DNIEPER, one of the most important rivers of Europe (the Borysthenes of the Greeks, Danapris of the Romans, Uzi or Uzu of the Turks, Eksi of the Tartars, Elice of Visconti's map [1381], Lerene of Contarini [1437], Luosen of Baptista of Genoa [154], and Lussem in the same century). It belongs entirely to Russia, and rises in the Smolensk province, in a swampy district (alt. 93o ft.) at the foot of the Valdai hills, not far from the sources of the Volga and the Dvina, in 55° 52' N. and 41' E. Its length is about 1,410 m. and it drains an area of 202,14o sq.m. In the first part of its course, which may be said to end at Dorogobuzh, it flows through an undulating country of Carboniferous formation; in the second it passes west to Orsha and south through the White Russian S.S.R. to the Ukrainian S.S.R., where it passes south through the fertile plain of Chernigov and Kiev, and then south east across the rocky steppe to Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav). About 45 m. south of this town it has to force its way across the same granitic offshoot of the Carpathian mountains which inter rupts the course of the Dniester and the Bug, and for a distance of about 25 m. rapid succeeds rapid. The fall of the river in that distance is 155 f t. The Dnieper, having got clear of the rocks, continues south-west through the grassy plains of Kherson and Taurida, and enters the Black sea by a considerable estuary in 46° 30' N. and 32° 2o' E. with the town of Kherson on its right bank. On this ramifying liman, into which the Bug also pours its waters, stands Nikolaiev. Navigation extends as far up as Dorogo buzh, where the depth is about 12 ft., and rafts are floated down from the higher reaches. The banks are generally high, more par ticularly the left bank. About the town of Smolensk the breadth is 455 ft., at the confluence of the Pripet 1,400, and in some parts of the Dnepropetrovsk district more than i4 m. In the course above the rapids the channel varies very greatly in nature and depth, and it is not infrequently interrupted by shallows. The rapids form a serious obstacle to navigation ; it is only for a few weeks when the river is in flood that they are passable, and even then the venture is not without risk and can be undertaken only with the assistance of special pilots. As early as 1732 an attempt was made to im prove the channel. A canal, which ultimately proved too small for use, was constructed at Nenasitets in 178o at private expense; blastings were carried out in 1798 and 1799 at various parts; in i 8o5 a canal was formed at Kaindatski, and the channel straight ened at Sursk; by 1807 a new canal was completed at Nenasitets; in 1833 a passage was cleared through the Staro-Kaindatski rapid; and in the period 1843 to 1853 numerous ameliorations were ef fected. The result has been not only to diminish greatly the dangers of the natural channel, but also to furnish a series of artificial canals by which vessels can make their way when the river is low. A ferro-concrete dam was constructed in 1927 across the falls, under American direction, with sluices and docks for letting ships pass, and a station and turbines for the production of electric power. Of the tributaries of the Dnieper the following are navigable—the Berezina and the Pripet from the right, and the Sozh and the Desna from the left. By means of the Dnieper-Bug (King's) canal, and the Berezina and Oginski canals, this river has water connection with the Baltic sea. In the estuary the fisheries give employment to large numbers of people. At Kiev the river is free from ice on an average for 234 days in the year, at Dnepropetrovsk 27o and at Kherson