Report about the Kama River. The Kama River is the main tributary of the Volga

Where does the Kama originate? And also the Volga itself. We in Udmurtia know that in fact it is the Volga that flows into the Kama, and not vice versa) Because the Kama manages to run a greater distance before merging with the Volga, and the river would be called the Kama in all respects. For the same reason, Permians believe that it is not the Vishera that flows into the Kama, but the Kama into the Vishera :)

But historically, the Volga, which was fuller at its confluence, was considered to be longer. And the beginning of the great Russian river is in the Kezsky region of Udmurtia. Here is the source of the Kama on the map near Kuliga.

Half an hour from Kez by car and you are there.

You can get to Kez by railway. From Perm, Izhevsk and Kirov, either electric trains or passenger trains travel to Balezino. And from Balezino you already take the train to Kez.

Kuliga is the center of Old Believer culture; it is very ancient, almost 180 years old. Every year on Peter's Day, July 12, a festival of Old Believer culture is held here. The village picturesquely stretches for 5 kilometers. In general, Russian villages were often built with 1-2 long streets.

Previously, the village of Karpushata was a separate settlement, but now it has been connected to Kuliga and has become part of it. It’s just beyond Karpushaty that the Kama begins.

Without exaggeration, at the place of origin great river There is a park with benches and gazebos. And at the very source there is a stele “Source of the Kama”. And on a large stone the inscription reads: “The Ural River Kama originates here.”

Among the birch trees, a spring breaks out of the ground and flows into a small lake. Here it is called “lyva”. The water in the spring is very tasty.

The banks of the stream and the clearing were chosen by yellow marigold.

The stream rushes on its way with a cheerful murmur. He will have to run almost 2000 km to the confluence with the Volga, a significant part of the route through the territory of Udmurtia. First, a lively, talkative stream, and then return again, but this time as a full-flowing, leisurely navigable river.

True, only a paper boat can sail here for now, but you can stand on two banks of the great river at once. And a humpbacked, intricate bridge spanning from one bank of the stream to the other, very small - a few steps long.

Here it is - lyva.

There are many legends about how Kama was born. For example, there is a legend about Kama the hero, who dragged along the ground big Stone, and in this place the river bed was formed.

The Kama is one of the ten largest watercourses in Europe. The word “kam” itself can be translated from the Udmurt language as “big river”. The Kama collects its waters from a huge area (520 thousand square kilometers). This territory is comparable in size to such European countries like France or Spain.

Many people are interested in the question of where is the source of the river? Kama, according to geographical studies, begins in Udmurtia and flows into the Kuibyshev reservoir of the Volga.

general characteristics

One of the largest rivers in Europe originates and flows within Russia. The total length of the Kama is 1805 km, and the area of ​​its basin is about 520,000 square meters. km. The river flows through five modern regions of the Russian Federation: Udmurtia, Kirov region, Perm region, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Several large and famous cities of the country have grown on the banks of the Kama: Solikamsk, Perm, Naberezhnye Chelny and others.

Like any other lowland river in Europe, the Kama is fed mainly by rain and melted snow waters. Its bed freezes around mid-November and opens in early April. Average consumption water in the mouth area is over 4000 cubic meters. At the Kama, hydrologists counted about 75 thousand tributaries of varying lengths.

The name of the river most likely comes from the Udmurt word “kam” (“big river”). From him, according to one theory, the name of the Komi people came.

source and mouth

Kama in Lately is increasingly becoming a subject of dispute between Russian and foreign geographers. Not everyone agrees to consider it. But more on that a little later. Let's consider where is the source of the river?

The Kama originates from springs in the vicinity of the village of Kuliga, Kez district Udmurt Republic. In its upper course, the river is a small stream flowing through numerous fields and meadows. At first it flows strictly north, then changes its direction to the east, and then sharply turns to the south. Gradually, the Kama gains strength and becomes a very full-flowing river.

The mouth of the Kama in the middle of the last century was flooded by the waters of the large Kuibyshev reservoir.

The source of the Kama River is located at an altitude of 330 meters above sea level, and its mouth is at an altitude of 35 meters. Thus, the watercourse decreases by almost 300 meters along its long path. At the same time, it is small and amounts to 0.11 m/km.

Kama or Volga: who is more important?

Which river in this or that river system can be considered the main one? It is quite difficult to answer this question. To determine the main river, not only the total length of watercourses is taken into account, but also a number of other parameters:

  • catchment area;
  • river water content;
  • number of tributaries;
  • age of the river valley;
  • source height, etc.

Even the color of the water in the two rivers is taken into account, as well as the angle at which they merge.

If we take into account all the above factors of hydrology, then it is the Kama that will be correctly considered main river in its river system. In other words, it is the Kama, not the Volga, that flows into the Caspian Sea near Astrakhan.

Why did geographers make such a serious mistake? Here main role The historical and cultural factor played a role. The Volga has long been perhaps the main natural symbol Russia, its shrine. For Russians, this river is as sacred as the Dnieper for Ukrainians or the Ganges for Hindus. Besides economic importance The Volga is much more significant than the level of development of the Kama.

By the way, this is far from the only case in the world when the wrong watercourse is called the main one. Another similar example- American and Mississippi.

The source of the Kama River as a tourist site

In the Kez region, far from civilization, there is a small village of Kuliga. The settlement is famous for the fact that it is home to a large community of Russian Old Believers. Another attraction of the village is natural. It is in the vicinity of Kuliga that the source of the Kama River is located.

“There, from a tiny spring - the Kama - a river grew!” - this is how the Perm poet Boris Shirshov described this place. Kama really starts from a spring. A powerful stream of cool and tasty water bursts out of the iron pipe, and a small stream with a cheerful murmur rushes on its long path.

The source of the Kama River is refined and well-groomed. Nearby there is a cozy square and a small stone stele with the appropriate inscription: “Here the Ural River Kama originates.” Nearby there is a tiny bridge across the riverbed. Visiting tourists love to take pictures in this place, standing with their feet on two different banks of the great Russian river.

Conclusion

The Kama is considered the largest tributary of the Volga. However, not all geographers agree with this formulation. Some are sure that it is not the Kama that flows into the Volga, but quite the opposite.

Where is the source of the river? The Kama is born in Udmurtia, near the village of Kuliga, flows through the territory of five regions of Russia and flows into the Kuibyshev reservoir of the Volga, located near Kazan.

    The Kama River flows into the Volga and is its left tributary. There are 73,718 rivers in the Kama basin. The total length of the river is 1,805 kilometers, the basin area is 507 thousand square kilometers, the water flow in the Chistopol area is 4,100 cubic meters per second.

    Good afternoon. The Kama River is enough big river, she goes through European part our Russia. And it flows into another large river in Russia, the Volga. It is the largest tributary of the Volga.

    The Kama River is the left and largest tributary of the Volga River. The length of the river is 1805 kilometers, the basin area is 507,000 square kilometers.

    The Kama River is located in the European part of Russia. The Kama River originates from four springs in the central part of the Verkhnekamsk Upland. The Kama River is a left tributary of the Volga. The river will flow below the mouth of the Vyatka River into the Kama Bay of the Kuibyshev Reservoir. The length of the river is 1805 meters.

    Many residents Perm region indeed they consider their native river Kama to be unfairly deprived. after all, it is longer than the Volga to the confluence of two rivers and has more deep waters and tributaries, and, as hydrographers say, the Kama was formed earlier than the Volga, that is, it is more ancient river. But it so happened historically that the Volga flowed through the lands from where the history of Rus' as a state originated, and therefore the Volga received the laurels of primacy in the dispute between two large rivers. So now the Kama flows into the Volga. The length of the Kama, according to various sources, is from 1800 to 2000 kilometers, and the mouth from the source in a straight line is located only 450 kilometers, since in the upper reaches the Kama bends bizarrely.

    Kama River main tributary Volga, and one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia. The Kama originates in the village of Kuliga, Udmurt Republic, from four streams. Below the mouth of the Vyatka River, the Kama flows into the Volga, or more precisely into the Kama Bay, Kuibyshev Reservoir. 73,718 rivers flow into the Kama, most (94.5%) of them are small rivers up to 10 km long. All the right tributaries (Kosa, Urolka, Kondas, Inva, Lysva, Obva) and some of the left ones (Veslyana, Lunya, Leman, South Keltma) are lowland rivers. Mountain rivers flow from the Ural Mountains and flow into the Kama on the left side. These are Vishera, Yayva, Kosva, Chusovaya, the main species of fish in the river are carp, asp, crucian carp, sturgeon, bream, sterlet, pike perch, perch, ruffe, burbot, catfish, pike and others.

    I am also close to the opinion that the Kama River, from the moment of its confluence with the Volga, carries its waters into the Caspian Sea, from a scientific point of view - most hydrological signs indicate that the Kama, and not the Volga, is the main water artery - its source is higher Volga, and the presence of tributaries (the Kama has 7.2 thousand more) and the fullness of water, not fragmented by dams, is higher. However, there is another third opinion on this matter, but this topic is so vast and is still at the hypothesis stage, so I will focus on the generally accepted answer to this question: the Kama flows into the Volga and both of them carry their waters to the Caspian Sea.

    This question is very controversial and debatable, and therefore it becomes simply rhetorical, and not completely resolvable, since scientific geographers argue and argue which river flows into another, the Kama into the Volga or the Volga into the Kama.

    Let's pay tribute to the more famous and great Russian river Volga and say that the Kama still flows into it.

    The Kama is a beautiful and wonderfully flowing river with a length of as much as 1805 kilometers with a basin whose area is 507,000 square kilometers, it is considered and in fact is a left tributary of the world famous river The Volga, with which it flows into the Caspian Sea.

    The Kama begins its channel from the Verkhokamenskaya Upland. The channel takes on its typical width after the confluence of the Vishera River. Next comes the Kama Reservoir, and the river flows into the Kuibyshev Reservoir.

    Disputes about where the Kama River flows, they are still going.

    The fact is that the usual statement that the Kama flows into the Volga, from a geographical point of view, is quite controversial. At the confluence of the Kama and Volga, both rivers are equally deep. And from the source to the confluence, the Kama is longer than the Volga, so it turns out that it is the Volga that flows into the Kama, and not vice versa.

    However, tradition still claims that this The Kama flows into the Volga and then two mighty sisters together carry their waters into the Caspian Sea.

    The Kama is one of the large rivers that flows in Russia, or more precisely, in its European part.

    The length of this river is approximately 1800 kilometers, and the area of ​​its basin will be about five hundred thousand square kilometers.

    The tributaries of the Kama are rivers such as Mulyanka and Vyatka.

    The Kama itself is the largest tributary of the Volga River. Consequently, it flows into the Volga.

    However, to be more precise, the mouth of the Kama River is the Kuibyshev Reservoir, where it turns out and flows.

    The Kama River flows into the Volga and is the largest left tributary.


The Kama River is the largest tributary of the Volga. It flows through the European part of the Russian Federation and originates from the Verkhnekamsk Upland near the village of Karpushata. It is characterized by a winding channel, which widens significantly after flowing into the Kama Vishera. In this area there is a large number of islands and shoals. The river flows into the Kama Bay. Its total length is 1805 km. The river is fed mainly groundwater.

Kama River on the map


Among the largest settlements, which are located on the banks of the Kama, we can highlight Solikamsk, Krasnokamsk, Perm, Sarapul, Nizhnekamsk, Naberezhnye Chelny. More than 70 thousand tributaries flow into the Kama, the most significant of which are the South Keltma, Chusovaya, Vishera, Pilva, Lupya, Polrysh and others.

Fishing and relaxation on the Kama River


The upper reaches of the Kama River are inhabited by grayling and taimen. In addition to them, the waters of the river contain sterlet, sturgeon, carp, pike perch, burbot, and catfish. Fishermen are not left without a catch; perch, ruff, and ide work well on the fishing rod. Asp, bleak, chub, pike, crucian carp, and silver bream are caught. In addition, the Kama has commercial significance: its waters are home to many fish, such as bream, sturgeon, pike perch, sterlet, carp, perch and many others.

Several reservoirs have been created on the Kama River and hydroelectric power stations operate. The largest is the Kama Hydroelectric Power Station, near which the Kama Reservoir is located. The Kama is navigable: it has many ports and marinas. Also waterways she connects with others large rivers such as the Ob, Volga, Neva, Don and others. Numerous cruise and passenger flights pass along the river. Major sailing competitions - the Kama Cup - are also held here.

The nature of the Kama basin and the Kama River is very diverse. In the upper reaches, the mountain slopes of the Ural Range approach its banks. Then the Kama flows through the plateau and low-lying plains.

In the upper reaches the river is surrounded by Siberian taiga And coniferous forests, in the lower reaches - oak groves and mixed forests. Deciduous forests are dominated by birch, maple, ash, linden, and aspen. Hazel, bird cherry, buckthorn, honeysuckle, and euonymus grow as undergrowth.

The fauna is represented by more than 40 various types. The forests are inhabited by martens, squirrels, and weasels. There are moose, wild boars, roe deer, wolves, and hares. The lynx lives in remote, remote corners. Chipmunks and nutcrackers are found in taiga forests.

There are many forest birds: woodpecker, cuckoo, tit, bullfinches, corncrake. Inhabited by jay owl, hoopoe, sea eagle, harrier. From rare species, listed in the Red Book, there are golden eagles, saker falcons, ospreys, peregrine falcons, and black storks.

Seagulls, mallard ducks, mute swan, and woodcock nest near the water. In spring, cranes are found in floodplain meadows, wild geese. IN winter time In open spaces you can see a polar owl.

Aquatic vegetation is dominated by yellow capsule, water lily, cattail, and reed. Aquatic vegetation is developed on the surface of the water, in the backwaters and bays of the river. Underwater vegetation is also well developed. Photo materials used from Wikimedia © Foto, Wikimedia Commons

"The origin of the name of the Kama River"


Introduction

Memory has a wonderful property. By carefully collecting grains of the past, she helps us get to know ourselves better and understand the origins national character, experience the richness of the centuries-old culture of the people, find out how it was formed. It is memory that helps us preserve priceless folk traditions, encrypted in everyday habits, various rituals, holidays, games, in language - in the entire spiritual culture of the region. Academician D.S. Likhachev quite rightly asserted: “Memory is overcoming time, overcoming death. In that greatest significance memory... “Unmemorable” is, first of all, a person who is ungrateful, irresponsible, and therefore, to some extent incapable of good, selfless deeds.” The roads of knowledge often lead to historical distances - without knowledge of the past it is impossible to pave the way to the future.

“Discovering” a word means not only penetrating its meaning, but also at the same time comprehending the world of its ancient brother. “Kama” is a non-Russian word. But whose? What is the meaning behind it? Here's what the researchers write. The name of the word “Kama” in its origin comes from the tribes that lived in ancient times in the Kama region. The Komi-Zyrians call the Kama “Kama-Yas” - “bright river”, the Udmurts - “Bujim-Kama” - “long, big river”, the Chuvash - “Zhord-Adyl”, the Cheremis - “Chelman-Vis”, the Tatars - “ Cholman-idel” and so on.

From the materials of the abstract you can find out the meaning of the word “Kama” translated from different languages.

1. Geographical information about Kama

Kama is a river in the European part of Russia, the left and most major influx Volga River.

It ranks 6th in terms of length in Europe. Its length is 1805 km, the basin area is 507 thousand km². Originates in the central part of the Verkhnekamsk Upland from four springs at former village Karpushata, now part of the village of Kuliga, Kezsky district of the Udmurt Republic. Through the territory of the Perm region it flows in an easterly direction, and then turns south. More than half of its path the Kama flows through our region. It flows mainly between the heights of the High Trans-Volga region along a wide, sometimes narrowing valley. In the upper reaches (from the source to the mouth of the Pilva River) the channel is unstable and winding, on the floodplain of an oxbow lake. After the confluence of the river, the Vishera becomes a high-water river; the banks change: the right one remains low and is predominantly meadow in nature, the left one almost everywhere becomes elevated and in places steep. There are many islands in this area, and there are shoals and rifts. Below the confluence of the Belaya River at the Kama, the right bank becomes high and the left bank low.

In the lower reaches of the Kama flows in a wide (up to 15 km) valley, the width of the channel is 450–1200 m; breaks into sleeves. Below the mouth of the Vyatka River, the river flows into the Kama Bay of the Kuibyshev Reservoir (the backwater from which sometimes reaches the mouth of the Belaya River).

There are 73,718 rivers in the Kama River basin, of which 94.5% are small rivers less than 10 km long. The main tributaries on the left are South Keltma, Vishera with Kolva, Chusovaya with Sylva, Belaya with Ufa, Ik, Zai; on the right - Kosa, Obva, Vyatka. All the right tributaries of the Kama (Kosa, Urolka, Kondas, Inva, Obva) and some of the left ones (Veslyana, Lunya, Leman, South Keltma) are lowland rivers flowing from the north. Mountainous, cold and swift rivers originate in Ural mountains and flow into the Kama River from the left (Vishera, Yayva, Kosva, Chusovaya and a number of their tributaries).

3 reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations have been created on the river: from the mouth of the Urolka River (996 km from the mouth of the Kama) the Kama Reservoir (Kama Hydroelectric Power Station) begins, immediately below it is the Votkinsk Reservoir (Votkinsk Hydroelectric Power Station), followed by the Nizhnekamsk Reservoir (Nizhnekamsk Hydroelectric Power Station).

Food is predominantly snow, as well as underground and rain; behind spring flood(March - June) more than 62.6% of the annual flow passes, in summer and autumn - 28.3%, in winter - 9.1%. The range of level fluctuations is up to 8 m in the upper reaches and 7 m in the lower reaches. The average consumption at the Kamskaya hydroelectric station is 1630 cubic meters. m/sec, at the Votkinsk hydroelectric station about 1750 cubic meters. m/sec, at the mouth about 3500 cubic meters. m/sec, the largest is about 27,500 cubic meters. m/sec. Freezing is accompanied by abundant formation of inland ice and ice drift for 10 to 20 days. Freeze-up occurs from early November in the upper reaches and late November in the lower reaches until April. Spring ice drift from 2–3 to 10–15 days. The creation of reservoirs improved navigation conditions. The Kama is navigable to the village of Kerchevsky (966 km) - the largest raft roadstead, and in high water - another 600 km. Navigable depths on the lower Kama are maintained by dredging.

Main ports and marinas: Solikamsk, Berezniki, Levshino, Perm, Krasnokamsk, Tchaikovsky, Sarapul, Kambarka, Naberezhnye Chelny, Chistopol. From Perm there are regular passenger flights to Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan and Ufa. The picturesque banks of the Kama attract a large number of tourists.

The river is inhabited by sterlet, sturgeon, bream, carp, crucian carp, asp, silver bream, ide, chub, bleak, pike perch, perch, ruff, pike, burbot, catfish, etc. In the upper reaches (and in places in tributaries) taimen and grayling are found. Aquatic vegetation is well developed, especially in numerous bays and backwaters.

Kama river origin tributary

2. Origin of the word “Kama”

Many languages ​​of the world have the word “Kama”. For each nation it has its own meaning. It is known for certain that “Kama” is a non-Russian word. Let's try to analyze different points views on the origin of this word and its connection with the name of a large European river.

The origin of the name Kama is lost in the same unimaginable depths of human history, when peoples and their languages ​​were united. Kama – in a number of Finno-Ugric languages ​​means “river”. With the same meaning, but in a slightly different vocalization - kem, a whole series of hydronyms and toponyms are known on the territory of Eurasia. For example, there is a river called Kem in Karelia and Eastern Siberia. The Kema River flows into the protected Beloozero in the Vologda region. But with exactly the same “river” meaning, this root base is used by the Chinese and Mongols. Tuvans and Khakassians also call the Yenisei - Kem. In Altai Ak-Kem (“ White water") is a tributary of the Katun, and in the vicinity of the sacred Belukha Mountain there is a whole complex with the same name: two lakes, a melting glacier, a pass...

Similar hydronyms are found in Central Asia and Europe. At the same time, linguists claim that the root “kem” is of Indo-European origin. In this case, the name of the Ural Kama not only accidentally coincides with the name of the ancient Indian god of love Kama (after whom the treatise “Kama Sutra” is named), but also certainly has a common source of origin. One cannot help but remember Kamchatka...

Moving mentally in the footsteps of the ancient Indo-Europeans to Europe, we find similar place names here too: Cambridge (“City on the River”, and this river is called Cam) - in England; Quimper (from the Old Breton name meaning "Confluence of Rivers") - in France; Kemeri is an ancient settlement (and now a famous resort) on the site of a healing spring in Latvia. It is no coincidence, apparently, that one of the self-names of the ancient Egyptians - Kemi - is associated with the flood of the Nile. But that's not all. It is known that in ancient times a shaman in Rus' was called kam. The word was borrowed from the Polovtsians, who professed shamanism. Hence the word kamlanie, which has survived to this day - a ritual action of a shaman. Perhaps the ancient Aryan god of love Kama was once a shaman?

Humanity has compiled myths, fairy tales, and legends about the origin of the names of many geographical objects. The legend of the Komi-Permyak people is interesting.

About the origin of the main water artery Perm region - the Kama River legend says that once it rained all summer, and there was not a single sunny day. The rivers all overflowed, their banks collapsed, and the earth became liquid. People, animals and beasts were saved on high mountains. Only Kama the hero (mythological hero of the Komi-Permyak) people could move through the area flooded with water. He walked around all the surroundings and discovered that the flow of the rivers was blocked by a mountain that had collapsed from erosion. The hero lassoed a huge stone and dragged it through the dam, plowing the ground like a plow. A new channel was formed, water poured into it and a new river appeared - the mighty Kama, named after the hero.

The word “Kama” is also found in the ancient Indian language and means “love”. In ancient times there were huge connections Prikamye with Iran and India. Perhaps the word “Kama” was brought from there.

Kama, the most significant river in the Urals, a left tributary of the Volga. It was first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1220. There are many explanations, and among them, for example, Kama is from the Old Russian “kama” - “stone”.

From the Zyryan-Permyak language it is translated as “fell strongly,” that is, “water that has a strong fall” (originally Kamva). But the Kama River is flat. Therefore, this assumption can be considered absurd.

It is no better to assume that Kama from the Udmurt “kam” means “long”, “long”, if only because in Udmurt “long”, “long” is not “kam”, but “kema”.

In the middle of the 19th century, the opinion was expressed that Kama was of the same origin as “Kommu” - “Komi Country”. This version was later repeated by many, but Professor V.I. Lytkin proved that the word “Komi” is related to the Mansi “hum”, “kum”, that is, “man” and has nothing in common with the hydronym Kama.

There are several other possible ways to explain this word. The Kama, like the Volga, is called by the Turkic peoples Idel - “river”, and since the names big rivers often simply mean “River”; perhaps this is the meaning hidden in the toponym Kama. Then the name Kama is very ancient and is associated with some unknown language. The name of the Kama River also has the following interpretations: “Kama” is derived from the Udmurt word “kam”, which means “water”. According to another version, the name Kama is based on the Ob-Ugric (Khanty) “kam” - “transparent”, “pure”, that is, Kama - “Pure”.

The reasoning of Academician N. Marr is close in meaning. He suggested that the river was called ancient tribe who inhabited its shores. And translated into Russian, Kama means “white, bright, long and big river.”

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