The Daugava (Latgalian: Daugova; Russian: Западная Двина (Západnaya Dviná), meaning "Western Dvina"; Polish: Dźwina), is a river rising in the Valdai Hills, flowing through Russia, Belarus, and Latvia and into the Gulf of Riga. The total length of the river is 1,020 km (630 mi),[1] of which 325 km (202 mi) are in Russia.

Western Dvina, Russian: Западная Двина (Západnaya Dviná), Belarusian: Заходняя Дзвіна ([zaˈxodnʲaja dzʲvʲiˈna]), Livonian: Vēna, Estonian: Väina, German: Düna
The drainage basin of the Daugava
CountryBelarus, Latvia, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia
Physical characteristics
 • locationValdai Hills, Russia
 • elevation221 m (725 ft)
 • location
Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea
 • coordinates
57°3′42″N 24°1′50″E﻿ / ﻿57.06167°N 24.03056°E﻿ / 57.06167; 24.03056Coordinates: 57°3′42″N 24°1′50″E﻿ / ﻿57.06167°N 24.03056°E﻿ / 57.06167; 24.03056
 • elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Length1,020 km (630 mi)[1]
Basin size87,900 km2 (33,900 sq mi)[1]
 • average678 m3/s (23,900 cu ft/s)




The following rivers are tributaries to the river Daugava (from source to mouth):


Daugava flowing through Riga in Latvia

According to Max Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary, the toponym Dvina clearly cannot stem from a Uralic language, and it possibly comes from an Indo-European word which used to mean river or stream.[2]



Cities, towns and settlementsEdit


Andreapol, Zapadnaya Dvina and Velizh.


Ruba, Vitebsk, Beshankovichy, Polotsk with Boris stones strewn in the vicinity, Navapolatsk, Dzisna, Verkhnedvinsk, and Druya.




Daugava sunset in Riga.

Humans have settled at the mouth of the Daugava and around the other shores of the Gulf of Riga for millennia, initially participating in a hunter-gatherer economy and utilizing the waters of the Daugava estuary as fishing and gathering areas for aquatic biota. Beginning around the sixth century AD, Viking explorers crossed the Baltic Sea and entered the Daugava River, navigating upriver into the Baltic interior.[4]

In medieval times the Daugava was an important area of trading and navigation - part of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks - for transport of furs from the north and of Byzantine silver from the south. The Riga area, inhabited by the Finnic-speaking Livs, became a key element of settlement and defence of the mouth of the Daugava at least as early as the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the now destroyed fort at Torņakalns on the west bank of the Daugava at present day Riga. Since the Late Middle Ages the western part of the Daugava basin has come under the rule of various peoples and states; for example the Latvian town of Daugavpils, located on the western Daugava, variously came under papal rule as well as Slavonic, Polish, German and Russian sway until restoration of the Latvian independence in 1990 at the end of the Cold War.[citation needed]

Water qualityEdit




  4. ^ Compare: Frucht, Richard C. (2005-01-01). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576078006. Retrieved 2017-07-06. The Daugava was an important transit river (carrying everything from Vikings to floating lumber) for centuries [...].

Further readingEdit


External linksEdit