The Don is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises near
Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950
km (1,220 miles) to the Sea of Azov.
From its source,
the river first flows southeast to Voronezh, then southwest
to its mouth. The main city on the river is Rostov on Don, its
main tributary the Donets.
At its easternmost
point, the Don comes near the Volga, and the Volga-Don Canal
(length ca. 105 km (65 miles)), connecting both rivers, is a
major waterway.
This part of the
river saw Operation Uranus, one of the turning points of the
Second World War.
The Don was known
in the times of the old Scythians as the Tanaïs, and has
been a major trading route ever since. Tanais appears in ancient
Greek sources as the name of the river and of a city on it.
- Length: 1950 km
- Area: watershed
425,600 km²
- Origin: Russia,
Ukraine
- Mouth: Sea of
Azov
- Basin countries:
Russia
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