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At 1,420 miles long, the Dnieper River is Europe’s third longest, after the Volga and the Danube. The Dnieper’s source is glaciers in the Valdai Hills of central Russia; it flows through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea.
The name is derived from an ancient Iranian phrase, Danu apara, meaning “the river far away.” It has had other names; for example, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus called it the Borysthenes, Scythian for “wide land,” and its Old Slavic name was Slavutich, “the Slavic river.” Throughout history, the river has served as an important commercial route for the Vikings, Slavs and Byzantines. According to the 13th-century Hervarar saga, Árheimar, a legendary capital of the Goths, was located along the Dnieper.
Upstream, the Dnieper is fed by the waters of the Pripyat River. Landscapes along the Dnieper River consist of gently rolling hills dotted with forest groves, ancient villages, wide lakes and reservoirs.
The Dnieper River is extremely important to the economy of Ukraine. A series of reservoirs with lock systems and hydroelectric stations have been built along its final 500 miles to facilitate transportation and generate hydroelectric power. Navigation on the Dnieper is interrupted annually during the winter freeze.