Lake Beloye or White LakeArukask, Madis, & Taisto-Kalevi Raudalainen. 2014. Autobiographical and Interpretive Dynamics in the Oral Repertoire of a Vepsian Woman. In: Marion Bowman & Ülo Valk (eds.), ''Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life: Expressions of Belief'', pp. 104–139. Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing, p. 104. ( rus, Бе́лое о́зеро, p=ˈbʲɛləjə ˈozʲɪrə, vep, Vaugedjärv or ''Valgjärv'', in both languages the meaning is ''White lake''), is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the northwestern part of

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast ( rus, Вологодская область, p=vəlɐˈɡotskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Vologodskaya oblast, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The Oblast has a population of 1,202,44 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Administratively, the lake is divided between Belozersky District (south) and

Vashkinsky District Vashkinsky District (russian: Ва́шкинский район) is an administrativeLaw #371-OZ and municipalLaw #1108-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-six in Vologda Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and border ...

(north) of Vologda Oblast. The town of

Belozersk Belozersk (russian: Белозе́рск), known as Beloozero (russian: Белоозеро, label=none) until 1777, is a town and the administrative center of Belozersky District in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the southern bank of Lake Be ...

, is located on its coast. In terms of area, Lake Beloye is the second natural lake of Vologda Oblast (behind

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...

), and the third lake also behind the

Rybinsk Reservoir Rybinsk Reservoir ( rus, Ры́бинское водохрани́лище, r=Rybinskoye vodokhranilishche, p=ˈrɨbʲɪnskəɪ vədəxrɐˈnʲilʲɪɕə), informally called the Rybinsk Sea, is a water reservoir on the Volga River and its tributar ...

. It is one of the ten biggest natural lakes in Europe.

Geography

The basin of the lake includes parts of Belozersky, Vashkinsky, Babayevsky, and

Vytegorsky District Vytegorsky District (russian: Вытего́рский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #371-OZ and municipalLaw #1113-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-six in Vologda Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and bor ...

s of Vologda Oblast, as well as minor areas in

Kargopolsky District Kargopolsky District (russian: Каргопо́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Law #65-5-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Kargopolsky Municipa ...

of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Most of the basin lies north of the lake, in the Andoma Hills, and includes smaller lakes, many of them being of glacial origin. These lakes include

Lake Kovzhskoye Lake Kovzhskoye (russian: Ковжское озеро) is a freshwater lake, located in the center of Vytegorsky District of Vologda Oblast in Russia. It is one of the biggest lakes in Vologda Oblast and the second biggest one in Vytegorsky Distri ...

, Lake Kemskoye, Lake Kushtozero, Lake Sholskoye, Lake Druzhinnoye, and, south of Lake Beloye, Lake Lozskoye. The lake has an approximately round shape with a diameter of . Its area is , and the area of its basin is . The lake drains into the

Sheksna River The Sheksna (russian: Шексна́) is a river in Belozersky, Kirillovsky, Sheksninsky, and Cherepovetsky Districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga. It is long, and the area of its basin .

, which is a tributary of the

of the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchme ...

. The Sheksna flows out of the eastern corner of the lake. The main tributaries of Lake Beloye are the

Kovzha , image = , image_size = , image_caption = , source1_location =Lake Kovzhskoye , mouth_location =Lake Beloye , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 =Russia , length = , source1_elevation = ...

, the

Kema Kema or KEMA may refer to: * KEMA, an energy consultancy company * Kema (river), a river in Russia * Kema District, a district in North Sulawesi, Indonesia *Kema Chikwe, Nigerian politician * Kema Jack (born 1982), footballer from Papua New Guinea ...

, and the Megra. The lake and the

Belozersky Canal The Belozersky Bypass Canal (russian: Белозерский канал, Белозерский обводной канал) is a canal around the south-western part of Lake Beloye in Belozersky District of Vologda Oblast in north-western Russia ...

around it are a part of the

Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (Volgobalt, Волгобалт), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Balti ...

. The

was constructed to connect the Sheksna and the Kovzha Rivers in order to bypass Lake Beloye, where sometimes strong wind occur. The canal follows the southern and the western coasts of the lake.

History

According to the Primary Chronicle, Sineus, a brother of Rurik, became the prince of Beloozero in 862. If this would be correct, Belozersk would be one of the oldest towns in Russia. However, most likely Sineus never existed, and the earliest archaeological data in or around Belozersk belong to the 10th century. In the 10th-13th centuries the area was controlled by the

Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...

, then in the 13th century it was part of the

Principality of Beloozero Principality of Beloozero or Beloozero Duchy (russian: Белозерское княжество) was a Russian principality or duchy, which flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries in the Russian North. In terms of the current administra ...

, and in the 14th century it entered the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The Mariinsk Canal system was constructed in the early 19th century, and after the reconstruction in the 20th century it became the Volga–Baltic Waterway.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Beloye LBeloye