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Dniester

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The Dniester (Дністер translit. Dnister; Nistru) is a river in Eastern Europe.

Geography

It rises in Ukraine, near Drohobych close to the border with Poland, and flows toward the Black Sea. For a short while it marks the border of Ukraine and Moldova, after which it flows through Moldova for 398 km, separating the bulk of its 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.

In its lower half, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the de facto end of the Asian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.

History

Before World War II the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. During the war, battles were fought on the left bank of the river between German and Romanian forces against Soviet troops.

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

The Stryi River is one of its tributaries. Tributaries on the right side are the Reut River, the Ikel River, the Byk River, and the Botna River. Tributaries on the left side are Zolota Lypa River (140 km), Koropets River, Dzhuryn River, Seret River (250 km), Zbruch River (245 km), Smotrych River (169 km), Ushytsia River (112 km), Kalius River, Liadova River, Murafa River (162 km), Rusava River, Yahorlyk River (173 km), and the Kuchurhan River (123 km).

Names

The name Dniester derives from Sarmatian (Iranian) *Dānu nazdya "the close river". (By contrast, the Dnieper River derives from "the river far away".) The older name, Tyras, is from Scythian *tûra, meaning "rapid".

In Russian, it is known as Днестр, translit. Dnestr, in Romanian Nistru, 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.

Notes

External links



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Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 04:06:02 PST (GMT -0800)
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