Map of the Roman Empire - Dniester River
Dniester River
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The Dniester River In ancient times the Dniester River was considered one of the main rivers of Sarmatia. It was located in the region north of the Carpathian Mountains. The river was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians, and today flows in Eastern Europe.
Dniester River The Dniester (Ukrainian: Дністе́р translit. Dnister;
Russian: Днестр translit. Dnyestr, Romanian: Nistru) is a river in Eastern
Europe.
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 398 kilometres
(247 mi), 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 Bīc.
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),
130 miles (210 km) (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.
The Dniester and Turkish fortress, TighinaGreek authors referred to the river as
Tyras (Greek: ό Τύρας, 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 Tural 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 Τύρις is sometimes found. (Steph. B. p. 671; Suid.
s. v. Σκύφαι and Ποσειδώνιος.)
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
At the confluence of the Seret 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 Bīc River, and the Botna River. Tributaries on the west side are
Zolota Lypa River (140 kilometres (87 mi)), Koropets River, Dzhuryn River, Seret
River (250 kilometres (160 mi)), Zbruch River (245 kilometres (152 mi)),
Smotrych River (169 kilometres (105 mi)), Ushytsia River (112 kilometres (70
mi)), Kalius River, Liadova River, Murafa River (162 kilometres (101 mi)),
Rusava River, Yahorlyk River (173 kilometres (107 mi)), and the Kuchurhan River
(123 kilometres (76 mi).
Names
The name Dniester derives from Sarmatian *Dānu nazdya "the close river."[4] (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 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. - Wikipedia
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