Assa (river)

The river is connected by some authors with the Alans in its ethnonym Yasy, as known in the Russian sources.{{sfn|Гольдштейн|1977|p=209}}

It measures {{convert|133|km|mi}} long, and incorporates a drainage basin which is {{convert|2060|km2|mi2}}.{{cite web|url=http://textual.ru/gvr/index.php?card=173387|title=Река Асса (Цирцловн-Цхали)|publisher=State Water Register of Russia|language=Russian|accessdate=25 April 2013}} The basin includes the major part of Ingushetia, areas in the west of Chechnya, as well as minor areas in the north of Georgia. Within the river basin, more than 70% of the territory is subjected to avalanches.{{cite book|last1=Vogtmann|first1=Hartmut|last2=Dobretsov|first2=Nikolai|title=Environmental Security and Sustainable Land Use - with Special Reference to Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kP89MxvJU3wC&pg=PA163|accessdate=28 April 2013|date=26 April 2006|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-4492-2|pages=163–}}

The river's source is on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus in Khevsureti from where it flows north and crosses into Russia. The Assa accepts the Guloykhi from the right and flows through the Erzi Nature Reserve. North of the stanitsa of Nesterovskaya, the Assa turns east, crosses into Chechnya, flows through the stanitsa of Assinovskaya, and accepts the Fortanga from the right. The mouth of the Assa is at the locality of Zakan-Yurt. The principal tributary of the Assa is the Fortanga (right).

The Assa and Terek also flow through the Republic of Ingushetia in a south to north direction. The Assa, Terek and Gulaykhi river valleys are known for their large complex of stone battle towers and dwellings, burial crypts, pagan sanctuaries, and Christian churches". The Ingushes culture of the North Caucasus, one of the ancient cultures, is well preserved here by the Dzheyrakh-Assa Historical and Architectural State Museum.{{cite web|title=The Russian Embassy in Belgium invite you to assist at: Official presentation of the Economic potential of the Republic of Ingushetia by H.E. the President of the Ingush republic Y.B. Evkurov|url=http://www.ccblr.org/en/activities/317/-23-november:-official-presentation-of-the-potential-of-republi-of-ingushetia.-russian-federation.html|publisher=Centre Culturel et Scientifique de Russie|location=Brussels|date=November 23, 2012|access-date=April 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417122756/http://www.ccblr.org/en/activities/317/-23-november:-official-presentation-of-the-potential-of-republi-of-ingushetia.-russian-federation.html|archive-date=April 17, 2016|url-status=dead}} The village of Alkhaste is situated on the river's left bank,{{cite book|title=The Mammals of the Caucasus: A History of the Evolution of the Fauna. (Mlekopitayushchie Kavkaza; Istoriya Formirovaniya Fauny).|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-sTPAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=28 April 2013|edition=Available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Springfield, Va.|year=1967|publisher=Israel Program for Scientific Translations |page=184}} while the rural locality of Samashki is located on the river's outskirts.{{cite book|last=Goltz|first=Thomas|title=Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZ9PxdYNvCEC&pg=PT115|accessdate=28 April 2013|date=10 October 2003|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4299-7435-6|pages=115–}} The village of Alkun is split in two by the river Assa into Lower and Upper Alkun.{{cite book|last=Gammer|first=Moše|title=Ethno-Nationalism, Islam and the State in the Caucasus: Post-Soviet Disorder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5sw_RlQoogC&pg=PA142|accessdate=28 April 2013|date=22 October 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-09853-8|pages=142–}}

The climate in the river valley is characterized as having a frequent drying effect which supports special microzones.

In the Middle Ages, a mine was located on the right bank, measuring {{convert|1|km|mi|1}} in length and {{convert|200|to|250|m}} in width. Finds included an iron bar and working of native gold.{{cite book|last=Blanchard|first=Ian|title=Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages: Asiatic Supremacy, 425-1125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zo2UVs_Sr68C&pg=PA249|accessdate=28 April 2013|year=2001|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|isbn=978-3-515-07958-7|pages=109, 249–}}

Though construction of a railway tunnel was envisaged from Georgia to Russia in the 1980s, including passage through the Assa River valley, construction was suspended a decade later.{{cite book|last=Price|first=Martin F.|title=Cooperation in the European Mountains: The Caucasus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dfNGbFCp5QC&pg=PA111|accessdate=28 April 2013|year=2000|publisher=IUCN|isbn=978-2-8317-0534-7|pages=111–}}

The upper reaches of the Assa and the Armhi have been combined into a natural reservation called the Dzheyrakh-Assa Museum-Reserve, which has canyon valleys. Its historical importance is due to the medieval Christian Temple of 12th century and several other structures of Bronze Age (9th through 6th centuries BC), 300 towers of the 16th and 17th centuries which are habitable and where battles were fought, and 18 human habitats including 200 vaults dated to the same era. For these historical reasons, the Jeyrakh-Assa Reservation has been proposed to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/569/|title=Historical and Cultural Jeyrakh-Assa Reservation|accessdate=29 April 2013|publisher=UNESCO Organization}}

• Dzheyrakh-Assa Museum-Reserve
• Asa Managed Reserve

{{notelist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Гольдштейн|first=А. Ф.|year=1977|url=https://instituteofhistory.ru/media/library/publication/files/%D0%93%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BD_%D0%90.%D0%A4._1977._%D0%91%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%B2_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85.pdf|title=Башни в горах|trans-title=Towers in the mountains|language=ru|location=Москва|publisher=Советский художник|pages=1–331}}
• {{Cite book|last=Джанашвили|first=М. Г.|author-link=Mose Janashvili|year=1897|url=http://soigsi.com/index.php/proekt-redkaya-kniga-grant-prezidenta-rf/721-dzhanashvili-m-g-izvestiya-gruzinskikh-letopisej-i-istorikov-o-severnom-kavkaze-i-rossii|title=Известия грузинских летописей и историков о Северном Кавказе и России|trans-title=Bulletin of Georgian chronicles and historians about the North Caucasus and Russia|language=ru|location=Тифлис|publisher=Типография К.П. Козловского. Головинский пр.. № 12|pages=1–209}}

{{reflist|30em}}

Category:Rivers of Chechnya

Category:Rivers of Ingushetia

Category:Rivers of Georgia (country)

Category:International rivers of Asia

Category:International rivers of Europe