The Sviyaga is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the Ulyanovsk Oblast

Ulyanovsk Oblast

Ulyanovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk...

 and Tatarstan

Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

, a right tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Volga River

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

. It has a length of 375 km. The area

Area

Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...

 of the basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is 16,700 km². The Sviyaga River flows into the Sviyaga Cove

Cove

A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...

 of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, west of Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

. It freezes up in November-December and stays under the ice until April-May. Major tributaries are Arya, Bula

Bula River

The Bula is a river in Chuvashia and Tatarstan, Russian Federation, a left-bank tributary of the Sviyaga River. Its length is 118 km and its drainage basin is 1,587 km². It origins in Chuvashia and falls to the Sviyaga River south of Devlikeyevo....

, Karla

Karla

Karla is the feminine form of Karl. Karla can also refer to:- People :* Karla Bonoff, American singer-songwriter* Karla DeVito, American singer* Karla Echenique, a Dominican Republic volleyball player* Karla Erbová, Czech writer...

, Kubnya, Tosha rivers.

The city of Ulyanovsk

Ulyanovsk

Ulyanovsk The city is the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin , for whom it is named.-History:Simbirsk was founded in 1648 by the boyar Bogdan Khitrovo. The fort of "Simbirsk" was strategically placed on a hill on the Western bank of the Volga River...

 is located on the Sviyaga River. In Ulyanovsk, Sviyaga flows only a few miles away from the Volga, but their confluence is about 200 km north from Ulyanovsk.

The castle of Sviyazhsk

Sviyazhsk

Sviyazhsk or Zöyä is a rural locality in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers...

 dates back to 1551 is situated at the island in Sviyaga Cove of the Kuybyshev Reservoir.