- See Kura for other rivers called Kura.
Confluence of the Aragvi and Mt'k'vari (Kura) rivers, Mtskheta.
Mt'k'vari (Kura) River near Old Town, Tbilisi.
Semi-desert landscape near Vardzia.
Kura (Turkish: Kura, Azerbaijani: Kür, Georgian: მტკვარი - Mt'k'vari) is a river in the Caucasus Mountains. Starting in north-eastern Turkey (formerly Georgian province of Tao), it flows through Turkey to Georgia, then to Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras River as a right tributary, and enters the Caspian Sea. The total length of the river is 1,364 km.
The name Kura is related either to Megrelian kur 'water, river' or to an ancient Albanian term for 'reservoir.'[1] The Georgian name of Kura is Mt'k'vari, either from Georgian 'good water' or a Georgianized form of Megrelian tkvar-ua 'gnaw' (i.e., "river that eats its way through the mountains").[2] The name Kura was adopted first by the Russians and later by European cartographers. In some definitions of Europe, the Kura River defines the borderline between Europe and Asia.[3]
Previously navigable up to Tbilisi in Georgia, it is now much slower and shallower, as its power has been harnessed by hydroelectricity stations (mainly in Georgia). The river is moderately polluted by major industrial centers like Tbilisi and Rustavi in Georgia.
The river should not be confused with the Kura River, Russia, a westward flowing tributary of the Malka River in Stavropol Krai; the Kur River near Kursk, Russia; or the other Kur River near Khabarovsk, also in Russia.
Kür in Azerbaijan
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The Kür and Aras are the principal rivers of Azerbaijan; they flow through the Küra-Arax lowland. The rivers that directly flow into the Caspian Sea originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the major Caucasus and Talysh mountains and flow across the Samur-Devechi and Lenkeran lowlands.
The Kür (Mt'k'vari) River basin area (86,000 km²) up to the junction with the Aras River is smaller than the Aras (Arax) water basin (101,937 km²). The river is still called Kur from the junction because the water level of the Kur is twice as high as that of the Aras River.
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