The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem'';

Khakas The Khakas (also spelled Khakass; Khakas: , ''khakas'', , ''tadar'', , ''khakastar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic indigenous people of Siberia, who live in the republic of Khakassia, Russia. They speak the Khakas language. The Khakhassian ...

: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ''Quk''; Nenets: Ензя-ям’, ''Enzja-jam''), also romanised as Yenisei, Enisei, or Jenisej, is the fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course before draining into the

Yenisey Gulf The Yenisey Gulf (russian: Енисейский залив, ''Yeniseysky zaliv'') is a large and long estuary through which the lower Yenisey flows into the Kara Sea. The Yenisey Gulf and its islands belong to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative ...

in the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

. The Yenisey divides the

Western Siberian Plain The West Siberian Plain (russian: За́падно-Сиби́рская равни́на ''Zapadno-Sibirskaya ravnina'') is a large plain that occupies the western portion of Siberia, between the Ural Mountains in the west and the Yenisei River ...

in the west from the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; sah, Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Gre ...

to the east; it drains a large part of central

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. It is the central one of three large Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (the other two being the Ob and the

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

). The maximum depth of the Yenisey is and the average depth is . The depth of river outflow is and inflow is .

Geography

Operational Navigation Chart D-6, 6th edition

The Yenisey proper, from the confluence of its source rivers

Great Yenisey The Great Yenisey (russian: Большой Енисей ''Bolshoy Yenisey''; tyv, Бии-Хем ''Bii-Xem'') is a river in the Republic of Tuva, the right source of the Yenisey, at its confluence with the Little Yenisey.Большой Енисей ...

and

Little Yenisey The Little Yenisey (russian: Малый Енисей ''Maly Yenisey'') a river in northern Mongolia and in Tuva, Russia. At its confluence with the Great Yenisey in Kyzyl (Tuva), the Yenisey is formed. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . It ...

Kyzyl Kyzyl (; Tuvan and russian: Кызыл; , ) is the capital city of the republic of Tuva, Russia. The name of the city means "red" or "crimson" in Tuvan (and in many other Turkic languages). Its population was History The city was founded in 1 ...

to its mouth in the

, is long. From the source of its tributary

Selenga The Selenga or Selenge ( ; bua, Сэлэнгэ гол / Сэлэнгэ мүрэн, translit=Selenge gol / Selenge müren; russian: Селенга́, ) is a major river in Mongolia and Buryatia, Russia. Originating from its headwater tributaries, ...

, it is long.Енисей

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 ...

It has a drainage basin of . The Yenisey flows through the Russian

federal subjects The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

Khakassia Khakassia (russian: Хакасия; kjh, Хакасия, Хакас Чирі, ''Khakasiya'', ''Khakas Çiri''), officially the Republic of Khakassia (russian: Республика Хакасия, r=Respublika Khakasiya, ; kjh, Хакас Рес ...

and

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Si ...

. The city of

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...

is situated on the Yenisey.

Tributaries

The largest tributaries of the Yenisey are, from source to mouth: *

(left) *

(right) *

Khemchik The Khemchik (russian: Хемчик; tyv, Хемчик, ''Xemçik'') is a river in Tuva in Russia, a left tributary of the Yenisey. The length of the river is 320 km, the area of its drainage basin is 27,000 km². The Khemchik freezes u ...

(left) * Kantegir (left) *

Abakan Abakan (russian: Абака́н, p=ɐbɐˈkan; Khakas: , ''Ağban''/, ''Abaxan'') is the capital city of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia, located in the central part of Minusinsk Depression, at the confluence of the Yenisei and Abakan Rivers. ...

(left) *

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

(right) *

Mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...

(right) *

Bazaikha The Bazaikha (russian: База́иха) is a river in the Krasnoyarsk Krai. It is the third largest river in the Krasnoyarsk neighborhood after Yenisey and Mana. The name derived from the Kamassian — iron river. The length of the Bazaikha is ...

(right) * Kacha (left) * Kan (right) * Angara (right) * Kem (left) *

Bolshoy Pit The Bolshoy Pit ( - "Great Pit") is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is a right hand tributary of the Yenisey. The Bolshoy Pit is long, and the area of its drainage basin, basin is . The lower reaches of the Bolshoy Pit are navigable duri ...

(right) * Sym (left) * Dubches (left) *

Podkamennaya Tunguska The Podkamennaya Tunguska (russian: Подкаменная Тунгуска, literally ''Tunguska under the stones''; evn, Дулгу Катэнӈа, Ket: Ӄо’ль) also known as ''Middle Tunguska'' or ''Stony Tunguska'', is a river in Krasno ...

(right) * Bakhta (right) *

Yeloguy The Yeloguy () is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is one of the main tributaries of the Yenisey. Its basin marks the eastern limit of the Siberian Uvaly.Елогуй, Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 30 vols. / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov - 3rd e ...

(left) *

Nizhnyaya Tunguska The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right tribut ...

(right) *

Turukhan The Turukhan () is a river in northern Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. It is a southeast-flowing left tributary of the Yenisey. The river is long. The area of its basin is . The Turukhan freezes up in October and stays under the ice until late May ...

(left) *

Kureyka The Kureyka (russian: Курейка; also ''Lyuma'', ''Numa'') is a major right tributary of the Yenisey in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The Kureyka basin is very sparsely populated. The village of Kureyka used to have a museum dedicated to Joseph S ...

(right) *

Khantayka The Khantayka (russian: Хантайка) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is a right tributary of the Yenisey. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . The source of the Khantayka is Lake Maloye Khantayskoye in the Putorana Massif. ...

(right) *

Bolshaya Kheta The Bolshaya Kheta (russian: Большая Хета, "Great Kheta") is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is a left tributary of the Yenisey.Tanama (left)

Lake Baikal

A significant feature of the Upper Yenisei is Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world.

Brekhovskie Islands

The Brekhovskie Islands (Russian-language article: '' Бреховские острова'') lie in the Yenisey estuary and have an area of some 1,400,000 hectares. They provide a wetland habitat for rare and endangered birds and are an internationally important nesting and breeding area for several types of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

. The most north-easterly of the islands, Nosonovskij Ostrov ("Nose Island") was visited by Fridtjof Nansen in 1913.

Flora and fauna

The Yenisey basin (excluding Lake Baikal and lakes of the

headwaters) is home to 55 native fish species, including two

endemics Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

: '' Gobio sibiricus'' (a gobionine

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ver ...

) and ' (a grayling).Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (2008).
Yenisei.
'' Retrieved 16 July 2014. The grayling is restricted to Khövsgöl Nuur and its tributaries. Most fish found in the Yenisey basin are relatively widespread Euro-

n or Siberian species, such as

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a p ...

(''Esox lucius''), common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''), Siberian sculpin (''Cottus poecilopus''),

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man’s rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply th ...

(''Perca fluviatilis'') and

Prussian carp The Prussian carp, silver Prussian carp or Gibel carp (''Carassius gibelio''), is a member of the family Cyprinidae, which includes many other fish, such as the common carp, goldfish, and the smaller minnows. It is a medium-sized cyprinid, and d ...

(''Carassius gibelio''). The basin is also home to many

salmonids Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whit ...

(trout, whitefish, charr, graylings,

taimen Siberian taimen (''Hucho taimen''), also known as the common taimen (russian: Обыкнове́нный тайме́нь, Obyknovénnyĭ taĭménʹ), Siberian giant trout or Siberian salmon, is a species of salmon-like ray-finned fish from the ...

and relatives) and the

Siberian sturgeon The Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the ...

(''Acipenser baerii''). The Yenisey valley is habitat for numerous flora and fauna, with

Siberian pine ''Pinus sibirica'', or Siberian pine, in the family Pinaceae is a species of pine tree that occurs in Siberia from 58°E in the Ural Mountains east to 126°E in the Stanovoy Range in southern Sakha Republic, and from Igarka at 68°N in the lower ...

and

Siberian larch ''Larix sibirica'', the Siberian larch or Russian larch, is a frost-hardy tree native to western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch ''L. gmelinii' ...

being notable tree species. In prehistoric times

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

, ''Pinus sylvestris'', was abundant in the Yenisey valley circa 6000 BC. There are also numerous bird species present in the watershed, including, for example, the

hooded crow The hooded crow (''Corvus cornix''), also called the scald-crow or hoodie, is a Eurasian bird species in the genus ''Corvus''. Widely distributed, it is found across Northern, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as parts of the Middle Eas ...

, ''Corvus cornix''.

Taimyr reindeer herd

The Taimyr herd of tundra

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

(''Rangifer tarandus'' ''sibiricus''), the largest reindeer herd in the world, migrates to winter grazing ranges along the Yenisey. It had an estimated 800,000-850,000 individuals as of 2010, but has peaked at over one million.

Navigation

Inclined plane at Krasnoyarsk, on the Yenisie River

River steamers first came to the Yenesei River in 1864 and were brought in from Holland and England across the icy Kara Sea. One was the SS Nikolai. The SS Thames attempted to explore the river, overwintered in 1876, but was damaged in the ice and eventually wrecked in the river. Success came with the steamers Frazer, Express in 1878, and the next year, Moscow hauling supplies in and wheat out. The Dalman reached Yeniseisk in 1881. Imperial Russia placed river steamers on the massive river in an attempt to free up communication with land-locked Siberia. One boat was the SS St. Nicholas which took the future

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

on his voyage to Siberia, and later conveyed Vladimir Lenin to prison. Engineers attempted to place river steamers in regular service on the river during the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The boats were needed to bring in the rails, engines and supplies. Captain Joseph Wiggins sailed the Orestes with rail in 1893. However, the sea and river route proved very difficult with several ships lost at sea and on the river. Both the Ob and Yenisey mouths feed into very long inlets, several hundred kilometres in length, which are shallow, ice bound and prone to high winds and thus treacherous for navigation. After the completion of the railway, river traffic reduced only to local service as the Arctic route and long river proved much too indirect a route. The first recreation team to navigate the Yenisey's entire length, including its violent upper

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

in Mongolia, was an Australian-Canadian effort completed in September 2001.

Ben Kozel Ben Kozel (born 1973) is an adventurer, author, film maker and teacher, born in South Australia. With friends Colin Angus and Scott Borthwick of South Africa, Kozel journeyed the length of the Amazon River in 1999–2000. In 2001, Kozel, Co ...

, Tim Cope, Colin Angus and Remy Quinter were on this team. Both Kozel and Angus wrote books detailing this expedition, and a documentary was produced for National Geographic Television. A

canal inclined plane An inclined plane is a type of cable railway used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. History Inclined planes have evolved over the ...

was built on the river in 1985 at the

Krasnoyarsk Dam The Krasnoyarsk Dam is a high concrete gravity dam located on the Yenisey River about upstream from Krasnoyarsk in Divnogorsk, Russia. It was constructed from 1956 to 1972, and it supplies about 6,000 MW of electricity, mostly used to supply th ...

History

Nomadic tribes such as the

Ket people Kets (russian: Кеты; Ket: Ostygan) are a tribe of Yeniseian speaking people in Siberia. During the Russian Empire, they were known as Ostyaks, without differentiating them from several other Siberian people. Later, they became known as ''Ye ...

and the

Yugh people Yugh people (pronounced ; often written Yug) are a critically endangered Yeniseian people, an indigenous group who originally lived throughout central Siberia. The Yugh people live along the Yenisei River from Yeniseisk to the mouth of the Dupch ...

have lived along the banks of the Yenisey since ancient times, and this region is the location of the Yeniseian language family. The Ket, numbering about 1000, are the only survivors today of those who originally lived throughout central southern Siberia near the river banks. Their extinct relatives included the Kotts, Assans, Arins, Baikots and Pumpokols who lived further upriver to the south. The modern Ket lived in the eastern middle areas of the river before being assimilated politically into Russia during the 17th through 19th centuries. Some of the earliest known evidence of Turkic origins was found in the Yenisey Valley in the form of

stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

, stone

monoliths A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

and memorial tablets dating from between the seventh and ninth centuries AD, along with some documents that were found in China's Xinjiang region. The written evidence gathered from these sources tells of battles fought between the Turks and the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and other legends. There are also examples of Uyghur poetry, though most have survived only in Chinese translation. Wheat from the Yenisey was sold by Muslims and Uighurs during inadequate harvests to Bukhara and Soghd during the

Tahirid The Tahirid dynasty ( fa, طاهریان, Tâheriyân, ) was a culturally Arabized Sunni Muslim dynasty of Persian dehqan origin, that ruled as governors of Khorasan from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in ...

era. Russians first reached the upper Yenisey in 1605, travelling from the Ob, up the Ket, portaging and then down the Yenisey as far as the Sym. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the Japanese Empire agreed to divide Asia along a line that followed the Yenisey to the border of China and then along the border of China and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Pollution

Studies have shown that the Yenisey suffers from contamination caused by radioactive discharges from a factory that produced bomb-grade

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

in the secret city of Krasnoyarsk-26, now known as Zheleznogorsk.

Gallery

Image:Most 777, the bridge over the Yenisei in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, view from the left bank.jpg , The bridge over the Yenisey in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, viewed from the left bank. Image:Vantovyjj most, the bridge in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, view from the left bank.jpg, Vinogradovsky Most, the bridge in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, viewed from the left bank File:Yenisei Ob Kara Sea.jpg, The Yenisey (left) and the Ob flow into Kara Sea (south at top in this view).

References

External links

Photos of river around Krasnoyarsk area at Boston.com

William Barr, "German paddle-steamers on the Yenisey 1878-84", ''The Journal of the Hakluyt Society'', August 2014.
* {{Authority control Rivers of Krasnoyarsk Krai Rivers of Khakassia Rivers of Tuva Rivers of Kyzyl Physiographic provinces Braided rivers in Russia West Siberian Plain

Geography

Tributaries

Lake Baikal

Brekhovskie Islands

Flora and fauna

Taimyr reindeer herd

Navigation

History

Pollution

Gallery

See also

References

External links