Oka

Oka (Russian: Ока́, IPA: [ɐˈka]) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds 1,500 kilometres (930 mi). The Russian capital Moscow sits on one of the Oka’s tributaries—the Moskva River.

Max Vasmer connects the name of the river to the Gothic аƕа, Old High German aha, Latin aqua, which all mean either “water” or “river” (cf. Aa River).[1] Oleg Trubachev traces the origin of the name to the Baltic languages: it was the Baltic tribe of Galindians that lived in the western part of the Oka basin prior to the arrival of the Slavs.

Historically, the river gave its name to the Upper Oka Principalities, situated upstream from Tarusa. One of the largest Russian cities, Nizhny Novgorod, was founded to protect the Oka’s confluence with the Volga. The Qasim Khanate, a Muslim polity, occupied the middle reaches of the Oka (around the city of Kasimov) in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Before the construction of the railways in the mid-19th century, and the Moscow Canal in the 1930s, the Oka, along with its tributary Moskva, was an important transportation route connecting Moscow with the Volga River. Due to the Oka’s and Moskva’s meandering course, the travel was not particularly fast: for example, it took Cornelis de Bruijn around 10 days to sail from Moscow down these two rivers to Nizhny Novgorod in 1703.[2] Traveling upstream may have been even slower, as the boats had to be pulled by burlaks.[3]
Landmarks

The banks of the river are dotted with historical and cultural sites, including the medieval monasteries of Murom, the mosques and minarets of Kasimov, the fortified kremlins of Kolomna and Serpukhov, the memorial houses of Vasily Polenov and Sergey Yesenin, the excavated ruins of Old Ryazan, and the Oka Shukhov Tower.

The Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve lies along the left bank of the river opposite the town of Pushchino and is known for its wisent breeding nursery.
Main tributaries

Ugra
Zhizdra
Upa
Protva
Nara
Moskva
Pra
Osyotr
Pronya
Para
Moksha
Tyosha
Klyazma

Cities and towns on the Oka

Oryol
Belyov
Chekalin
Kaluga
Aleksin
Tarusa
Serpukhov
Stupino
Kashira
Protvino
Pushchino
Kolomna
Ryazan
Kasimov
Murom
Pavlovo
Navashino
Gorbatov
Dzerzhinsk
Nizhny Novgorod

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