Henan province is named because most of its history lies south of the Yellow River. In ancient times, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were criss-crossed, with dense forests and numerous wild elephants. Henan is described as a place where people hold elephants, which is the origin of the hieroglyph "Yu" and the origin of Henan's abbreviation "Yu".
Henan, located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, is one of the cradles of ancient civilization in China, where human beings lived and multiplied at the latest 500,000 years ago. Seven or eight thousand years ago, during the Peiligang cultural period, handicrafts such as agriculture, animal husbandry and pottery were already produced here; By the middle and late period of Longshan culture more than 4,000 years ago, the Central Plains had entered the era of combining stone and copper, and private ownership and class sprouted.
Extended data
The Yellow River originated in Zhaqu at the southern foot of ChaHasila Mountain, bayan har branch of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the south it originated in Kariqu at the northern foot of Geyaya Mountain, bayan har branch, and in the west it originated in Yueguzong music in the west of Xingsuhai. It is shaped like a "few" and flows from west to east through nine provinces (autonomous regions) including Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, and finally flows into the Bohai Sea.
The middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River are dominated by mountains, while the middle and lower reaches are dominated by plains and hills. Because the middle section of the river flows through the Loess Plateau in China and carries a lot of sediment, it is also called the river with the largest sediment concentration in the world. However, in the history of China, the diversion of the lower Yellow River has brought great influence to human civilization.
The upper reaches are Heyuan to Hekou Town, Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a river length of 347 1.6km and a drainage area of 428,000 square kilometers, accounting for 53.8% of the total drainage area.
The rock gorge in maduo county on the upper reaches of the Yellow River is called Heyuan District. Heyuan is called Maqu locally. "Horse" means peacock in Tibetan, "Qu" means river, and "Maqu" means peacock river. Peacock River starts from Maquguori in the southwest corner of the Yogu Zonglie Basin (meaning the source of the Yellow River), and the springs in front of the hillside converge into three streams, east, middle and west, the largest of which is located in the east. The local Tibetans call it Maquguozi (the source of the Yellow River), and its geographical location is 95 59' 24 "east longitude and 35 01'60 east longitude.
The Yellow River runs from Hekou Town to Taohuayu, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. The middle reaches are1206.4km long, with a drainage area of 344,000km2, accounting for 43.3% of the total drainage area, with a drop of 890m and an average gradient of 7.4? .
When the Yellow River flows out of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge, the river surface suddenly becomes clear and the water flow is gentle. From Yumenkou to Tongguan, the river is 125 km long, with a drop of 52 meters and a gradient of 4? . The river valley is 3 ~15 km wide, with an average width of 8.5km ... The river course is obvious and the beach surface is wide, with an area of 600 square kilometers. The beach surface is 0.5 ~ 2.0m higher than the water surface. The scouring and silting of this section of the river changes dramatically, and the main stream swings frequently. It is said to be a wandering river course of "thirty years east river, thirty years west river". The area from Yumenkou to Tongguan is 6.5438+0.85 million square kilometers, and the main tributaries are Weihe River and Fenhe River.
Taohuayu to the mouth of the Yellow River is downstream. The basin covers an area of 23,000 square kilometers, accounting for only 3% of the total basin area. The river is 785.6 kilometers long with a drop of 94 meters. The gradient is steep and gentle, with an average value of 1. 1.65438? . The lower reaches of the river cross the North China Plain, and most rivers are constrained by dikes. The total area of the river is 4240 square kilometers. Due to a large amount of sediment deposition, the river channel is raised year by year, and the riverbed is 3-5 meters higher than the back river. Cao Gang, Fengqiu and some other river sections in Henan are 10 meters higher, which are world-famous "suspended rivers" and become the watershed of Huaihe River and Haihe River systems.
Limited by historical conditions, the lower reaches of the Yellow River are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The reach from Taohuayu in Lankao to Dongbatou is 136 km long, belonging to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the dikes on both sides have a history of 300-500 years. The reach from Dongbatou to Taochengpu is 236 kilometers long. 1855, the Yellow River burst and diverted. After more than 20 years of floods, dikes were gradually built. Taochengpu is the old road of Daqing River.
Because the Yellow River transports a lot of sediment to the estuary, most of it is deposited in the coastal areas, and reclamation has shaped the Yellow River Delta. With the siltation-expansion-swing of the Yellow River estuary, the flow path into the sea changes. Historically, the rivers below Lijin have been diverted many times. After 1949, there have been three planned artificial diversions, and the length of the estuary has been changing. In the 1990s, the Yellow River Estuary's flow path into the sea was a new channel gradually silted up after being diverted by 1976 Qingshuigou.