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Kura (South Caucasus river)
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Kura (South Caucasus river)
The Kura, also known in Georgian as Mtkvari (Georgian: მტკვარი, romanized: mt'k'vari [ˈmt'k'ʷäɾi]), is an east-flowing transboundary river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus, while its main tributary, the Aras, drains the south side of those mountains. Starting in northeastern Turkey, the Kura flows through to Georgia, then into Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras as a right tributary, and finally enters the Caspian Sea. The total length of the river is 1,515 kilometres (941 mi).
People have inhabited the Caucasus region for thousands of years and first established agriculture in the Kura Valley over 4,500 years ago. Large, complex civilizations eventually grew on the river, but by 1200 CE most were reduced to ruin by natural disasters and foreign invaders. The increasing human use, and eventual damage, of the watershed's forests and grasslands, contributed to a rising intensity of floods through the 20th century. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union started building many dams and canals on the river. Previously navigable up to Tbilisi in Georgia, the Kura is now much slower and shallower, having been harnessed by irrigation projects and hydroelectric power stations. The river is now moderately polluted by major industrial centers like Tbilisi and Rustavi in Georgia.
The name Kura is related either to Mingrelian kur 'water, river' or to an ancient Caucasian Albanian language term for 'reservoir'. The Georgian name of Kura is Mt'k'vari (in old Georgian Mt'k'uari), either from Georgian "good water" or a Georgianized form of Megrelian tkvar-ua "gnaw" (as in, "river that eats its way through the mountains"). The name Kura was adopted first by the Russians and later by European cartographers. In some definitions of Europe, the Kura defines the borderline between Europe and Asia.
In the various regional languages, the river is known as: Azerbaijani: Kür, Georgian: მტკვარი, Mt’k’vari, Persian: Korr, Armenian: Կուր, Kour, and Turkish: Kür. In Greek and Latin sources of antiquity, the river was known as the Cyrus river; Ancient Greek: Κῦρος; Latin: Cyrus, as attested by Strabo and Pliny respectively. Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian source written in Book Pahlavi, refers to the river as Tord in Persian.
The river should not be confused with the Kura river in Russia, a westward flowing tributary of the Malka in Stavropol Krai; the Kur near Kursk, Russia; Kur near Khabarovsk, also in Russia and Kor River, which is located in Fars province, Iran.
It rises in northeastern Turkey in a small valley in the Kars Upland of the Lesser Caucasus. It flows west, then north and east past Ardahan, and crosses into Georgia. It arcs to the northwest, then into a canyon near Akhaltsikhe where it starts to run northeast in a gorge for about 75 kilometres (47 mi), spilling out of the mountains near Khashuri. It then arcs east before flowing east-southeast for about 120 kilometres (75 mi), past Gori, then near Mtskheta, flows south through a short canyon and along the west side of T'bilisi, the largest city in the region. The river flows steeply southeast past Rustavi and turns eastward at its confluence with the Khrami, crossing the Georgia-Azerbaijan border and flowing across grasslands into Shemkir reservoir and then Yenikend reservoir.
The Kura then empties into Mingachevir reservoir, the largest body of water in Azerbaijan, formed by a dam near its namesake town at the southeastern end. The rivers Iori (also known as Qabirri) and Alazani formerly joined the Kura, but their mouths are now submerged under the lake. After leaving the dam, the river meanders southeast where it meets its biggest tributary Tartarchay in Barda Rayon and continues across a broad irrigated plain for several hundred kilometers, turning east near Lake Sarysu, and shortly after, receives the Aras, the largest tributary, at the city of Sabirabad. At the Aras confluence it makes a large arc to the north and then flows almost due south for about 60 kilometres (37 mi), passing the west side of Shirvan National Park, before turning east and emptying into the Caspian Sea at Neftçala.
Most of the Kura runs in the broad and deep valley between the Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and the major tributary, the Aras, drains most of the southern Caucasus and the mountain ranges of the extreme northern Middle East. The entirety of Armenia and most of Azerbaijan are drained by the river. Most of the elevation change in the river occurs within the first 200 kilometres (120 mi). While the river starts at 2,740 metres (8,990 ft) above sea level, the elevation is 693 metres (2,274 ft) by the time it reaches Khashuri in central Georgia, just out of the mountains, and only 291 metres (955 ft) when it reaches Azerbaijan.
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Kura (South Caucasus river)
The Kura, also known in Georgian as Mtkvari (Georgian: მტკვარი, romanized: mt'k'vari [ˈmt'k'ʷäɾi]), is an east-flowing transboundary river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus, while its main tributary, the Aras, drains the south side of those mountains. Starting in northeastern Turkey, the Kura flows through to Georgia, then into Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras as a right tributary, and finally enters the Caspian Sea. The total length of the river is 1,515 kilometres (941 mi).
People have inhabited the Caucasus region for thousands of years and first established agriculture in the Kura Valley over 4,500 years ago. Large, complex civilizations eventually grew on the river, but by 1200 CE most were reduced to ruin by natural disasters and foreign invaders. The increasing human use, and eventual damage, of the watershed's forests and grasslands, contributed to a rising intensity of floods through the 20th century. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union started building many dams and canals on the river. Previously navigable up to Tbilisi in Georgia, the Kura is now much slower and shallower, having been harnessed by irrigation projects and hydroelectric power stations. The river is now moderately polluted by major industrial centers like Tbilisi and Rustavi in Georgia.
The name Kura is related either to Mingrelian kur 'water, river' or to an ancient Caucasian Albanian language term for 'reservoir'. The Georgian name of Kura is Mt'k'vari (in old Georgian Mt'k'uari), either from Georgian "good water" or a Georgianized form of Megrelian tkvar-ua "gnaw" (as in, "river that eats its way through the mountains"). The name Kura was adopted first by the Russians and later by European cartographers. In some definitions of Europe, the Kura defines the borderline between Europe and Asia.
In the various regional languages, the river is known as: Azerbaijani: Kür, Georgian: მტკვარი, Mt’k’vari, Persian: Korr, Armenian: Կուր, Kour, and Turkish: Kür. In Greek and Latin sources of antiquity, the river was known as the Cyrus river; Ancient Greek: Κῦρος; Latin: Cyrus, as attested by Strabo and Pliny respectively. Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian source written in Book Pahlavi, refers to the river as Tord in Persian.
The river should not be confused with the Kura river in Russia, a westward flowing tributary of the Malka in Stavropol Krai; the Kur near Kursk, Russia; Kur near Khabarovsk, also in Russia and Kor River, which is located in Fars province, Iran.
It rises in northeastern Turkey in a small valley in the Kars Upland of the Lesser Caucasus. It flows west, then north and east past Ardahan, and crosses into Georgia. It arcs to the northwest, then into a canyon near Akhaltsikhe where it starts to run northeast in a gorge for about 75 kilometres (47 mi), spilling out of the mountains near Khashuri. It then arcs east before flowing east-southeast for about 120 kilometres (75 mi), past Gori, then near Mtskheta, flows south through a short canyon and along the west side of T'bilisi, the largest city in the region. The river flows steeply southeast past Rustavi and turns eastward at its confluence with the Khrami, crossing the Georgia-Azerbaijan border and flowing across grasslands into Shemkir reservoir and then Yenikend reservoir.
The Kura then empties into Mingachevir reservoir, the largest body of water in Azerbaijan, formed by a dam near its namesake town at the southeastern end. The rivers Iori (also known as Qabirri) and Alazani formerly joined the Kura, but their mouths are now submerged under the lake. After leaving the dam, the river meanders southeast where it meets its biggest tributary Tartarchay in Barda Rayon and continues across a broad irrigated plain for several hundred kilometers, turning east near Lake Sarysu, and shortly after, receives the Aras, the largest tributary, at the city of Sabirabad. At the Aras confluence it makes a large arc to the north and then flows almost due south for about 60 kilometres (37 mi), passing the west side of Shirvan National Park, before turning east and emptying into the Caspian Sea at Neftçala.
Most of the Kura runs in the broad and deep valley between the Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and the major tributary, the Aras, drains most of the southern Caucasus and the mountain ranges of the extreme northern Middle East. The entirety of Armenia and most of Azerbaijan are drained by the river. Most of the elevation change in the river occurs within the first 200 kilometres (120 mi). While the river starts at 2,740 metres (8,990 ft) above sea level, the elevation is 693 metres (2,274 ft) by the time it reaches Khashuri in central Georgia, just out of the mountains, and only 291 metres (955 ft) when it reaches Azerbaijan.
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