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This page is for a river in western Russia. For the river in Siberia with the same name, see Oka River (Siberia).
Map of the Volga watershed with the Oka highlighted
Oka (Russian: Ока́) is a large river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the Oblasts of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod. Its length exceeds 1500 km (932 miles).
The name of the river originates in Finno-Ugric languages spoken in the area before the Slavic expansion, probably Meshcheran language, meaning "river" (compare Finnish joki). Historically, the river gave its name to the Upper Oka Principalities, situated upstream from Tarusa. One of the largest Russian cities, Nizhny Novgorod, was founded to protect the Oka's confluence with the Volga. The Russian capital Moscow sits on one of the Oka's tributaries – the Moskva River.
[edit] See also
[edit] Main tributaries
[edit] Cities and towns on the Oka
