The Bolshoy Anyuy ("Great Anyuy") is a river in the Kolyma basin in Far East Siberia. Administratively most of the basin of the Bolshoy Anyuy and its tributaries belong to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia.

Geography

It flows roughly westwards and passes through the sparsely populated areas of Chukotka, its valley forming the southern border of the Anyuy Range. The Maly Anyuy joins it from the north near the Sakha Republic border and the combined river (now called the Anyuy) properly flows about 20 km to meet the Kolyma at Nizhnekolymsk. Its length is 693 km and its basin area 57300 km2.

History

In 1650, Mikhail Stadukhin and Semyon Motora found a portage from the upper Bolshoy Anyuy to the upper Anadyr (probably its Yablon branch). This became the main cossack route from the Kolyma to the Pacific.