Oka is a river flowing in Russia and having a length of 1498.6 kilometers and a basin area of 245 thousand square kilometers. The Oka waters flow through the Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
Where did the name of the river come from?
There are a number of opinions and hypotheses on this score. The most probable of them is the Finno-Ugric origin of the name Oka. The river could be called precisely by this ethnonym the tribes of Meshchera, Murom, Mordovians or others.
The historian M. Vasmer believes that the name of the river owes its origin to the German language, since in the ancient language of the German peoples the word "aha" was translated as "water". And in Westphalia (the territory of modern Switzerland) there is a river called Aa.
Another scientist - O. N. Trubachev - believes that the name of the river has a Baltic origin, since this hypothesis best explains the stress on the last syllable in the name. As a confirmation of this opinion, the historian cites evidence that even before the Slavic tribes, the Balts lived on the banks of the river, or, as they were then called, the Goliad tribes.
Which of these hypotheses is the true story remains to be understood, but where does the Eye originate from?
The source and further course of the river
Oka's "homeland" is the Oryol region, or rather a spring in the village of Aleksandrovka, Glazunovsky district of the region. The stream also flows along the Central Russian Upland, after which it forms a deeply incised and very narrow river valley with a strong slope.
Thus, a small river actually flows as far as the city of Orel, where it merges with another river - Orlik, and their mixed waters rush towards the Tula region.
In the next region, the Oka merges with the Ula and flows towards Kaluga, where, in turn, it joins the Ugra, makes a very sharp turn to the east and flows through the cities of Aleksin and Tarusa. After that, Oka again turns to the north, and in the suburb of Protvino again turns to the east.
Already in the Moscow region, where the Oka enters through the Tula, near the town of Kolomna, the Oka merges with the Moskva River and heads south. In the Ryazan region, flowing in very hilly areas, the river connects with the local Pronya and again turns to the north, where it merges with Moksha near Kasimov.
Later, with very noticeable bends, the Oka flows through the Ermishinsky district of the Ryazan region between the Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod regions, next to Murom, Pavlovo and Dzerzhinsky. At the end of its long journey of almost one and a half thousand kilometers, the Oka forms an armhole of 2.5 kilometers and flows into the largest and longest Russian river, the Volga, on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region.
