The name Dniester derives from Sarmatiandānu nazdya "the close river." The Dnieper, also of Sarmatian origin, derives from the opposite meaning, "the river on the far side". Alternatively, according to Vasily AbaevDniester would be a blend of Scythiandānu "river" and ThracianIster, the previous name of the river, literally Dān-Ister. The Ancient Greek name of Dniester, Tyras, is from Scythian tūra, meaning "rapid." The names of the Don and Danube are also from the same Indo-Iranian word *dānu "river". Classical authors have also referred to it as Danaster. These early forms, without -i- but with -a-, contradict Abaev's hypothesis. Edward Gibbon refers to the river both as the Niester and Dniester in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In Ukrainian, it is known as Дністе́р, and in Romanian as Nistru. In Russian, it is known as Днестр, in Yiddish: Nester נעסטער; in Turkish, Turla. .
Geography
The Dniester rises in Ukraine, near the city ofDrohobych, close to the border with Poland, and flows toward the Black Sea. Its course marks part of the border of Ukraine and Moldova, after which it flows through Moldova for, separating the main territory of Moldova from its breakaway regionTransnistria. It later forms an additional part of the Moldova-Ukraine border, then flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea, where its estuary forms the Dniester Liman. . Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the de facto end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.
History
During the Neolithic, the Dniester River was the centre of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. The Cucuteni–Trypillian culture flourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 BC, leaving behind thousands of archeological sites. Their settlements had up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them among the first large farming communities in the world. In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to Herodotus it rose in a large lake, whilst Ptolemy places its sources in Mount Carpates, and Strabo says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister, and formed part of the boundary between Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister, the distance between them being 900 stadia – approximately – according to Strabo, while according to Pliny. Scymnus describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish. Ovid speaks of its rapid course. Greek authors referred to the river as Tyras. At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus, whence its modern name of Dniester, though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century. The form Τύρις is sometimes found. According to Constantine VII, the Varangians used boats on their trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, along Dniester and Dnieper and along the Black Sea shore. The navigation near the western shore of Black Sea contained stops at Aspron, then Conopa, Constantia and Messembria. From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of the Principality of Moldavia. Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. In 1919, on Easter Sunday, the bridge was blown up by the French Army to protect Bender from the Bolsheviks. During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river. After the Republic of Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.
