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DNIEPER

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 349 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DNIEPER , one of the most important See also:

rivers of See also:Europe (the Borysthenes of the Greeks, Danasris of the See also:Romans, Uzi or Uzu of the See also:Turks, Eksi of the See also:Tatars, Elice of See also:Visconti's See also:map (1381), Lerene of See also:Contarini (1437), Luosen of Baptista of See also:Genoa (1514), and Lussem in the same See also:century). It belongs entirely to See also:Russia, and rises in the See also:government of See also:Smolensk,in a swampy See also:district (alt. 930 ft.) at the. See also:foot of the Valdai Hills, not far from the See also:sources of the See also:Volga and the See also:Dvina, in 55° 52' N. and 330 41' E. Its length is about 1410 M. and it drains an See also:area of 202,140 sq. m. In the first See also:part of its course, which may be said to end at Dorogobuzh, it flows through an undulating See also:country of Carboniferous formation; in the second it passes See also:west to See also:Orsha, See also:south through the fertile See also:plain of See also:Chernigov and See also:Kiev, and then south-See also:east across the rocky See also:steppe of the See also:Ukraine to Ekaterinoslay. About 45 M. S. of this See also:town it has to force its way across the same granitic offshoot of the Carpathian mountains which interrupts the course of the See also:Dniester and the See also:Bug, and for a distance of about 25 M. rapid succeeds rapid. The fall of the See also:river in that distance is 155 ft. The Dnieper, having got clear of the rocks, continues south-west through the grassy plains of See also:Kherson and See also:Taurida, and enters the See also:Black See also:Sea, or rather a liman or See also:bay of the Black Sea, by a considerable See also:estuary in 46° 30' N. and 32° 20' E. On this ramifying liman, into which the Bug also pours its See also:waters, stand Nikolaiev and the fortified town of See also:Ochakov. See also:Navigation extends as far up as Dorogobuzh, where the See also:depth is about 12 ft., and rafts are floated down from the higher reaches. The See also:banks are generally high, more particularly the See also:left See also:bank.

About the town of Smolensk the breadth is 455 ft., at the confluence of the Pripet 1400, and in some parts of the See also:

Ekaterinoslav district more than ri m. In the course above the rapids the channel varies very greatly in nature and depth, and it is not infrequently interrupted by shallows. The rapids, or porogs, See also:form a serious obstacle to navigation; it is only for a few See also:weeks when the river is in See also:flood that they are passable, and even then the venture is not without See also:risk and can only be undertaken with the assistance of See also:special pilots. It is from these falls that the See also:Cossacks of the Ukraine came to be known as Zaporogian Cossacks. As See also:early as 1732 an See also:attempt was made to improve the channel. A See also:canal, which ultimately proved too small for use, was constructed a.t Nenasitets in 1780 at private expense; blastings were carried out in 1798 and 1799 at various parts; in 18o5 a canal was formed at Kaindatski, and the channel straightened at Sursk; by 1807 a new canal was completed at Nenasitets; in 1833 a passage was cleared through the Staro-kaindatski porog; and in the See also:period 1843 to` 1853 numerous ameliorations were effected. The result has been not only to diminish greatly the dangers of the natural channel, but also to furnish a See also:series of artificial canals by which vessels can make their way when the river is See also:low. Of the tributaries of the Dnieper the following are navigable,—the See also:Berezina and the Pripet from the right, and the Sozh and the Desna from the left. By means of the Dnieper-Bug (See also:King's) canal, and the Berezina and Oginski canals, this river has a sort of See also:water connexion with the Baltic Sea. In the estuary the See also:fisheries give employment to large See also:numbers of See also:people. At Kiev the river is See also:free from See also:ice on an See also:average of 234 days in the See also:year, at Ekaterinoslav 270 and at Kherson 277. (P.

A. K.; J. T.

End of Article: DNIEPER

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