River · Kazakhstan
Irtysh
The Irtysh is the longest river connected with Kazakhstan. It rises in the Altai mountains and travels about 4248 kilometres northwest, ending where it joins the great Ob near Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia.
Picture credit: Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Newbamboo (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Irtysh?
The river starts here: Altai mountains on the eastern edge of the region.
It ends in the the Ob near Khanty-Mansiysk.
Countries on the river: Kazakhstan.
The story behind it
The Irtysh is one of the longest rivers on earth, and it never reaches a sea by itself: it ends in the Ob, which carries the water on to the Arctic. The figure of 4248 kilometres counts the whole journey, although only part of it lies in Kazakhstan, so different books count the river in different ways. It starts as a mountain stream in the Altai, passes through a long reservoir, then wanders across flat steppe where the wind blows for days. Farther north it enters the Siberian forest, where the banks are lined with birch and pine. In winter the river freezes into a hard white road, and in spring the breaking ice piles up and floods the meadows. Cities such as Omsk grew up on its banks.
Questions children ask
How long is the Irtysh?
The whole course of the Irtysh measures about 4248 kilometres. Only a part of that distance lies in Kazakhstan, which is why sources give different numbers.
Which countries does the Irtysh flow through?
Here the Irtysh is listed as the river of Kazakhstan, where a long middle section flows. Its upper course starts in the mountains further east, and its last stretch crosses Siberia in Russia.
Where does the Irtysh end?
The Irtysh flows into the Ob near the Siberian town of Khanty-Mansiysk. From there the combined water travels north and finally reaches the Arctic Ocean.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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