Don (river)

Don
The Don in Voronezh Oblast.
Catchment of the Don
Native name	Дон (Russian)
Location
Country	Russia
Region	Tula Oblast,  Lipetsk Oblast,  Voronezh Oblast,  Volgograd Oblast,  Rostov Oblast
Cities	Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Novomoskovsk, Tula Oblast
• coordinates	54°00′43″N 38°16′41″E / 54.01194°N 38.27806°E / 54.01194; 38.27806
• elevation	238 m (781 ft)
Mouth	Sea of Azov
• location	Kagal'nik, Rostov Oblast
• coordinates	47°05′11″N 39°14′19″E / 47.08639°N 39.23861°E / 47.08639; 39.23861
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	1,870 km (1,160 mi)
Basin size	425,600 km2 (164,300 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	935 m3/s (33,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Khopyor
• right	Seversky Donets

The Don (Russian: Дон) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.

Its basin is between the Dnieper basin to the west, the lower Volga basin immediately to the east, and the Oka basin (tributary of the Volga) to the north. Native to much of the basin were Slavic nomads.^[1]

The Don rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Tula (in turn 193 kilometres (120 mi) south of Moscow), and flows 1,870 kilometres to the Sea of Azov. The river's upper half ribbles (meanders subtly) south; however, its lower half consists of a great eastern curve, including Voronezh, making its final stretch, an estuary, run west south-west. The main city on the river is Rostov-on-Don. Its main tributary is the Seversky Donets, centred on the mid-eastern end of Ukraine, thus the other country in the overall basin. To the east of a series of three great ship locks and associated ponds is the 101-kilometre (63 mi) Volga–Don Canal.