NEVA RIVER

'Neva' () is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length, it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge (after the Volga and the Danube).

Contents

Geography

Neva delta

Tributaries

Cities and towns along the Neva

Geological history

History

Navigation

Historical references

See also

Sources

External links

Geography

The length of the Neva is 74 km. 28 km of these are with the city boundaries of Saint Petersburg, while the rest are within Leningrad Oblast. It flows southwest from Lake Ladoga, reaches its southernmost point near its confluence with the Tosna River, and turns northwest into the Gulf of Finland. Average width is 400—600 m, maximum width: 1200 m. Maximum depth: 24 m. The Neva basin includes Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, the two largest lakes in Europe, and spans over a large area of Northwestern Russia and southern Finland.

Neva delta

The islands in the Neva delta formed by both natural armlets and artificial canals are occupied by the historical part of Saint Petersburg. The largest armlets are

★ Bolshaya Neva

★ Malaya Neva

★ Bolshaya Nevka

★ Srednaya Nevka

★ Malaya Nevka.
The most significant canals and small rivers are

★ Morskoy Canal

★ Obvodny Canal

★ Griboyedov Canal

★ Kryukov Canal

★ Fontanka

★ Moika
Among the notable islands are

★ Dekabristov Island

★ Kamenny Island

★ Krestovsky Island

★ Petrogradsky Island

★ Vasilievsky Island

★ Yelagin Island

Tributaries

The Neva has 26 tributaries. The major ones are:

★ Mga River (left)

★ Tosna River (left)

★ Izhora River (left)

★ Okhta River (right)

Cities and towns along the Neva

★ Shlisselburg (at the source)

★ Kirovsk

★ Otradnoye (at the confluence with the Tosna)

★ Saint Petersburg (in the delta)

Geological history

Neva River is a young river which originated between 4,000 and 2,000 BP, as the Lake Ladoga had transgressed and broken through the threshold at Porogi in the lower reaches of the River Izhora, which was a tributary of the Gulf of Finland flowing through the lower portions of the present-day Neva valley. According to some newer data, it happened at 3,100 radiocarbon years BP (3,410-3,250 calendar years BP).^[1]

History

In the Middle Ages the wide and navigable river had great importance as a link between the Baltics and the Volga portages leading to the Orient. The confluence of the Neva and Izhora was the site of the famous Battle of the Neva (1240) between the Swedes and the Russians. Alexander Yaroslavich, Prince of Novgorod, won this battle, saving Russia from invasion, and took his title Nevsky (meaning "Of the Neva") from this event.
During the 16th century the mouth of the Neva was the site of the Swedish fortress Nyen, and the inlet to the Ladoga of the Russian fortress Oreshek, later renamed Shlisselburg. The Nyen fortress was destroyed by Peter the Great, after that he founded the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1703. Standing on the Hare Island, the fortress is considered the first structure of present-day St Petersburg. It was also Peter who ordered construction of the Ladoga Canal linking the Neva with the Volkhov and the Svir Rivers several miles south of Lake Ladoga.

Navigation

The Neva is the most northwestern part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway, the connection between the Volga River and the Baltic Sea. This waterway is navigable for even the largest inland vessels, and it is an important part of the inland shipping connection between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Many passenger vessels share this waterway with large transport ships.[1]
During Mid-Winter, the river becomes unnavigable due to freezing over.

Historical references

★ Alexander Nevsky took his name after the Neva river following the victory over Swedes in Battle of the Neva in 1240

★ ''Neva'' was the name of a 200-foot-long (61-meter), three-masted sloop-of-war, the first Russian ship to circumnavigate the globe in 1804 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Urey Fedorovich Lisianski.

★ Grigori Rasputin drowned in the Neva in 1916.

★ The Russian poet Anna Akhmatova mentioned the Neva in many of her poems.

See also

★ Bridges in Saint Petersburg

★ Saint Petersburg Dam

Sources

1. Saarnisto, Matti & Tuulikki Grönlund (1996). Shoreline displacement of Lake Ladoga - new data from Kilpolansaari. ''Hydrobiologia'' 322.1-3, 205-215.

External links

★ Neva River