Oka River
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the largest right tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol
Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Oryol. Population: -Geography:It is located in the southwestern part of the Central Federal District, in the Mid-Russian Highlands. Kaluga and Tula Oblasts border it in the north, Bryansk Oblast is located to...
, Tula
Tula Oblast
Tula Oblast is a federal subject of Russia with its present borders formed on September 26, 1937. Its administrative center is the city of Tula. The oblast has an area of and a population of 1,553,874...
, Kaluga
Kaluga Oblast
Kaluga Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga.-Geography:Kaluga Oblast is located in the central part of the East European Plain. The Smolensk Highland lays in the western and north-western part of the oblast, while the Central Russian Highland -...
, Moscow
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
, Ryazan
Ryazan Oblast
Ryazan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is the oblast's largest city. Population: -Geography:...
, Vladimir
Vladimir Oblast
Vladimir Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow...
, and Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
. Its length exceeds 1500 kilometres (932.1 mi). The Russian capital Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
sits on one of the Oka's tributaries—the Moskva River
Moskva River
The Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...
.
Name and history
Max VasmerMax Vasmer
Max Vasmer was a Russian-born German linguist who studied problems of etymology of Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages and worked on history of Slavic, Baltic, Iranian, and Finno-Ugric peoples....
connects the name of the river to the Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
аƕа, Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
aha, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
aqua, which all mean either "water" or "river" (cf. Aa River
Aa River
Aa River may refer to:* Aa River , a river in northern France* Aa River , a river in North Brabant, Netherlands* Aa of Weerijs, a river in North Brabant, Netherlands* Drentsche Aa, a river in Groningen, Netherlands...
). Oleg Trubachev traces the origin of the name to the Baltic languages
Baltic languages
The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe...
: it was the Baltic tribe of Galindians that lived in the western part of the Oka basin prior to the arrival of the Slavs.
Historically, the river gave its name to the Upper Oka Principalities
Upper Oka Principalities
The Upper Oka Principalities is a term traditionally applied in Russian historiography to about dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries...
, situated upstream from Tarusa
Tarusa
Tarusa is a town and the administrative center of Tarussky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, south of Serpukhov, northeast of Kaluga, and about south of Moscow. Population:...
. One of the largest Russian cities, Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
, was founded to protect the Oka's confluence with the Volga. The Qasim Khanate
Qasim Khanate
Qasim Khanate or Kingdom of Qasim was a Tatar territorial formation , vassal of Russia, which existed from 1452 till 1681 in the territory of modern Ryazan Oblast in Russia with its capital Kasimov, in the middle stream of the Oka River...
, a Muslim polity, occupied the middle reaches of the Oka (around the city of Kasimov
Kasimov
Kasimov is a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, which serves as the administrative center of Kasimovsky District . The town is situated on the left bank of the Oka River...
) in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Before the construction of the railways in the mid-19th century, and the Moscow Canal
Moscow Canal
The Moscow Canal , named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast...
in the 1930s, the Oka, along with its tributary Moskva, was an important transportation route connecting Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
with the Volga River. Due to the Oka's and Moskva's meandering course, the travel was not particularly fast: for example, it took Cornelis de Bruijn
Cornelis de Bruijn
Cornelis de Bruijn was a Dutch artist and traveler. He made two large tours and published illustrated books with his observations of people, buildings, plants and animals.- Biography :...
around 10 days to sail from Moscow down these two rivers to Nizhny Novgorod in 1703. Traveling upstream may have been even slower, as the boats had to be pulled by burlaks.
Landmarks
The banks of the river are dotted with historical and cultural sites, including the medieval monasteries of MuromMurom
Murom is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of Oka River. Population: -History:In the 9th century CE, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of the Finno-Ugric people called Muromians. The Russian Primary Chronicle...
, the mosques and minarets of Kasimov
Kasimov
Kasimov is a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, which serves as the administrative center of Kasimovsky District . The town is situated on the left bank of the Oka River...
, the fortified kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
s of Kolomna
Kolomna
Kolomna is an ancient city and the administrative center of Kolomensky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka Rivers, southeast of Moscow. The area of the city is about . The city was founded in 1177...
and Serpukhov
Serpukhov
Serpukhov is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which is situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers. It is located south from Moscow on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tula railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...
, the memorial houses of Vasily Polenov
Vasily Polenov
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists.-Biography:...
and Sergey Yesenin, the excavated ruins of Old Ryazan, and the Oka Shukhov Tower
Shukhov tower on the Oka River
The Shukhov Tower on the Oka River is the world’s only hyperboloid electricity pylon. It is located in Russia, in the western suburbs of Nizhny Novgorod, on the left bank of the Oka River near Dzerzhinsk...
.
The Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve lies along the left bank of the river opposite the town of Pushchino
Pushchino
Pushchino is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated south of Moscow, on the right side of the Oka River opposite the Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve. As it can be confused with other towns with similar names, it is informally called Pushchino-on-Oka...
and is known for its wisent
Wisent
The wisent , Bison bonasus, also known as the European bison or European wood bison, is a species of Eurasian bison. It is the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe; a typical wisent is about long, not counting a tail of long, and tall. Weight typically can range from , with an occasional big...
breeding nursery.
Main tributaries
- Ugra
- ZhizdraZhizdra RiverZhizdra River is a river in Kaluga Oblast in Russia, Oka's left tributary. The length of the river is 223 km. The area of its basin is 9,170 km². the Zhizdra River freezes up in late November and stays icebound until early April. Its main tributaries are the Resseta, Vytebet, and Serena. The towns...
- UpaUpa RiverUpa is a river in Tula Oblast, Russia, one of the main tributaries of the Oka River.The river is 345 km long; the city of Tula is on its banks. The name of the river is of Baltic origin....
- ProtvaProtva RiverProtva River is a river in Moscow and Kaluga Oblasts in Russia, left tributary of the Oka. The length of the river is 282 km. The area of its basin is 4,620 km². The Protva freezes up in early December and stays icebound until early April. Its main tributary is the Luzha River. The towns of...
- NaraNara RiverNara River is a river in the Moscow Oblast and Kaluga Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 158 kilometres. The area of its basin is 2030 km². The Nara River freezes up in November-December and stays under the ice until April. The cities of...
- MoskvaMoskva RiverThe Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...
- PraPra River (Russia)Pra River is a river in the Ryazan and Moscow Oblasts in Russia, a left tributary of the Oka River. It is 167 km in length. The area of its basin is 5,520 km². The Pra River freezes up in late November and stays under the ice until April....
- OsyotrOsyotr RiverOsyotr River is a river in Tula and Moscow Oblasts in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 228 km. The area of its basin is 3,480 km². The Osyotr freezes up in November and stays icebound until the first half of April. The town of Zaraysk is located on the Osyotr...
- PronyaPronya River (Russia)Pronya River is a river in Ryazan and Tula Oblasts in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 336 km. The area of its basin is 10,200 km². The river freezes up in late November and stays icebound until early March. The Pronya is navigable in its lower reaches. The...
- ParaPara River (Russia)Para River is a river in Ryazan Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 192 km. The area of its basin is 3,590 km². The Para freezes up in November and stays icebound until April....
- MokshaMoksha RiverMoksha is a river in central Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. It is 656 kilometres in length....
- TyoshaTyosha RiverTyosha is a river in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 311 km. The area of its basin is 7,800 km². The Tyosha freezes up in November - first half of December and stays icebound until the second half of March - first half of April. Its...
- KlyazmaKlyazma RiverThe Klyazma River is a river in the Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo and Vladimir Oblasts in Russia, a left tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 686 kilometres. The area of its drainage basin is 42,500 km². The Klyazma River freezes up in November and stays under the ice...
Cities and towns on the Oka
- OryolOryolOryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
- BelyovBelyovBelyov is a town and the administrative center of Belyovsky District of Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River. Population: 17,000 .As many other Upper Oka towns, Belyov was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147...
- ChekalinChekalinChekalin , formerly known as Likhvin is a town in Suvorovsky District of Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River. Population: It is the least populous inhabited locality in Russia with the town status....
- KalugaKalugaKaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
- AleksinAleksinAleksin is a town and the administrative center of Aleksinsky District of Tula Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Tula. Population: -History:...
- TarusaTarusaTarusa is a town and the administrative center of Tarussky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, south of Serpukhov, northeast of Kaluga, and about south of Moscow. Population:...
- SerpukhovSerpukhovSerpukhov is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which is situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers. It is located south from Moscow on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tula railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...
- StupinoStupinoStupino is a town and the administrative center of Stupinsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River south of Moscow. Population:...
- KashiraKashiraKashira is a town and the administrative center of Kashirsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River south of Moscow. Population:...
- ProtvinoProtvinoProtvino is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about south of Moscow and west of Serpukhov, on the left bank of the Protva River. Population: -History:...
- PushchinoPushchinoPushchino is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated south of Moscow, on the right side of the Oka River opposite the Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve. As it can be confused with other towns with similar names, it is informally called Pushchino-on-Oka...
- KolomnaKolomnaKolomna is an ancient city and the administrative center of Kolomensky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka Rivers, southeast of Moscow. The area of the city is about . The city was founded in 1177...
- RyazanRyazanRyazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...
- KasimovKasimovKasimov is a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, which serves as the administrative center of Kasimovsky District . The town is situated on the left bank of the Oka River...
- MuromMuromMurom is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of Oka River. Population: -History:In the 9th century CE, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of the Finno-Ugric people called Muromians. The Russian Primary Chronicle...
- PavlovoPavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod OblastPavlovo , or Pavlovo-na-Oke , is a town and the administrative center of Pavlovsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka River in the northwestern part of the Volga Upland. Population: -Economy:...
- NavashinoNavashinoNavashino is a town and the administrative center of Navashinsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Oka River, southwest of Nizhny Novgorod...
- Gorbatov
- DzerzhinskDzerzhinsk, RussiaDzerzhinsk is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, situated along the Oka River, about east of Moscow. Population: The city is named after Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Bolshevik leader who was the first head of the Cheka ....
- Nizhny NovgorodNizhny NovgorodNizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...