- Create new account
- Reset your password
Register and get FREE resources and activities
Ready to unlock all our resources?
What is a river?
A river is the path that water takes as it flows downhill towards the ocean. Rivers can be long or short, wide or narrow and they often join together on their way downstream to make bigger rivers. Lots of animals live in or by rivers and people often find them a good place to live too.
Rivers can be used for lots of good things, like sailing boats on them to trade goods with other towns on the river, and farming on land that has been made fertile by the river, but when there are heavy rains and the river is very full they can be dangerous; rivers do a lot of damage when they flood.
Top 10 facts
- Rivers carry rainwater from hills downhill to other rivers, lakes or the ocean.
- The start of a river is called the source and the end is called the mouth.
- Many rivers and streams will join together before they reach the mouth of the river. The smaller rivers and streams are called tributaries .
- A fast flowing river will carry soil and dirt from its banks and bed downstream and drop them when it gets wider and slows down.
- When there is too much water in a river it floods and covers the area around it water. Sometimes this water is a deep as person or a house is tall.
- Floods cause a lot of damage but they also deposit nutrients from the water on the flooded land. This makes land that floods good for farming on.
- Rivers can be difficult and dangerous to cross. Towns often grow up where there are bridges or safe places to walk across.
- The longest river in the world is the Nile in Africa. It is 4,130 miles long.
- The longest rivers in Britain are the Severn (220 miles long) and the Thames (215 miles long).
- The river that carries the most water in the world is the Amazon in South America. The Amazon carries 210,000 cubic metres of water into the sea every second.
Boost Your Child's Maths & English Skills!
- We'll create a tailored plan for your child...
- ...and add activities to it each week...
- ...so you can watch your child grow in skills & confidence
Did you know?
- Water always flows downhill. When rain falls, it runs down the sides of hills into rivers in the bottom of the valleys between the hills. Rain and rivers are part of the water cycle.
- When it rains some of the water is absorbed into the soil and helps plants to grow, some of the water sinks deep into the ground and some of it flows into rivers and down to the sea.
- The end of a river is called the mouth. Some rivers flow into the sea but other rivers flow into lakes or bigger rivers.
- The start of a river is called the source. The source of a river is the furthest point on the river from its mouth.
- Many rivers are formed when rain flows down from hills but sometimes the source is a lake, sometimes it is a marsh or a bog and sometimes it is a spring where water comes up from the ground.
- When two rivers meet they will join together and form a single bigger river. Before a big river reaches the sea, it will be joined by lots and lots of smaller rivers. We call these rivers its tributaries.
- Most of the water we drink is taken out of rivers as they pass through our towns. We have to clean it first though, before we can drink it.
- When rivers are flowing fast, they knock bits of earth from the banks and bed of the river (its sides and bottom) and carry it downstream with them. When earth is taken from the banks of the river this is called erosion , and the soil that is carried downstream is called silt.
- When the weather is rainy for a long time, the ground will become waterlogged and not be able to absorb any more water. This means that all the water has to flow into the rivers. But, there may be too much water for the rivers to take, which means they overflow and flood the land around them.
- We call the area of land around a river that floods when the river is too full the ‘floodplain’.
- When a river floods the water on the flooded land is moving very slowly and can’t carry the silt in it any longer. The silt is deposited on the flooded land and gives it a lot of nutrients that make the land good for farming crops.
- When rivers reach the sea, they often spread out over a wide area and slow right down. This part of the river is called the estuary. This means that they can’t carry any of their silt any more so they drop it all onto the base of the river and into the edge of ocean. Sometimes rivers carry so much silt that when they drop it, it builds a new area of land at the edge of the ocean called a delta.
- The water in the ocean is called ‘salt water’ because it is full of salt, but water that falls as rain and flows down the rivers to the sea doesn’t have any salt in it and is called ‘fresh water’.
- You can find all sorts of fish and birds and many other kinds of creatures living in water. Some creatures that live in water like both fresh water and salt water, but some creatures only like to live in fresh water rivers and lakes and some only like to live in salt water ( marine habitats ).
Look at the gallery below and see if you can spot all the following:
- A meandering river
- The river Elbe
- The Arno in Florence, Italy
- The Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol
- An aerial view of the Nile in Egypt
- A sailboat on the Nile
- A river estuary
- A river in winter
- The river Thames in London
- A mountain river
- A river source
- A river curving over a prairie landscape
- Yellowstone National park in the USA
When a lot of rain falls in a short time, the ground can’t always absorb it quickly enough. This means that lots more water than normal flows into the rivers. If there is more water than the river can carry away to the sea, it bursts over its banks and floods the land around it. This is called a ‘ flash flood ’ because it happens so quickly. There aren’t always many safe places to cross a river on foot, and building bridges was hard for people before they had modern machines. Anyone going on a journey would have to cross a river at the same place as lots of other people. Towns would often grow up around these places so that travellers could find a place to sleep or trade goods with each other. The mouth of a river also used to be a very good place to build a town. Large boats that cross the sea to other countries can sail into the mouth of the river to unload their cargo and to load local produce to take elsewhere. Small boats can sail up and down the river taking goods to and from the towns that are further inland. Lots of towns are named after river crossings or the rivers that flow through them. Oxford is named after a ford where people used to take their oxen across the river Thames. Stourbridge is a town in the West Midlands where there is an old bridge over the river Stour. Dartmouth in Devon is town at the mouth of the river Dart. How many towns in your area are named after rivers or river crossings? The Welsh word for a river mouth is ‘aber’. Many towns in Wales are named after the rivers that they are on, just as they are in England . Aberystwyth is town at the mouth (aber) of the river Ystwyth. The faster a river flows, the more erosion it causes in the soil and rocks around it. Over millions of years streams and rivers will remove more and more material from the area around them and cut bigger and bigger paths for themselves. This is how valleys are created. Even quite small streams can create big valleys over a long time. When the slope that rivers are flowing down stops being so steep, rivers slow down and instead of rushing down the straightest path through the valley, they often start to curve and bend. These curves are called meanders . Erosion on the bends of the meanders means that they are slowly changing shape and that path the river takes will gradually change. Sometimes the erosion will cut a straight path for the river to take and leave what used to be a bend isolated from the river. This is called an ‘ox-bow lake’. Sometimes to make it easier to for boats to travel up and down rivers, people change the way that the river flows. If part of a river is very bendy, they might dig a straighter channel for the river to flow down so that the boats don’t have to make tight turns. Sometimes they make the river wider or make it deeper so that bigger boats can travel on it. When the river is too steep and flows to fast, they might put in locks to make it safer for the boats to travel. Rivers have also been used for a long time to help people work equipment. People would build mills to grind corn and grain near to rivers so that they could use a water wheel to work the mill. The bottom of the wheel would be put into the water, and when the water turned the wheel, the wheel would make the equipment in the mill turn and grind up the grain. Today, instead of using a wheel to operate equipment, we build big dams across the rivers and use the force of the water to turn turbines and generate electricity to power our machines. We call this hydro-electricity because it is generated from water.
Words to know:
Bank – The riverbank is the land at the side of the river. Basin – Rainwater that falls on hills flows down the side of the hills into rivers. A river basin the group of hills, valleys and lakes that water flows into the river from. Bed – The bed is the bottom of a river. A riverbed can be made of sand, rocks or mud depending on the river. Canal – A man-made waterway that is used so that boats can transport goods across bits of the country where there are no rivers they can use. Current – The strength and speed of the river. Water always flows downhill; the steeper the ground is, the stronger the current will be. Delta – A wide muddy or sandy area where some rivers meet the sea. The river slows down and drops all the sediments it was carrying. Downstream – The direction that the water flows, downhill towards the sea Fresh water – Rainwater that falls from the sky has no salt in it. We call this fresh water. Erosion – When a river flows fast it damages the riverbanks and washes bits of them downstream. This makes the river wider. Estuary – Where a river reaches the ocean and the river and ocean mix. Estuaries are normally wide and flat. Floodplain – The flat area around a river that often gets flooded when the level of water in the river is high. Mouth – The end of a river where it flows into the sea, another river or a lake. Salt water – The water in the sea is full of salt, so ‘salt water’ refers to water in seas and oceans. Silt – Small bits of dirt or sand that are carried along by a river. Source – The start of a river is its source. This could be a spring on a hillside, a lake, or a bog or marsh. A river may have more than one source. Stream – A small river Tidal river – At the end of a river, near the ocean, water from the sea flows up the river when the tide comes in. This bit of the river is called ‘tidal’. Tributary – A smaller river or stream that joins a big river is called a tributary. Upstream – The opposite direction to the way the water in a river flows Watershed – Water flows down the side of hills into rivers. But, water that lands on opposite sides of the same hill might flow into different rivers. The watershed is the boundary between two river basins.
Related Videos
Just for fun...
- Can you name the rivers on an interactive world map?
- Complete some river activity sheets
- See otters, kingfishers, herons and dippers on wildlife presenter Simon King's live river webcam
- Build a canal in an interactive game
- Play All Star River Explorers to find out more about how rivers are formed
- Take a virtual field trip into a west coast estuary with an online game, Where Rivers Meet the Sea
- Complete the Rivers World Map game
- Show off your rivers knowledge with a quiz
- Make your own river models
Children's books about rivers
Find out more:
- An annotated guide to rivers for children
- Find out more about river flooding
- Watch a short BBC Teach film about rivers which describes the journey of a river from its source to its end, looking at some of its different features including rapids, waterfalls, and meanders
- Discover the unseen world in a river
- Look at river diagrams and see amazing river photography
- National Geographic rivers information and pictures
- Watch some BBC Schools video clips about the river Nile , the river Severn and the river Tay
- Design a bridge, understand how rivers are used and find out why authors, poets and artists are inspired by rivers with the British Council's Rivers of the world information pack for kids and the accompanying rivers video guides
See for yourself
- Listen to the sounds of the North Tyne river
- Visit the Waterways Museum in Gloucester to learn more about rivers and canals
- See the National Waterways Museum in Cheshire
- Take a walk along your local river and see all the wildlife along it!
- Visit the River & Rowing Museum in Henley
- Hear the sound of a river and the sound of a creek
Give your child a headstart
- FREE articles & expert information
- FREE resources & activities
- FREE homework help
Simon Ross Author / Consultant
Our aim is to promote geography and geographical education in the South West of England. Geography SW is a collaborative project driven by a group of enthusiastic geographers who have volunteered their time to create a wide-ranging and dynamic resource to support the wider geographical community.
Become a member and discover where geography can take you.
- Resources for ...
This module, comprising five lessons, or half a term's work, focuses on Rivers. Pupils will learn that rivers and river systems, are dynamic; changing the landscape in visible and at times dramatic ways. While only a fraction of the world’s fresh water is visible in lakes and rivers, river systems can have a fundamental impact on peoples’ lives.
Pupils begin by examining a model river system, following the journey of a river through its upper, middle and lower course; from its source in the mountains, through the meanders of flatter land, to the estuary and its mouth. They will also understand the process of flooding and why and how rivers breach their banks. Using a case study of a recent flood events in the UK, pupils then see the causes and consequences of flooding in real life and how flooding effects both people and places.
In the third and fourth lessons, the focus will move to the River Thames; the UK’s second longest, but arguably most iconic river. In the third lesson, pupils will understand the geographical location of the main rivers in the UK. Then, looking closely at three OS map extracts at different points along the River Thames, pupils develop their map skills undertaking a range of tasks. These mapping activities will also highlight the physical features of the river system and ask pupils for evidence of how the use of the River Thames has changed over time. As a homework activity, pupils will be asked to locate the main rivers in each of the world’s seven continents. In the fourth lesson, the characteristics of the river and surrounding landscape, at different points along its course will be located and examined. The role of the Thames Flood Barrier, one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world, will also be highlighted.
In the fifth lesson, the focus turns to North and South America, as well as England’s highest unbroken waterfall. Pupils will learn about the structure and formation of waterfalls. Using case studies of the Niagara Falls on the US/Canadian border and the Angel Falls in Venezuela, pupils will understand more about the physical and human geography of these spectacular river features. Gaping Gill, England’s highest unbroken waterfall will also be featured. Locational knowledge of the major rivers in each continent will be covered in this lesson.
As a close to the module, pupils are encouraged to gain first-hand experience of a river through conducting fieldwork at a local river. Fieldwork is a key component of the National Curriculum. Seeing the features of a river in a real life context is also invaluable for pupil understanding. Recognising key features, asking geographical questions of their own environment, and looking for evidence can only make for better geographers.
What all lessons in the module have in common is a desire to make geography exciting and stimulating and based on real places. In addition the emphasis throughout is ensuring that, as teachers, we use the correct vocabulary when explaining processes geographically, reinforce locational and place knowledge and, likewise, expect our pupils to do the same.
Journey of a River
In this lesson, pupils will understand how rivers are formed. In outlining a model of a river system, pupils will understand that the features of a river and the surrounding landscape change from source to mouth. Using photographs pupils will learn that the upper course of a river is characterised by steep land, turbulent water and V shaped river valleys. In the middle course, land is flatter and rivers widen and begin to meander. Looking in more depth at key physical processes, pupils will gain an understanding of erosion, transportation and deposition and the role these processes play in shaping the river. The formation of oxbow lakes will also be discussed. Finally, pupils will learn that, in the lower course, rivers are often at their widest and have the potential to form deltas.
In lesson two, pupils will understand the theory of flooding; why and how rivers succumb to overbank flow. Rivers flood for many reasons: in response to heavy or prolonged rainfall, due to the topography of the landscape, and morphology of rocks and soils. Human activity also plays its part; with growing urbanisation often comes an increased likelihood of flooding. By examining a case study of flood events in the UK, the 2007 floods in Gloucestershire in which the River Severn and River Avon burst their banks, pupils will also recognise that flooding has both an immediate impact on the physical environment, but also significantly impacts the surrounding community.
Mapping the River Thames
Pupils will begin by locating the UK’s major rivers before studying, in detail, the River Thames, which is the UK’s second longest river. From its source on the outskirts of the village of Kemble at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, the River Thames flows through 346 km of South East England, before joining the North Sea, at its mouth at the Thames Estuary in Essex. This lesson will investigate the characteristics of the river and its surrounding landscape. It will also highlight the changing nature of human interaction with the river. Pupils will also understand why the River Thames is liable to flooding and the measures put in place to advert a major incident.
The River Thames
In the fourth lesson, the River Thames will again be the focus of geographical enquiry. Pupils will use three Ordnance Survey map extracts to investigate the features of the river and surrounding landscape; both rural and urban. They will gain an understanding of how topography is shown on a map. In a mapping task, pupils will learn the significance of keys, contour lines, four figure and six figure grid references, grid squares, distance, scale and direction as they answer questions and interrogate evidence.
Waterfalls are arguably the most impressive of the all features of a river. Pupils will understand how waterfalls are formed and their key characteristics. Three different waterfalls will then be located and investigated. Firstly the Niagara Falls in North America, which is not one, but in fact three different waterfalls; situated on the Niagara River flowing north from Lake Erie in the United States to Lake Ontario in Canada. Secondly, the Angel Falls in South America, located in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. The Angel Falls, at 979 metres high, is the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world. Finally, Gaping Gill in North Yorkshire, at 100 metres is England’s highest uninterrupted waterfall. The uses made of these waterfalls from hydroelectric power to tourism will also be investigated.
About the author
Following a research career, Anna Brace re-trained as a teacher and taught for 7 years at Grange Park Primary School, Enfield. She was a representative on the Rediscovering London’s Geography project and coordinated the Royal Geographical Society’s Enfield CPD network for primary geography. In 2015 Anna became Head of Geography at Keble Prep School where she teaches Senior School geography to pupils in Year 5 to Year 8. She is involved in the RGS/IAPS project, London: A Subject Hub for Geography, and is also coordinating the Enfield CPD network for teachers both in the Independent and Maintained sectors.
This resource has been developed as part of the Rediscovering London's Geography project, funded by the GLA through the London Schools Excellence Fund. It seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning of geography in London’s schools, in addition to encouraging more pupils to study geography
Journey of a River
File name Files
Rivers Module Overview
Rivers Module Overview PDF
Rivers Module Plan
Rivers Module Plan PDF
This resource has been developed as part of the Rediscovering London's Geography project, funded by the GLA through the London Schools Excellence Fund. It seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning of geography in London’s schools, in addition to encouraging more pupils to study geography
Back To Top
- International
- Education Jobs
- Schools directory
- Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search
Why are rivers important to people?
Subject: Geography
Age range: 11-14
Resource type: Lesson (complete)
Last updated
28 November 2020
- Share through email
- Share through twitter
- Share through linkedin
- Share through facebook
- Share through pinterest
This is a Year 7 lesson on how people use rivers in the UK, and is taught as part of the rivers topic. In this download, you will receive a detailed PowerPoint which includes everything you will need for the lesson. The resources to be printed are found at the end of the PowerPoint. There are differentiated activities within the PowerPoint with a focus on practicing completing an extended answer. Thanks for looking!
Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?
Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.
It's good to leave some feedback.
Something went wrong, please try again later.
This resource hasn't been reviewed yet
To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it
Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.
Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:
- Moscow Tourism
- Moscow Hotels
- Moscow Bed and Breakfast
- Moscow Vacation Rentals
- Flights to Moscow
- Moscow Restaurants
- Things to Do in Moscow
- Moscow Travel Forum
- Moscow Photos
- All Moscow Hotels
- Moscow Hotel Deals
Ballet Help - Moscow Forum
- Europe
- Russia
- Central Russia
- Moscow
Moscow Hotels and Places to Stay
- Where can I get initial answers to ANY question?
- Vacation Rentals
- GreenLeaders
- Fundamentals NEW
- Biographies
- Compare Countries
- World Atlas
Related resources for this article
- Primary Sources & E-Books
Introduction
The capital and largest city of Russia , Moscow has always played a central role in the country’s history. In the Middle Ages it was the capital of the powerful principality of Muscovy. For much of the 20th century it was the capital of the Soviet Union , representing the authority of that superpower’s communist government. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow became the political center of newly independent Russia as well as its industrial, educational, and cultural capital.
Moscow is situated in far western Russia on the banks of the Moskva (Moscow) River, a tributary of the Oka. The center of the city is the Kremlin , located on a high bank of the river. The Kremlin began as a fort first built by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in the 12th century. It was protected originally by a wooden fence and later by brick walls. During the following centuries churches, palaces, and government buildings were built within the walls. Today the Kremlin walls enclose the largest concentration of historic buildings in Russia.
Next to the Kremlin is Red Square. It was originally a marketplace at a time when a trade and artisans’ settlement had developed outside the Kremlin walls. It became the major center for political and social events and today is used for big parades and public celebrations and demonstrations. At the southern end of the square is the 16th-century Cathedral of St. Basil, and at the northern end is the 19th-century State Historical Museum. The Lenin Mausoleum is on the west side, and the massive department store GUM is on the east.
With the Kremlin and Red Square as the original core area, the city grew outward in a series of rings, marked by defensive walls. The brick walls of the Kremlin date from the late 15th century. In the 16th century additional walls of stone and earth were built around the city. In the 19th century these walls were pulled down and replaced with wide circular boulevards known as the Boulevard and Garden rings. Beyond these boulevards the city has expanded in all directions, with roads radiating out from the central rings like the spokes of a wheel.
Central Moscow—the area within the Garden Ring—functions like a typical downtown. In this area are concentrated most of the government offices, most of the hotels and larger stores, and the main theaters, museums, and art galleries. In the 1990s the resident population of the inner city declined as many large apartment buildings were transformed into offices. The residential neighborhoods that remain within the Garden Ring consist mostly of luxury apartments for the wealthy.
The architecture of central Moscow features buildings representing every period of the city’s development from the 15th century to the present day. Examples of 17th-century church architecture include the Church of All Saints of Kulishki, built in the 1670s and ’80s, and the Church of the Nativity of Putniki (1649–52). Other notable buildings include the elegant Pashkov House (1785–86), now part of the Russian State Library; the Manezh (Riding School; 1817), which is now used as an exhibition hall; and the Bolshoi Theater (1821–24), rebuilt in 1856 after a fire. Soviet-era additions to central Moscow include several elaborate “wedding-cake” (tiered) skyscrapers as well as concrete-and-glass high rises. The Gazprom and Lukoil office buildings, built in the 1990s, are among the more notable examples of later architecture.
The main street in the city center is Tverskaya Prospekt (formerly Gorky Prospekt), which leads northwest from Red Square. It is lined with large stores, hotels, theaters, and restaurants. Some of the notable buildings are the National Hotel, the Central Telegraph Office, and the Mayor’s Office.
The Moskva River follows a circuitous course through the city. It forms a large loop southwest of the city center and then flows northward again to pass the Kremlin walls. To the east of the Kremlin the Yauza River joins the Moskva. The high south bank of the southwestern loop of the Moskva forms the Vorobyëvy Hills (or Lenin Hills), which reach 655 feet (200 meters). Many foreign embassies and the Moscow State University complex, dominated by an ornate Stalin-era building, stand on the Vorobyëvy Hills. Across the river is the sports complex known as Luzhniki Park. Just upstream, on the south bank of the river, is Gorky Park. The city’s largest park, it has an amusement park in addition to gardens and woodlands.
On the outskirts of the city a large number of residential and other building construction projects were undertaken after World War II. Major new housing areas arose between the Garden Ring and the Moscow Ring Road, which circles the city some 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the center. The northern suburbs contain the large Sokolniki Park, a botanical garden, and the All-Russian Exhibition Center. The latter—still commonly known by its Soviet-era name, the Exhibition of Economic Achievements—was opened in 1939 to showcase the economic and scientific accomplishments of the Soviet Union. Today the exhibits are interspersed with amusement park rides, markets, and other attractions. Nearby is the 1,758-foot (536-meter) Television Tower, the tallest structure in Russia.
People and Culture
The great majority of the people of Moscow, called Muscovites, are ethnic Russians. The largest minority groups are Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Tatars. During the Soviet era, migration contributed to a rapid rise in Moscow’s population. Beginning in 1932 the government restricted migration by requiring people to have a special permit to live in the city. Today, people still need to register their place of residence with the government.
It is rare for people in Moscow to have a single-family home. Most Muscovites live in apartments, which can be in old houses that have been subdivided, in Soviet-era apartment blocks, or in new buildings. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, registered Moscow residents were given the government-owned homes in which they lived. After that, however, housing prices rose so steeply that, in the early 21st century, only a small percentage of Muscovites could afford to buy an apartment in the city. In fact, due largely to the housing market, Moscow became one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.
Moscow contains dozens of theaters and concert halls. One of the best known is the Bolshoi Theater, which is home to Russia’s leading theater company for ballet and opera. Organized in the 1770s, the company also performs at the State Kremlin Palace and tours extensively throughout the world. Other renowned theaters include the Maly Theater, the Moscow Art Theater, and the Obraztsov Puppet Theater. Musical performances are held in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and at the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Several of Moscow’s many art galleries and museums have an international reputation. Among the most famous are the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Oriental Arts, and the Literature Museum. Historical institutions include the Armory Museum, the State Historical Museum, the Central Lenin Museum, and State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia.
Moscow is a major educational center, with dozens of universities and specialized institutions of higher education. The largest and most prestigious is Moscow State University, founded in 1755. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian State Library, one of the world’s largest libraries, are also located in the city.
The leading sports complex in Moscow is Luzhniki Park, in the Vorobyëvy Hills. It was one of the main arenas for the 1980 Olympic Games. Dynamo Stadium on Leningrad Prospekt is the home ground for one of Moscow’s several football (soccer) teams. Most districts of the city have their own sports halls, swimming pools, and ice rinks.
The economy of Moscow, like that of Russia as a whole, was transformed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the Soviet era the city’s economy was dominated by the manufacturing and engineering sectors. In the 1990s, as the formerly government-controlled economy shifted to one based on private ownership, these sectors declined dramatically and were largely replaced by service industries. The number of people employed in manufacturing in Moscow decreased by half from the late 1980s into the ’90s.
Nevertheless, Moscow remains the largest industrial center in Russia. Engineering and metalworking still rank among the city’s most important industries, designing and manufacturing such products as machine tools, ball bearings, automobiles, precision instruments, and electronics. Aerospace design and manufacture is one of the most important engineering sectors in some of Moscow’s surrounding towns. Oil refining, chemicals, food processing, and construction are also valuable industries.
Moscow’s wide-ranging service sector includes such industries as finance, retail trade, education, and research. As Russia’s economy was privatized, Moscow developed into a financial center, with dozens of banks and several securities exchanges. Most foreign investment in the Russian economy passes through the city’s financial institutions. The opening up of Russian society also spurred Moscow’s emergence as a major tourist destination.
Moscow is the hub of Russia’s transportation network. Rail lines radiate out in all directions, connecting the capital with other Russian cities as well as Central Asia and eastern and central Europe. These railways carry much of the country’s freight and are also vital to passengers commuting between Moscow and its suburbs. The Moscow Little Ring Railway and the Greater Moscow Ring Railway link the radial lines. For travel within the city, which is typically congested with traffic, public transportation is critical. The centerpiece of the mass-transit system is the Metropolitan (Metro) subway, whose lines copy the city’s radial street pattern.
A major river port, Moscow is connected to the Volga River to the north by a canal built in the 1930s. By means of this canal, shipping from Moscow can reach the Black, Baltic, and Caspian seas.
Moscow is served by two international airports: Sheremetyevo-2 to the north and Domodedovo to the south. Sheremetyevo-1 handles mostly domestic flights.
Archaeological evidence shows that a settlement existed on the site of present-day Moscow during the late Stone Age. The traditional date of the city’s founding, however, is 1147, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky hosted a feast on the site. At the time, Moscow was a small settlement on the bank of the Moskva River. To protect the site, in 1156 Prince Dolgoruky built the original kremlin—a wooden fort atop earthen embankments.
Moscow developed into an important trading town. It was centrally located among the system of rivers that formed the trade routes across European Russia. Like most other Russian towns, Moscow was attacked on many occasions by the Mongols (Tatars), but it managed to survive. It was sheltered to a considerable extent by the surrounding forests and by the swamps of the Oka River to the east.
As Mongol power declined beginning in the 14th century, Moscow grew steadily in size and importance by absorbing surrounding principalities. It became the center of power of what was called the Grand Principality of Muscovy. Within the Kremlin, palaces for the prince and nobles, monasteries, and churches were erected. Outside the Kremlin walls, the trading and artisan quarter expanded. By the second half of the 15th century Moscow had become the undisputed center of a unified Russian state. Defensive brick walls more than a mile long were built around the enlarged Kremlin.
Despite its new fortifications, Moscow still faced attack. In 1571 the Crimean Tatars captured the town, burning everything but the Kremlin. New stone walls built between 1584 and 1591 helped Moscow turn back another attack by the Crimean Tatars in 1591. The next year an outer ring of earthen walls was built to protect the expanding city. In addition, such fortified monasteries as the Novodevichy and Donskoy were built to defend the city from the south.
These improvements in security allowed artisan activity to flourish. Different groups of tradespeople—for example, armor makers, blacksmiths, and weavers—occupied particular suburbs of Moscow. State workshops made weapons and gunpowder.
The development of Moscow was temporarily eclipsed by the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703 and its choice by Peter the Great in 1712 to be Russia’s capital city. Nobles, merchants, and artisans moved to St. Petersburg. However, Moscow soon began to recover from the loss of its role as capital. New industries, especially textiles, fueled economic growth. The city’s key role in Russia’s cultural life was enhanced by the founding of Moscow University (now Moscow State University), the country’s first, in 1755.
In 1812 Moscow was occupied by Napoleon ’s French troops. An accompanying fire leveled more than two thirds of the city’s buildings. Again, through a great rebuilding program, the city recovered rapidly. Moscow became the center of Russia’s railroads and developed heavy engineering and metalworking industries. The population reached nearly 1 million by 1897 and doubled to 2 million by 1915.
In 1918, following the Russian Revolution , Lenin moved the Soviet government to Moscow. The city thereby regained its status as capital. During the 1930s Joseph Stalin drew up a grandiose plan for the development of the city, but it was never completely fulfilled. The most successful venture was the Metro, begun in 1933.
Moscow suffered little damage in World War II despite the fact that German invaders reached the outskirts of the city. By 1939 the population had reached 4.5 million, and by 1959 it was about 6 million. To relieve overcrowding, much of the old housing around the historic core of the city was torn down and replaced by massive apartment blocks. A new development plan introduced in 1960 laid the groundwork for the city’s expansion in the coming decades. It required the careful designation of new residential areas, industrial zones, and green spaces and also annexed surrounding towns to the city.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow was at the forefront of Russia’s historic changes. Private enterprise and foreign investment led to a proliferation of new businesses as well as a skyrocketing cost of living and an increase in criminal activity, including organized crime. The city also experienced several deadly attacks by rebels seeking independence for Chechnya or other republics in Russia’s Caucasus region, including a hostage crisis at a theater in 2002 and suicide bombings in the Metro in 2010. Population (2013 estimate), 11,843,643.
Additional Reading
Brooke, Caroline. Moscow: A Cultural History (Oxford Univ. Press, 2006). Graham, L.R. Moscow Stories (Indiana Univ. Press, 2006). Kelly, Laurence. A Traveller’s Companion to Moscow (Interlink, 2005). Rice, Christopher, and Rice, Melanie. Moscow (DK, 2007).
It’s here: the NEW Britannica Kids website!
We’ve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements!
- The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages.
- Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops.
- Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards.
- A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar.
- And so much more!
Want to see it in action?
Start a free trial
To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma
Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text.
After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar.
- Privacy Notice
- Terms of Use
| The River Thames A Key Stage 2 Resource for Rivers and Coasts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| for information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENTS
Rivers carry water and nutrients to areas all around the earth. They play a very important part in the water cycle, acting as drainage channels for surface water. Rivers drain nearly 75% of the earth's land surface. Rivers provide excellent habitat and food for many of the earth's organisms. Many rare plants and trees grow by rivers.
What do rivers provide? Most settlements were built along major rivers. Rivers provide us with food, energy, recreation, transportation routes, and of course water for irrigation and for drinking. source of rivers. Information and facts about rivers for children doing a project on rivers.
Follow Winnie the Pooh's Journey down the River Thames. A River Study on the River Darent (River Darenth) in Kent. What is a River? Features of a River. Where do Rivers Begin and End? Floods and Flooding. How are Rivers Formed? Longest Rivers. What do Rivers Provide?
8 + Resources to Use When Teaching Rivers to Children. 9 min. June 13, 2023. Rivers are important ecosystems for lots of plant and animal species, but we also depend on them a lot more than we might realise. In this blog, you can learn all about rivers and discover 8 incredible resources for teaching rivers to children!
Rivers are important for many reasons. They play a vital role in the water cycle, bringing fresh water from high latitudes down into the ocean. Rivers are also important for wildlife, as they provide a habitat for many different types of animals. Humans also use rivers, both for transport and as a source of water.
Top 10 facts. Rivers carry rainwater from hills downhill to other rivers, lakes or the ocean. The start of a river is called the source and the end is called the mouth. Many rivers and streams will join together before they reach the mouth of the river. The smaller rivers and streams are called tributaries.
The Wyre Rivers Trust have published a natural flood management story book for children. Written by the Trust's Conservation and Engagement Officer, the book explains the work that Rivers Trusts do to reduce flood risk in river catchments and why it is needed. It includes questions and activities aimed at primary school children but has things ...
Create a pop-up waterfall model with these straightforward craft instructions. Make a 3D model river basin out of cardboard, papier-mache and paints - remember to include as many features of a river landscape as you can. Read this Twinkl Originals story about Sabryna and the River Spirit, which focuses on the key geographical features of rivers ...
Rivers. This module, comprising five lessons, or half a term's work, focuses on Rivers. Pupils will learn that rivers and river systems, are dynamic; changing the landscape in visible and at times dramatic ways. While only a fraction of the world's fresh water is visible in lakes and rivers, river systems can have a fundamental impact on ...
Full introduction lesson to Rivers unit for KS3 Geography national curriculum. Key ideas: definitions of 'river' and 'landscape' (knowledge), examples of UK rivers (map skills), command word for an assessment 'describe' (exam skills), examples of rivers importance (knowledge).
Estuary. If a river has a wide mouth, this is called an estuary. An estuary has a mixture of salty and fresh water. The fresh water from the river extends out into the sea. Some of the salty water from the sea travels up the river mouth. This mixture of salt and fresh water is called brackish water. The river carries a lot of sediment as it ...
A rivers topic doesn't have to be taught through geography lessons alone. Integrate your subjects by linking a non-fiction writing unit with your topic lessons. Here's a great place to start: this Rivers KS2 Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension Activity is perfect for giving your Key Stage 2 children a good example of a non-fiction text, so ...
We can use rivers for a variety of things including: transport. water supplies for homes and industries. conservation, e.g. wildlife protection. creating electricity through the use of hydroelectric power. sport and recreation activities, such as fishing and canoeing. Hydroelectric Power. When thinking about what are rivers used for, you may ...
The Ganges is about 1,557 miles (2,506 kilometers) long. Its valley, or basin, is 200 to 400 miles (325 to 650 kilometers) wide. The total drainage basin covers an area of about 376,800 square miles (975,900 square kilometers). The river flows generally southeastward. It has several headstreams.
File previews. pptx, 26.13 MB. This is a Year 7 lesson on how people use rivers in the UK, and is taught as part of the rivers topic. In this download, you will receive a detailed PowerPoint which includes everything you will need for the lesson. The resources to be printed are found at the end of the PowerPoint.
Middle Aged River - the middle course. The middle of a river's journey, when it gets wider and slows down, is called the middle age. Rivers often meander (follow a winding path) along their middle course. The current of the river no longer has the force to carry stones or gravel. This material drops to the riverbed, where it forms bars of ...
Among its 100,000 rivers, Russia contains some of the world's longest. Four of the country's five longest rivers—the Ob-Irtysh, Amur, Lena, and Yenisey —are in Siberia. All but the Amur flow northward into the Arctic Ocean. The longest European river is the Volga, which flows southward into the Caspian Sea.
See all. Sign in to get trip updates and message other travelers. to get trip updates and message other travelers.
At the time, Moscow was a small settlement on the bank of the Moskva River. To protect the site, in 1156 Prince Dolgoruky built the original kremlin—a wooden fort atop earthen embankments. Moscow developed into an important trading town. It was centrally located among the system of rivers that formed the trade routes across European Russia.
The Yangtze river is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest river in the world. It is heavily polluted. This river is the lifeblood of China as it is its main waterway. It is 6300 kilometres in length and its basin covers 1,808,500 square kilometres. It is the longest river in a single country in the world.
We have over 90 pages with 400 photographs showing you the towns and villages along the River Thames. Our virtual guide to the River Thames. In April 2009, Winnie the Pooh decided to meet up with two friends, Berty Beaver and Percy Penguin, to travel down the River Severn. On their journey they learned about the different features of a river.
Ivan I (also known as Ivan Kalita) was born around 1288 to the Prince of Moscow, Daniil Aleksandrovich. He was born during a time of devastation and upheaval in Rus'. Kiev had been overtaken by the invading Mongol forces in 1240, and most of the Rus' principalities had been absorbed into the Golden Horde of the Mongol Empire by the time ...
Floods are caused by extreme weather conditions. Floods may be caused by: rivers overflowing their banks after heavy rainfall. the sea flooding the land, as a result of heavy winds pushing the sea up against the coast. volcanic eruptions under the sea causing a huge wave, called a tsuanami.