. 14; Mela, ii. 1, etc.; also Schaffarik, Slav. Alterth. i. p. 505.) The form is sometimes found. (Steph. B. p. 671; Suid. s. v. and .)
Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river.
After the Republic of Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.
Tributaries
and the Dniester.]]
The
Stryi River is one of the Dniester's
tributaries. Tributaries on the east side are the
Răut River, the Ikel River, the
Bîc River, and the Botna River. Tributaries on the west side are
Zolota Lypa River (), Koropets River, Dzhuryn River,
Seret River (),
Zbruch River (),
Smotrych River (), Ushytsia River (), Kalius River, Liadova River, Murafa River (), Rusava River, Yahorlyk River (), and the
Kuchurhan River ().
References
External links
Dniester.org: a trans-boundary Dniester river project
eco-tiras.org
Dniester photo gallery
Category:Rivers of Ukraine
Category:Rivers of Moldova
Category:International rivers of Europe
Category:Moldova–Ukraine border
![The bloody-red mysid (Hemimysis anomala), is a shrimp-like crustacean in the Mysida order, native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which has been spreading across Europe since the 1950s.[1] In 2006, it was discovered to have invaded the North American Great Lakes.[2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110822075445im_/http://cdn4.wn.com/pd/ce/1f/c472579ff5213cf0b92ff51af85e_grande.jpg "The bloody-red mysid (Hemimysis anomala), is a shrimp-like crustacean in the Mysida order, native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which has been spreading across Europe since the 1950s.[1] In 2006, it was discovered to have invaded the North American Great Lakes.[2]")
![The bloody-red mysid (Hemimysis anomala), is a shrimp-like crustacean in the Mysida order, native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which has been spreading across Europe since the 1950s.[1] In 2006, it was discovered to have invaded the North American Great Lakes.[2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110822075445im_/http://cdn3.wn.com/pd/ce/1f/c472579ff5213cf0b92ff51af85e_thumb.jpg "The bloody-red mysid (Hemimysis anomala), is a shrimp-like crustacean in the Mysida order, native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which has been spreading across Europe since the 1950s.[1] In 2006, it was discovered to have invaded the North American Great Lakes.[2]")
