The Onon (, ''Onon gol''; ) 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 ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and

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, and has a drainage basin of .Онон

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

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It originates at the eastern slope of the

Khentii Mountains The Khentii Mountains ( mn, Хэнтийн нуруу) are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in North Eastern Mongolia. Geography The mountain chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's ...

. For 298 km it flows within Mongolia, before entering the

Khentei-Daur Highlands The Khentei-Daur Highlands ( rus, Хэнтэй-Даурское нагорье), also known as Khentei-Chikoy Highlands ''(Хэнтэ́й-Чико́йское наго́рье)'' are a mountainous area in the Transbaikal Krai, Far Eastern Federa ...

region of the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

flowing along the Stanovik Range. In its lower reaches it flows between the Mogoytuy (Могойтуйский хребет) and the Borshchovochny (Борщовочный хребет) mountain ranges. It joins with the Ingoda to form the Shilka. Its river valley forms the eastern limit of the

.''Khentey'', Small Encyclopedia of Transbaikalia
/ref> Its main tributaries are the Khurkhyn Gol,

Borzya Borzya ( rus, Борзя, p=ˈborzʲə; bua, Бооржо, ''Boorjo''; mn, Боорж, ''Boorj'') is a town and the administrative center of Borzinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located southeast of Chita, the administrative center ...

and Unda from the right, and the Agutsa, Kyra and

Aga Aga or AGA may refer to: Business * Architectural Glass and Aluminum (AGA), a glazing contractor, established in 1970 * AGA (automobile), ''Autogen Gasaccumulator AG'', 1920s German car company *AGA AB, ''Aktiebolaget Svenska Gasaccumulator'', a ...

from the left. The Onon—Shilka—

Amur The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...

water system is one of the world's ten longest rivers, measuring 1,032 km + 560 km + 2,874 km.

In history

The upper Onon is one of the areas that are claimed to be the place where

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

was born and grew up.The seat of Genghis khan was on the bank of river Onon. ''

The Secret History of the Mongols ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...

'' begins thus: "There came into the world a "Borte Chono" (blue-gray

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

) whose destiny was Heaven's will. His wife was a "Gua Maral" (beautiful fallow doe). They traveled across the inland sea and when they were camped near the source of the Onon River in sight of

Burkhan Khaldun The Burkhan Khaldun (Cyrillic: Бурхан Халдун) is one of the Khentii Mountains in the Khentii Province of northeastern Mongolia. The mountain or its locality is believed to be the birthplace of Genghis Khan as well as his tomb. It ...

, their first son was born, named Bat Tsagaan."

References

Rivers of Mongolia Rivers of Zabaykalsky Krai International rivers of Asia {{Mongolia-river-stub

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In history

See also

References