The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

that contributes to forming the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a

natural border A natural border is a border between states or their subdivisions which is concomitant with natural formations such as rivers or mountain ranges. The "doctrine of natural boundaries" developed in Western culture in the 18th century being based u ...

between

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

(see Romania-Ukraine border) and is named after the two towns carrying the same name, located across from one another on both banks:

Kiliya Kiliia or Kilia ( uk, Кілія́, translit=Kiliia, ; ro, Chilia Nouă) is a town in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kiliia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Kiliia is located in t ...

, on the northern, Ukrainian bank and Chilia Veche (Old Chilia) on the southern, Romanian bank. The other two main branches of the Danube are the Sulina branch and the Sfântu Gheorghe branch. The Chilia branch begins at the

Ismail Islet Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

where Danube splits on Chilia branch and Sulina branch and ends near the town of Vylkove where Chilia branch splits further into Ochakove distributary (eastward) and Old Istambul distributary (southward). Chilia branch is long. The flow at the entrance into the delta is of 6,350 m³/s; the Chilia branch carries between 58 and 60 percent of this flow. Along the Chilia branch is located the former Ottoman fortress in today's Ukrainian city of

Izmail Izmail (, , translit. ''Izmail,'' formerly Тучков ("Tuchkov"); ro, Ismail or ''Smil''; pl, Izmaił, bg, Исмаил) is a city and municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administra ...

. The fall of Izmail in 1789 led the Ottomans' loss of complete control over the northern

Pontic Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to: The Black Sea Places * The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores * Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores * The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from no ...

shores (today southern Ukraine) and to the expansion the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

to this part of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, with the continuation of struggles and warring between the Ottoman and Russian Empires.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilia Branch Distributaries of the Danube Ramsar sites in Ukraine Romania–Ukraine border Rivers of Tulcea County