Ural (river)

<p>The Ural, also known as the Yaik /ˈjaɪk/, is a river flowing through <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a> and <a href="/facts/Kazakhstan/Vfs8NI6e">Kazakhstan</a> in the continental border between <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a> and <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asia</a>. It originates in the southern <a href="/facts/Ural_Mountains/gzNoPkt6">Ural Mountains</a> and discharges into the <a href="/facts/Caspian_Sea/Ymc08gkR">Caspian Sea</a>. At 2,428 kilometres (1,509 mi), it is the third-longest river in <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a> after the <a href="/facts/Volga/B96tkIJj">Volga</a> and the <a href="/facts/Danube/8lMeM9xg">Danube</a>, and the <a href="/facts/List_of_the_longest_Asian_rivers/IwuYuTys">18th-longest river</a> in <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asia</a>. The Ural is conventionally considered part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia.
</p><p>The Ural rises near Mount Kruglaya in the Ural Mountains, flows south parallel and west of the north-flowing <a href="/facts/Tobol/f7CLqtYU">Tobol</a>, through <a href="/facts/Magnitogorsk/NcTePgB5">Magnitogorsk</a>, and around the southern end of the Urals, through <a href="/facts/Orsk/M0A2by8L">Orsk</a> where it turns west for about 300 kilometres (190 mi), to <a href="/facts/Orenburg/hVll1thu">Orenburg</a>, where the river <a href="/facts/Sakmara_(river)/W8z6Xqbr">Sakmara</a> joins. From Orenburg it continues west, passing into Kazakhstan, then turning south again at <a href="/facts/Oral,_Kazakhstan/3UXw4QHb">Oral</a>, and meandering through a broad flat plain until it reaches the Caspian a few kilometers below <a href="/facts/Atyrau/5oyJBREV">Atyrau</a>, where it forms a fine 'digitate' (tree-like) <a href="/facts/River_deltas/fmWuaRqX">delta</a>.
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Ural (river) open-in-new

Ural (river)