- published: 16 May 2013
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Coordinates: 55°05′N 38°50′E / 55.083°N 38.833°E / 55.083; 38.833
The Moskva River (Russian: река Москва, Москва-река, Moskva-reka) is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.
Moskva and Moscow are two different renderings of the same Russian word Москва. The city is named after the river. The origin of the name is unknown, although several theories exist. One theory suggests that the source of the name is an ancient Finnic language, in which it means "marshy place, dark waters, gnat". Alternatively, the name may come from the Mordvinian language, meaning "bear-river".[citation needed]. Similar meaning is in Mari language where moská denotes "bear" whereas Mari word ava implies "mother".
The length of the river is 503 km. The area of its drainage basin is 17,600 km². Vertical level drop is 155 metres (long-term average). Maximum depth above Moscow city limits - 3 metres, and up to 6 metres below it . Normally, it freezes in November–December and begins to thaw around late March. In downtown Moscow, the river freezes occasionally; in an unusually warm winter of 2006-2007, ice began setting on January, 25. Absolute water level in downtown Moscow is 120.0 metres above sea level (long-term average of summer lows after World War II), historical maximum was set by the 1908 flood - 127.25 metres above sea level.
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр Алексе́евич Рома́нов, Пётр I, Pyotr I, or Пётр Вели́кий, Pyotr Velikiy) (9 June [O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [O.S. 28 January] 1725) ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May [O.S. 27 April] 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother. In numerous successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. According to historian James Cracraft, he led a cultural revolution that replaced the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist system.