The Aktash (russian: Акташ) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in the
Kasbek and
Khasavyurt districts of the
Republic of Daghestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
in
Caucasian Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is long, with its width varying from 1.5 meters (5 ft) to . It has an overall slope of 14%. Its watershed is .
Name
Aktash derives from the
Turkic ''ak-'' ("
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
") and ''taş'' ("
stone").
History
The river's basin was settled by the
Mountain Cossacks from the 1520s. The
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...
arrived under
Andrei Shadrin in the late 1570s, founding
Andreyevo Andreyevo (russian: Андреево) is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural localities in Russia.
Modern localities
*Andreyevo, Ivanovo Oblast, a village#Russia, village in Ivanovsky District, Ivanovo Oblast, Ivanovs ...
(present-day
Endirey). The two groups eventually formed the
Terek Cossacks
The Terek Cossack Host (russian: Терское казачье войско, ''Terskoye kazach'ye voysko'') was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. The local aboriginal Terek Cossacks ...
. The mountainous area of the river was depopulated in 1877 by the Russian Adjutant-General
Svistunov to prevent possible uprisings in support of
Alibek Haji Alibek is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Alibek Aliev (born 1996), Russian-Swedish footballer
*Alibek Bashkaev (born 1989), Russian judoka
*Alibek Buleshev (born 1981), Kazakhstani footballer
*Alibek Delimkhanov (bo ...
.
Diversion of the river for
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
now means that it usually does not reach the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
during the summer months.
Tributaries
Major tributaries include:
[
* Tsyrkikal
* Salasu
* Yaryksu
* Aksay
]
See also
* Other places named Aktash or Aktaş
References
Citations
Bibliography
* .
* {{citation , editor-last=Zonn , editor-first=Igor S. , editor2-last=Kosarev , editor2-first=Aleksey N. , editor3-last=Glantz , editor3-first=Michael , editor4-last=Kostianoy , editor4-first=Andrey G. , display-editors=1 , ref={{harvid, Zonn, 2010 , contribution=Aktash , contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvqYSoRvAI4C&pg=PA10 , p=10 , title=The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia , isbn=978-3-642-11523-3 , doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11524-0 , publisher=Springer-Verlag , location=Berlin , date=2010 .
Rivers of Dagestan