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The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Ukrainian territory again.
The names of the Don and Danube are also from the same Iranian word *dānu "river". Classical authors have also referred to it as Danaster. These early forms, without - i- but with - a-, contradict Abaev's hypothesis. Edward Gibbon refers to the river both as the Niester and Dniester in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.Edward Gibbon. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol 1 chapt 11
In Ukrainian, it is known as Дністе́р (translit. Dnister), in Romanian as Nistru, in Russian language as Днестр (translit. Dnestr), in Polish language as Dniestr, in Yiddish language as Nester נעסטער; in Turkish language as Turla (), and in Lithuanian as Dniestras.
Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the de facto end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.
In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to Herodotus (iv.51) it rose in a large lake, whilst Ptolemy (iii.5.17, 8.1 &c.) places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modern Carpathian Mountains), and Strabo (ii) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lower Danube), and formed part of the boundary between Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister, the distance between them being 900 stadia – approximately – according to Strabo (vii.), while (from the Pseudostoma) according to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26). Scymnus (Fr. 51) describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish. Ovid ( ex Pont. iv.10.50) speaks of its rapid course.
Greek authors referred to the river as Tyras ().Strabo ii. At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus,Amm. Marc. xxxi. 3. § 3; Jornand. Get. 5; Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. 8 whence its modern name of Dniester (Niester), though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century.Herod. iv. 11, 47, 82; Scylax, p. 29; Strab. i. p. 14; Mela, ii. 1, etc.; also Schaffarik, Slav. Alterth. i. p. 505. The form Τύρις is sometimes found.Stephanus of Byzantium, p. 671; Suid. s. v.
According to Constantine VII, the Varangians used boats on their trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, along Dniester and Dnieper and along the Black Sea shore. The navigation near the western shore of Black Sea contained stops at Aspron (at the mouth of Dniester), then Conopa, Constantia (localities today in Romania) and Messembria (today in Bulgaria).
From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of the Moldavia.
Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. In 1919, on Easter Sunday, the bridge was blown up by the French Army to protect Bender from the . During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river.
After the Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.
In Moldova, the Dniester Day () is celebrated every year in the last Sunday of May.
Left tributaries, on the northeast side, are the Strwiąż (), Zubra, Hnyla Lypa (), Zolota Lypa (), Koropets (), Strypa (), Seret (), Zbruch (), Smotrych (), (), (), (), Murafa (), (), (), and Kuchurhan (). Dnister River Encyclopedia of Ukraine, accessed 15 December 2022
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