Ural

River in the southern Ural Mountains, which crosses the territory of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, and is generally regarded as forming the northern part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia; length 2,428 km/1,509 mi. The river rises in the Ural Mountains and flows south through the cities of Magnitogorsk and Orenburg, emptying into the Caspian Sea at Guryev in Kazakhstan. From the 17th century onwards, the banks of the Ural River have been the seat of Cossack culture.