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The Volga river ( Russian Во́лга, Tatar Idel, Идел, Mordvin Рав, Mari Юл, German Wolga) in Western Russia, Europe's longest river, with a length of 3,690 km (2,293 miles), provides the core of the largest river system in Europe.

In ancient times it was known as Atil, Itil or Idil.

Rising in the Valdai Hills 225 m (740 ft) above sea level north-west of Moscow and about 320 kilometres south-east of Saint Petersburg, the Volga heads east past Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod and KazanFor the Japanese emperor, see Emperor Kazan of Japan . Kazan (Tatar (now, 1928 1939): Qazan; ( 1939 2000): ; ( 1918 1928): ; ( 922 1918), Arab: ; Russian: [Kazan]; Arab (hist. Bulgar al-Jadid (in Tatar transliteration:Bolgar al-Cadid) New Bolgar; German: (Qazan). From there it turns south, flows past Togliatti, SamaraThis article is not about Samarra, which is in Iraq. Samara ( Russian: ́), from 1935 to 1991 Kuybyshev (Russian: ́), is a major city situated on the Volga river in the southeastern part of European Russia, Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District, and VolgogradMamayev Kurgan, Volgograd Volgograd (́) (population: 1,012,000), formerly called Tsaritsyn (́) ( 1598 1925) and Stalingrad (́) ( 1925 1961) is a city on the west bank of Volga river in southwestern Volgograd Oblast (province), Northern C, and discharges into the Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is a landlocked sea in Asia. It is bordered by Russia ( Dagestan, Kalmykia, Astrakhan Oblast), Republic of Azerbaijan, Iran ( Guilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces), Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, with the central Asian steppes to the n below AstrakhanAstrakhan sterxan , a major city in southern European Russia, capital of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the Volga river, close to where it empties into the Caspian Sea. Astrakhan' contains a kremlin dating from the 1580s, a cathedral (early 18th centu at 28 metres below sea level.

The Volga has many tributaries, most importantly the KamaKama #x301 ( Tatar: Culman) is a river in Russia, left tributary of Volga (and the largest one in fact it is larger than Volga before junction). It starts in Udmurtia flowing east, then turns south and west in Perm Oblast, flowing through Udmurtia again a, the Oka, the Vetluga, and the Sura rivers. The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which drains an area of about 1.35 million square kilometres in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga Delta has a length of about 160 kilometres and includes as many as 500 channels and smaller rivers. The Volga freezes for most of its length during three months of each year.

Volga in Yaroslavl (autumn morning)

It drains most of Western Russia and its many large reservoirs provide important irrigation and hydroelectric power. The Moscow-Volga Canal , the Volga-Don Canal, and the Mariinsk Canal system form navigable waterways connecting Moscow to the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. High levels of chemical pollution currently give cause for environmental concern.

The fertile river valley provides a great wheat-growing region, and also has many mineral riches. A large petroleum industry centres on the Volga valley. Other minerals include natural gas, salt, and potash. The Volga Delta and the nearby Caspian Sea offer superb fishing grounds. Astrakhan, at the delta, is the centre of the caviar industry.

Volgograd (from 1925- 1961 Stalingrad) and Nizhny Novgorod (from 1932- 1990 Gorki or Gorky after the writer Maxim Gorky) are important manufacturing cities on the banks of the Volga. During Soviet rule, Nizhny Novgorod was closed to foreigners. Other important cities on the river include Saratov, Kazan (Qazan), Togliatti, and Samara (formerly Kuybyshev). Nine major hydroelectric power stations and several large artificial lakes formed by dams lie along the Volga. The largest of the lakes are, from north to south, the Rybinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, and Volgograd reservoirs.

The ancient scholar Ptolemy of Alexandria mentioned the Volga in his Geography. The river basin played an important role in the great movements of people from Asia to Europe. A powerful Bulgarian empire (see Volga Bulgaria) once flourished where the Kama river joins the Volga. Also, Volga (Atil) passed through the Khazar khaganate.

Volgograd witnessed the Battle of Stalingrad, the major victory of the Soviet Union over Germany in World War II ( 1939 - 1945). The Russian people's deep feeling for the Volga often finds echoes in their songs and literature.

The Volga region is also home to a large German minority group, the Volga Germans. Under the Soviet Union a large slice of the region was turned into the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to house the Volga Germans.