Ural, formerly Yaik, a river of Russia, forming a part of the geographical boundary between Europe and Asia. It takes its rise in the district of Troitzk, in the Asiatic portion of the government of Orenburg, in the S. part of the Ural mountains. Its source is about 1,600 ft. above the sea, and it flows at first S. past Upper Uralsk, Magnitnaya, and Kizilskaya, bends W. near Orsk, passes Orenburg, and turning S. E. flows past Uralsk, thence S., and discharges into the Caspian sea by several mouths, near Guriev, about lat. 47° N. Its length is estimated at about 1,100 m. Its principal affluents are: on the right, the Kizil, Tanalyk, and Sakmara; on the left, the Or and Ilek. In its upper portion it is obstructed by rapids, and flows through a mountainous country; lower down it passes through wide steppes or saline plains, one of which lying between this river and the Volga is called the Uralian steppe. Toward winter the river near its mouth abounds with fish. The navigation of the Ural is of very little importance.

A line of forts has been erected along its shores as a defence against the Bashkirs and Kirghiz.