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Concept
Kura (river)
Summary
The Kura is an east-flowing river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus while its main tributary, the Aras, drains the south side of those mountains. Starting in northeastern Turkey, it flows through Turkey to Georgia, then to Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras as a right tributary, and enters the Caspian Sea at Neftçala. The total length of the river is .
People have inhabited the Caucasus region for thousands of years and first established agriculture in the Kura Valley over 4,500 years ago. Large, complex civilizations eventually grew up on the river, but by 1200 CE, most were reduced to ruin by natural disasters and foreign invaders. The increasing human use, and eventual damage, of the watershed's forests and grasslands, contributed to a rising intensity of floods through the 20th century. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union started building many dams and canals on the river. Previously navigable up to Tbilisi in Georgia, it is now much slower and shallower, as it has been harnessed by irrigation projects and hydroelectric power stations. The river is now moderately polluted by major industrial centers like Tbilisi and Rustavi in Georgia.
The name Kura is related either to Mingrelian kur 'water, river' or to an ancient Caucasian Albanian language term for 'reservoir'. The Georgian name of Kura is Mt'k'vari (in old Georgian Mt'k'uari), either from Georgian "good water" or a Georgianized form of Megrelian tkvar-ua "gnaw" (as in, "river that eats its way through the mountains"). The name Kura was adopted first by the Russians and later by European cartographers. In some definitions of Europe, the Kura defines the borderline between Europe and Asia.
In the various regional languages, the river is known as: Kür, მტკვარი, Mt’k’vari, Persian: Korr, and Kür. In Greek and Latin sources of antiquity, the river was known as the Cyrus river; Κῦρος; Cyrus, as attested by Strabo and Pliny respectively.
Official source
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