A significant amount of Russia's water resources is represented by the Yenisei - the greatest of the country's rivers. Almost 600 cubic km of annual volumes of water it carries into the expanses of the Kara Sea. This is more than all the waters carried into the seas by all the rivers of European Russia, and three times the flow of the Volga.
About where this great river originates, and how many tributaries the Yenisei has, what its location is, and many interesting things can be found in this article.
Geographic location
The Yenisei, whose tributaries are the famous rivers of Russia, extends mainly through the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
The river flows from south to north almost strictly along the meridian, so it divides the territory of Russia approximately in half. And its pool is represented by three completely different parts. In the upper part, the river is surrounded on all sides by mountains, while the middle and lower parts serve as the border between Western Siberia (lowland) and the Central Siberian Plateau.
An interesting fact related to the Yenisei is that at the confluence of the sources of this mighty river (Big and Small Yenisei) is the city of Kyzyl, located exactly in the center of the Asian part of Eurasia. It is here that you can see the obelisk withinteresting inscription: "Center of Asia".
And there is also a place where the Yenisei is divided into numerous branches. It is called "Forty Yeniseev".
What is the largest tributary of the Yenisei? How many are there? This will be discussed below.
The Yenisei River: description, origins
The river originates from two sources: Ka-Khem and Biy-Khem (respectively, the Small and Big Yenisei), then flows into the Yenisei Bay near the Kara Sea. The Bii-Khem River (from which the length of the Yenisei is usually calculated) originates at the very foot of the Topographers peak on the slope of the Eastern Sayan.
The official source of the Yenisei is Lake (alpine) Kara-Balyk, located in the Eastern Sayans. This is where the river originates from. Biy-Khem.
The length of the river from the source of the Small Yenisei is 4287 km, from the source of the Big Yenisei - 4092 km, the basin has an area of 2580 thousand km2. According to this indicator, the Yenisei is in 2nd place among Russian rivers (the Ob in the first place) and 7th in the world. The hydrographic network of the river includes more than 198 thousand rivers, the total length of which is more than 884 thousand kilometers, and more than 126 thousand lakes with a total area of about 52 thousand km2.
The huge depth of the Yenisei makes it possible for sea vessels to rise along it for almost a distance of 1000 kilometers. The maximum depth in it reaches 70 meters. Width at the mouth (region of the Brekhov Islands archipelago) - 75 kilometers. In these places, even the shores are not visible from the board of a ship sailing along the Yenisei.
The high-water Yenisei: tributaries, food
The Yenisei belongs to the type of mixed-fed rivers, with a predominance of snow-fed, the share of which is about 50%, from rain - about 38%, and from underground food - about 12% (mostly in the upper reaches).
These places are characterized by extended spring floods and floods (summer). On the upper Yenisei, the flood begins in May or even in April, on the middle one - a little earlier, and on the lower one only from mid-May - early June (Dudinka).
The tributaries of the Yenisei are also numerous. The list is below:
1. Right: Us, Tuba, Kebezh, Sisim, Syda, Mana, Angara, Kan, Kureika, Big Pit, Bakhta, Stony Tunguska, Lower Tunguska, Dudinka, Khantayka.
2. Left: Abakan, Khemchik, Kem, Kantegir, Sym, Kas, Elogui, Turukhan, Dubches, Lesser Heta, Tanama, Greater Heta, Gryaznukha.
The Angara River is the largest right tributary of the Yenisei River, flowing from the great Baikal. Moreover, the right tributaries are leading in terms of the volume of water brought in and the area of the catchment area. However, statistics show that approximately 1 year out of 10 years the Lower Tunguska (2nd largest tributary) exceeds the Angara in terms of annual flow.
Legend of the Angara
The Yenisei is beautiful. Its tributaries are also magnificent, each in its own way. An amazing legend about one of them emphasizes the delightful and mysterious beauty of these places.
There is a wonderful legend about one of the many tributaries - the Angara River.
The gray-haired Baikal loved his daughter, the beautiful Angara, very much. And he hid her deep in his waters from other people's eyes in the rockywalls.
But when the time came to marry her off, he began to look for a worthy groom closer so as not to send her to distant lands. However, Angara did not like her father's choice - neighbor Irkut, noble and rich, and she did not marry him.
And then one day a seagull she knew told about the Yenisei, about his strength and courage, about how he broke through the Sayan Mountains and persistently strives for the Arctic Ocean. She told about what kind of eyes he had: similar to an emerald and needles of a mountain cedar under the sun.
The beautiful Angara sent her greetings to this Yenisei, and he decided to see her. Thus, he made an appointment with Angara on the way to the ocean at Strelka (village).
Angara with great joy accepted the offer from the Yenisei. And yet, her father decided to protect the beauty and assigned an evil raven sorcerer to her. It wasn't there. The brothers and sisters (rivers and streams) helped the Angara break free by washing away the rock.
And the date took place on the Strelka, where they merged forever and carried their mighty beautiful waters to the great ocean.
Origin of the name
The Yenisei River got its modern name from the Evenks, a people living in Siberia. They used to call her Ioannessi. In the 17th century, the Cossacks who came here changed the Evenk root name. Since then, on all geographic atlases and maps, it is precisely the name of the river, altered by the Cossacks, that has been indicated.
The river may well be a Russian symbol. Majestic and extensive is the Yenisei, whose tributaries play an importantrole in its formation. In size, it is second only to the famous Nile and the Amazon.
In the Yenisei River basin there are such large cities as Abakan, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Kansk, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Angarsk, Minusinsk, Igarka, Dudinka, Norilsk.
