According to theMax Vasmer'sEtymological Dictionary, the name of the river has been taken from theWestern Dvina. Thetoponym Dvina does not stem from aUralic language; however, its origin is unclear. Possibly it is anIndo-European word which used to meanriver orstream.[5]
In theKomi language, the river is called Вы́нва / Výnva fromvyn "power" andva "water, river" hence "powerful river".
The length of the Northern Dvina is 744 kilometres (462 mi). Together with its major tributary, theSukhona, it is 1,302 kilometres (809 mi) long – about as long as theRhine in central and western Europe. The area of its basin is 357,052 square kilometres (137,859 sq mi).
The Northern Dvina basin is roughly T-shaped. The 558 kilometres (347 mi)-long Sukhona River flows east and joins the basin of the west-flowingVychegda (1,130 kilometres (700 mi) long). The combined river flows northwest into theWhite Sea, which it joins near the city ofArkhangelsk.
Looking more closely, the Sukhona flows east and meets the north-flowingYug River at Veliky Ustyug. The combined stream, now called the Northern Dvina, flows north about 60 km and receives the west-flowing Vychegda atKotlas and then turns northwest to flow into the White Sea. The Sukhona-Vychegda was an important east–west transportation route while the Northern Dvina-Yug was a north–south route. The upper Sukhona is now connected by theNorthern Dvina Canal to theVolga–Baltic Waterway, which linksPetersburg to Moscow.
The Sukhona flows east, eventually north-east, joins the north-flowing Yug at Veliky Ustyug and acquires the name 'Northern Dvina'. The P157 highway connectsKostroma with Kotlas viaNikolsk and Veliky Ustyug. North of Veliky Ustyg, the highway runs on the left bank of the Northern Dvina. The river flows about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north crossing from the Vologda Oblast into the Arkhangelsk Oblast, where in the city of Kotlas it receives the west-flowing Vychegda River which rises in the northernUral Mountains.
Since, at the confluence, the length of the Vychegda is greater than that of the Northern Dvina, the river between the source and the confluence with the Vychegda is sometimes known as the Lesser Northern Dvina (Малая Северная Двина). Shortly downstream from the confluence, the Northern Dvina is crossed by the railway connectingKonosha with Kotlas andVorkuta.
The Northern Dvina turns northwest and receives a number of smaller rivers such as theUftyuga and theNizhnyaya Toyma, both from the northeast. Near the urban settlement of Bereznik, theVaga comes in from the south. At this point, theM8 highway which runs from Moscow through Vologda to Arkhangelsk, also enters the region. The Yomtsa orYemtsa joins from the southeast, with the P1 highway (fromKargopol) running parallel.
ThePinega, formerly an important river route, joins from the east. Near the mouth of the Pinega, the river splits into several channels, among which is the ancientselo of Kholmogory 75 kilometres (47 mi) southeast of Arkhangelsk. The branches rejoin and pass the modern logging town ofNovodvinsk.
Downstream from Novodvinsk, the 900 square kilometres (350 sq mi)delta begins. In the upstream part of the delta, the great port of Arkhangelsk is located. It gradually replaced Kholmogory as the chief city of the region. On the southwest side of the delta is the naval base ofSeverodvinsk, the second-largest city in the region. The delta ends in theDvina Bay of the White Sea.
In summer, the entire length of the river is navigable and is heavily used fortimber rafting. The Northern Dvina Canal connects it with the Volga–Baltic Waterway. In the 19th century, a short-livedNorthern Ekaterininsky Canal, now abandoned, connected the Northern Dvina basin with theKama basin as well. In 1926–28 acanal connecting the Pinega, one of the major tributaries of the Northern Dvina, with the Kuloy, was constructed, however, currently the canal is pretty much neglected.[6]
Heavy commercial passenger navigation has largely disappeared and only local passenger lines remain. The passenger line connecting Kotlas and Arkhangelsk has been out of operation since 2005.[7][8]
The Northern Dvina at the city ofKotlas. The picture is taken from the railway bridge; in front, there is the highway bridge
The area was populated byFinnic peoples and then colonized by theNovgorod Republic. The only exception was Veliky Ustyug, which was part ofVladimir-Suzdal Principality. The rest of the Northern Dvina basin was controlled by Novgorod. Veliky Ustyug has been first mentioned in the chronicles in 1207,Shenkursk — in 1229, Solvychegodsk was founded in the 14th century. In the 13th century the Novgorod merchants already reached the White Sea. The area was initially attractive because of fur trading. The main waterway from Novgorod into the Northern Dvina was along theVolga and its tributary, theSheksna, along the Slavyanka River into Lake Nikolskoye, then the boats were taken by land to Lake Blagoveshchenskoye, from there downstream along the Porozovitsa River intoLake Kubenskoye and further to the Sukhona and the Northern Dvina.[9]
From the Northern Dvina, there were a number of ways into the basin of theMezen (from where the merchants could get to the basin of thePechora and theOb). One was upstream the Vychegda and theYarenga, and by land into theVashka. Another one was upstream the Vychegda, theVym, the Yelva, then by land to the Irva and to the Mezen. Two further options included going upstream the Pinega and then by land to theKuloy and to the Mezen, or using thePukshenga and thePokshenga to get to the Pinega, and then from theYozhuga taking boats by land to the Zyryanskaya Yezhuga and the Vashka.[9] From the Vychegda, the merchants also could get directly to the river basin of the Pechora via either theCherya and theIzhma, or theMylva.
From the 14th century, Kholmogory was the main trading harbor on the Northern Dvina, but in the 17th century it lost this distinction to Arkhangelsk even though the seat of theKholmogory and Vaga Eparchy, from 1732 known as Kholmogory and Archangelogorod Eparchy, which had jurisdiction over all Northern Russia including theSolovetsky Monastery, was located in Kholmogory until 1762. Until the 1700s, Arkhangelsk was the main trading harbour for the sea trade of Russia and western Europe, and the Northern Dvina was the main trading route connecting the central Russia with Arkhangelsk.Peter the Great drastically changed the situation, by foundingSaint Petersburg in 1703, thus opening the way for the Baltic Sea trade, and by constructing the highway between Saint Petersburg and Arkhangelsk via Kargopol. The river quickly lost its role as the leading trading route, which was accelerated by the construction of the railway between Vologda and Arkhangelsk between 1894 and 1897.
