Aras River

Learn more about Aras River

Araz River, Nakhichevan to the right and Iran to the left.

The Aras (also known as Araks, Arax, Araxi, Araxes, Araz, or Yeraskh; Turkish: Aras Nehri Armenian: Արաքս, Azerbaijani: Araz, Persian: ارس, Kurdish: Aras or Araz) is a river rising near Erzurum, Turkey, flowing along the Turkey-Armenia border, the Iran-Armenia border, then along the Azerbaijan-Iran border, finally entering Azerbaijan and falling into the Kura river as a right tributary. Its total length is 1,072 kilometers (665 miles).

Aras was chosen as the border limit between Persia and Russia in the Treaty of Golestan in 1813 by which the whole area north of that river was cut off from Iran and annexed to Russia. Iran and the Soviet Union later built a joint dam on this river at Poldasht area.

The Hellenized form Araxes is found in the name of the Kura-Araxes culture, a prehistoric people which flourished in the valleys of the Kura and Aras.

But many times it is the Volga river which is called Araxes especially in Herodotus' History first chapter - The First of Book the Histories, Called Clio.

By some, the river Aras has been associated with the otherwise unidentified Gihon river mentioned in the second chapter of the Bible.

[edit] Aras in Azerbaijan

Main article: Rivers and lakes in Azerbaijan

The Aras River directly flows into the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan, originate mainly from the north-eastern slope of the Major Caucasus and Talysh mountains and run along the Samur-Devechi and Lenkeran lowlands. About 101,937 km² of Aras River is located in Azerbaijan.