1.
Republics of Russia
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According to the Constitution, the Russian Federation is divided into 85 federal subjects,22 of which are republics. Most of the republics represent areas of ethnicity, although there are several republics with Russian majority. The indigenous ethnic group of a republic that gives it its name is referred to as the titular nationality, due to decades of internal migration inside Russia, each nationality is not necessarily a majority of a republics population. Republics differ from other subjects of Russia in that they have the right to establish their own official language and have their own constitution. Other federal subjects, such as krais and oblasts, are not explicitly given this right, the level of actual autonomy granted to such political units varies but is generally quite extensive. The parliamentary assemblies of such republics have often enacted laws which are at odds with the federal constitution, the republics executives tend to be very powerful. However, this autonomy was lessened considerably under Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition, Putin strengthened the position of the republics legislatures, while weakening their executives power. The Presidents nomination must be accepted by the republics parliament, there are secessionist movements in most republics, but these are generally not very strong. However, there was support for secession among Tatars, Bashkirs, Yakuts. On March 18,2014, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol were joined by treaty to the Russian Federation, much of the international community and the Ukrainian government do not recognize Crimeas accession to Russia and consider Crimea an integral part of Ukraine. After the dissolution of the USSR, each republic was succeeded by a republic with a similar name. Several autonomous oblasts have become republics as well, the expression autonomous republic is still sometimes used for the republics of Russia
2.
Flag of Mari El
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The flag of Mari El, a federal subject and republic in the Russian Federation, was adopted by the Parliament of Mari El on 30 November 2006. The Flag of Mari El is a cloth with a width to length ratio of 2,3. In the white stripe a dark red Mari cross is placed, within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the flag adorned the Russian SFSR flag with the republics name on the bottom. From 1992 to 2006, Mari El used a different flag and this flag had the horizontal bars in the ration 1,2,1, and below the Mari cross the republics name was written. Flags of the World, Flags of Mari El
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
5.
Federal districts of Russia
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The federal districts are groupings of the federal subjects of Russia. Plenipotentiary Representatives are appointed by the President and are employees of the Presidential Administration, source, President Vladimir Putin established seven federal districts in May 2000. On January 19,2010 the new North Caucasian Federal District split from the Southern Federal District, on March 2014, after the Russian military intervention in and annexation of Crimea, the Crimean Federal District was established. The legality of this annexation is disputed by most states as well as NATO, on July 28,2016 the Crimean Federal District was abolished and merged into the Southern Federal District in order to improve the governance
6.
Volga Federal District
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Volga Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It forms the part of European Russia. Its population was 29,899,699 according to the 2010 Census, Mikhail Babich was appointed the federal districts Presidential Envoy on December 15,2011. The district comprises the Volga, Volga-Vyatka and Urals economic regions and fourteen federal subjects, Sergey Kiriyenko Alexander Konovalov Grigory Rapota Mikhail Babich
7.
Economic regions of Russia
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No federal subject can belong to more than one economic region. Economic regions are grouped into economic zones. An economic region or its parts can belong to more than one economic zone, establishment and abolition of economic regions and economic zones or any changes in their composition are decided upon by the federal government of Russia. The following is the list and composition of the economic regions, sorted by population
8.
Yoshkar-Ola
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Yoshkar-Ola is the capital city of the Mari El Republic, Russia. Its population is about a quarter million, Yoshkar-Ola means red city in Mari and was formerly known as Tsaryovokokshaysk before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk between 1919 and 1927 and Charla. Yoshkar-Ola was established as a fortress in 1584, following the Russian conquest of the Mari region. Yoshkar-Ola means red city in Mari, the current name is the third to have been given to the city. The city was known as Tsaryovokokshaysk before 1919 and as Krasnokokshaysk between 1919 and 1927 and these names were derived from the name of the Malaya Kokshaga River, which runs through the city. The citys old Mari name was Charla, Yoshkar-Ola was established as a military fortress in 1584, following the Russian conquest of the Mari region. During the Soviet era, especially after World War II, the city was an industrial and transport center. The collapse of the Soviet Union removed support for state enterprises, much of the citys economic activity was supported by shuttle traders who would transport goods from the bustling markets of Moscow to Yoshkar-Olas bazaars. The sharp decline in living standards led to the emigration of specialized professionals to larger cities in Russia, Yoshkar-Ola is the capital of the republic. As a municipal division, the city of republic significance of Yoshkar-Ola is incorporated as Yoshkar-Ola Urban Okrug, Yoshkar-Ola is linked to other cities and regions in Russia by a series of train and bus routes. The local train station is served by a daily train to and from the capital Moscow with other short-service trains running to. Moscow and various nearby towns and regions can also be reached by buses departing from the local bus station. The Yoshkar-Ola Airport is also located 9 km north of the city and it is planned to expand the range of destinations in the near future. Destinations within the city limits can be reached through a network of buses, trolleys, there are currently seven different bus routes, eleven different trolley routes, and seventeen marshrutka routes. A train leaves Yoshkar-Ola every evening at 19,00 to Moscow, climate of Yoshkar-Ola is very similar to Nizhny Novgorod or Kirov. The city is situated in a continental climate. The winters are long and cold with lots of snow, with average January temperatures from −10 to −15 °C, additionally, Yoshkar-Ola has many private educational centers offering different qualifications and trainings in such disciplines as foreign languages, computer science and many others. The 14th Kiev-Zhitomir Rocket Division of the 27th Guards Missile Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces is located nearby, Yoshkar-Ola is twinned with, Szombathely, Hungary Bourges, France Princeton, West Virginia, United States Official website of Yoshkar-Ola Map of Yoshkar-Ola 24 июня1995 г
9.
Federal subjects of Russia
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Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Three Russian cities of importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject which comprises other cities and towns within federal city keeping old structure of postal address. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed, by 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Federal subjects have their own constitution and legislation, subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The federal subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council and they do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. Composition of post-Soviet Russia was formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR, the Federation Treaty was included in the text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government in the world. There are several groupings of Russian regions, Federal subjects should not be confused with the eight Federal districts which are not subdivisions of Russia, are much larger and each encompass many federal subjects. Federal districts were created by Executive Order of the President of Russia specially for presidential envoys, an official government translation of the Constitution of Russia in Article 5 states,1. Another translation of the Constitution of Russia gives for article 65, each federal subject belongs to one of the following types, b. ^ According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, however, St. Petersburg is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, however, Moscow is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ Not recognized internationally as a part of Russia, the merging process was finished on March 1,2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008, Федерального конституционного закона №7-ФКЗ от30 декабря2008 г. Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Российская газета, №237,25 декабря1993 г
10.
Time in Russia
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There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02,00 to UTC+12,00. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia, since 4 December 2016, the time zones are as follows, Daylight saving time in Russia was originally introduced on 30 June 1917 by a decree of the Russian Provisional Government. However, it was abandoned by a Decree of the Soviet government five months later, Daylight saving time was re-introduced in the USSR on 1 April 1981, by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The usage of daylight saving time continued after the Soviet collapse but ended in 2011, on 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. In the Russian Empire, most of the observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced on 1 January 1880,2,30,17 corresponds to 37. 6166667°, the longitude of Moscow. Other parts of Russia kept solar time for several years. At this time, Russia had the Julian calendar with 12 or 13 days less date compared to Western Europe, so it is possible to say the Moscow actually had GMT-285,29,43, GMT-309,29,43 and GMT-309,28,41. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar on Thursday,14 February 1918, after the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+2 and the various other time zones were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time GMT+7. Between 1917-1922 the time was ordered, with daylight savings time some of those years. On 21 June 1930, the Soviet Union advanced all clocks by one hour, Moscow Time was now GMT+3 and Irkutsk Time GMT+8. On 1 April 1981, daylight saving time was re-introduced, clocks were moved one hour forward on 1 April, on 1 April 1981,00,00,00, Oymyakonsky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+8. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+9 to UTC+12, on 1 April 1982,00,00,00, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug changed its time zone from MSK+10 to MSK+9, thus eliminating Anadyr Time. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+14 to UTC+13, on 27 March 1988,02,00,00, Saratov and Volgograd oblasts changed its time zone from MSK+1 to MSK. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+5 to UTC+4, on 23 May 1993,00,00,00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+8 to UTC+7, on 28 May 1995,00,00,00, Altai Krai and Altai Republic changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 30 March 1997,02,00,00, Sakhalin Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+8 to MSK+7, on 1 May 2002,03,00,00, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 1 January 2004,00,00,00, New Siberian Islands, Tomponsky District, the following time zone changes occurred on 28 March 2010, which, in particular, led to abolition of two of the eleven time zones
11.
Vehicle registration plates of Russia
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Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in Russia for many decades. Most motor vehicles which are used on roads are required by law to display them. The current format uses a letter followed by 3 digits and two more letters, to improve legibility of the numbers for Russian cars abroad, only a small subset of Cyrillic characters that look like Latin characters are used. Finally, the number and letters RUS are included, as well as the national flag. There is a different format for trailers, motorcycles, mopeds and scooters plates are made of square reflective plates and its format is 4 digits at the top and two letters at the bottom. Some autonomous regions are not required to have the flag on the licence plates, vehicles used by certain organisations or categories of persons carry special plates, Special plates in the above categories never carry the Russian flag, except for trailers. There are special reserved for government officials. The license plates for government officials originally had a larger flag instead of the regional code. Rich businessmen, prominent politicians and crime lords often use para-legally acquired special licence plates to get preferential treatment from the transport police, often, this is used in conjunction with a flashing siren. The Society of Blue Buckets is a protest movement that opposes this trend, as of 2014, there are new codes for Russian plates, number 82 for the Republic of Crimea and 92 for Sevastopol. The Russian Federation then officially annexed Crimea from Ukraine and now administers it as two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Ukraine, backed by most of the community, refuses to accept the annexation. As per GOST provision, only 1,726,272 combinations may be issued within one administration unit, in certain regions, the amount of vehicles exceeds that number, and the combination may not be reused after a vehicle was taken off the registration. All this creates an issue of running out of numbers, a short-term solution was introducing more codes for those regions. Introduction of new license plate is being considered as a future solution. In the following years some codes were reassigned or discontinued, as the populous regions started running out of license plate combinations, new codes past code 89 were assigned to them as well. Additional triple-digit codes were created by adding a 1 or a 7 to the regional code. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs Order 282 from March 28,2002, 1Code 059 is a former code for Syria
12.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
13.
Mari language
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The Mari language, spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin, Mari speakers, known as the Mari are found also in the Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions. Mari is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian, the Mari language today has two standard forms, Hill Mari and Meadow Mari. Both language forms use modified versions of Cyrillic script, the Mari language and people were known as Cheremis. In medieval texts the variant forms Sarmys and Tsarmys are also found, as well as Tatar, Cyrillic Чирмеш, Latin Çirmeş, and Chuvash, Ҫармӑс, Şarmăs before the Russian Revolution. The term Mari comes from the Maris autonym марий, which is thought to have borrowed from the Indo-Aryan term *maryá- man, literally mortal. Most Maris live in areas with slightly more than a quarter living in cities. In the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola, the percentage of Maris is just over 23 percent, at the end of the 1980s Maris numbered 670,868, of whom 80% claimed Mari as their first language and 18. 8% did not speak Mari. In the Mari Republic,11. 6% claimed Mari was not their first language, some qualitative evidence of a reversal in recent years has been noted. After the October Revolution, there was a period of support of all lesser national cultures in the Soviet Union, the period of glasnost and perestroika in the 1990s opened opportunities for a revival of efforts expand the use of Mari in education and the public sphere. In the 1990s, the Mari language, alongside Russian, was proclaimed in the constitution to be an official language of Mari El. By the beginning of the 21st century, Mari language and literature was taught in 226 schools, at the History and Philology Department of the Mari State University and the Krupskaya Teachers Training Institute, more than half of the subjects are taught in Mari. The principal division between Mari varieties is the West and the East, north-Western Mari Meadow Mari, spoken on the left Volgan bank on the central and eastern plain of Mari El around the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola. Eastern Mari is scattered to the east of Mari El from Vyatka through Kama to Ufa, each main dialect is divided into their own smaller local subdialects. Only Hill and Meadow Mari have their own written standard varieties, based on the dialects of Kozmodemyansk. Eastern and Meadow Mari are often united as a Meadow-Eastern supra-dialect, north-Western Mari is transitional between the Hill and Meadow dialects, and its phonology and morphology are closer to Hill Mari. Mari is mostly written with the Cyrillic script, like other Uralic languages, Mari is an agglutinating language. It lacks grammatical gender, and does not use articles, generally, there is one prominent syllable per word and prominence may be found in any syllable of the word
14.
European Russia
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Russia is not proportionately populated between the smaller western portion of the country that is considered part of Europe, and the larger eastern portion that is part of Asia. European Russia contains about 77% of the population in an area comprising almost 4 million km2. This territory makes up 38% of Europe and its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south, it is defined by the border with Kazakhstan. This area includes Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two largest cities in Russia, the eastern portion of Russia, mostly Siberia, is part of Asia and makes up more than 75% of the territory with 22% of the countrys population at 2.5 persons per km2. The term “European Russia” was used in the Russian Empire to refer to traditional East Slavic territories under Russian control, including what is now Belarus, administrative districts do not exactly line up with European Russia, but they are decent approximations, depending on exactly how Europe is defined. There are two trends, one to use administrative divisions north of the terminus of the Ural River. Similarly, the imaginary line if straight, could include parts of very sparsely populated Northwestern Federal District
15.
Volga River
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The Volga is the longest river in Europe. It is also Europes largest river in terms of discharge and watershed, the river flows through central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely regarded as the national river of Russia. Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka in Russian literature and folklore. The Slavic name is a translation of earlier Scythian Rā Volga, literally wetness, cognate with Avestan Raŋhā mythical stream and Sanskrit rasā́- dew, liquid, juice. The Scythian name survives in modern Mordvin Rav Volga, the Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as Itil or Atil big river. In modern Turkic languages, the Volga is known as İdel in Tatar, Атăл in Chuvash, Idhel in Bashkir, Edil in Kazakh, the Turkic peoples associated the Itils origin with the Kama. Thus, a tributary to the Kama was named the Aq Itil White Itil which unites with the Kara Itil Black Itil at the modern city of Ufa. The name Indyl is used in Adyge language, among Asians, the river was known by its other Turkic name Sarı-su yellow water, but the Oirats also used their own name, Ijil mörön or adaptation river. Presently the Mari, another Uralic group, call the river Jul, formerly, they called the river Volgydo, a borrowing from Old Russian. The Volga is the longest river in Europe and it belongs to the closed basin of the Caspian Sea, being the longest river to flow into a closed basin. From there it turns south, flows past Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, Samara, Saratov and Volgograd, at its most strategic point, it bends toward the Don. Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is located there, the Volga has many tributaries, most importantly the rivers Kama, the Oka, the Vetluga, and the Sura. The Volga and its tributaries form the Volga river system, which flows through an area of about 1,350,000 square kilometres in the most heavily populated part of Russia. The Volga Delta has a length of about 160 kilometres and includes as many as 500 channels, the largest estuary in Europe, it is the only place in Russia where pelicans, flamingos, and lotuses may be found. The Volga freezes for most of its length for three each year. The Volga drains most of Western Russia and its many large reservoirs provide irrigation and hydroelectric power. The Moscow Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and the Volga–Baltic Waterway form navigable waterways connecting Moscow to the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov, high levels of chemical pollution have adversely affected the river and its habitats
16.
Russian Census (2010)
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The Russian Census of 2010 is the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2002 and the second after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the census began in 2007 and it took place between October 14 and October 25, the census was originally scheduled for October 2010, but was moved to 2013 allegedly for financial reasons, although it was also speculated that political motives were influential in the decision. However, in late 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the Government of Russia allocated 10.5 billion rubles in order to conduct the census as originally scheduled, Results showed the population to stand at 142.9 million. Since the previous 2002 census, population has decreased by 2.3 million, according to the 2010 census, urban population is 105.3 million, rural population is 37.5 million. The urbanisation rate is currently 73. 7%, the median age is 38 years. The ethnic composition is dominated by Russians, demographics of Russia Russian Census 2010 final results Results of 2010 All-Russia population census Official website of the 2010 Census
17.
Capital city
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
18.
Ethnic groups in Russia
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Russia is a multi-national state with over 185 ethnic groups designated as nationalities, the populations of these groups vary enormously, from millions to under 10,000. Among the 85 subjects which constitute Russia, there are 21 national republics,5 autonomous okrugs and 1 autonomous oblast, although the constitution of Russia recognizes Russian as the official language, the individual republics may declare one or more official languages. Most of subjects have at least two — Russian and the language of the eponymous nationality. There is a minority language scene in most subjects of the country, with more than 1,350 newspapers. Moreover, new legislation allows usage of minority languages in federal radio, in 2007, there were 6,260 schools which provided teaching in altogether 38 minority languages, and over 75 minority languages were taught as a discipline in 10,404 schools. Ministers of Council of Europe has noted efforts to improve the supply of minority language textbooks and teachers, however, as Ministers has noted, there remain shortcomings in the access to education of persons belonging to certain minorities. Theres a significant difference between ethnic groups and nationalities without their own national territory, as resources of the last are relatively limited. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia passed legislation to protect rights of small northern indigenous peoples, gil-Robles has noted agreements between indigenous representatives and oil companies, which are to compensate potential damages on peoples habitats due to oil exploration
19.
Mari people
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The Mari are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. Almost half of Maris today live in the Mari El republic, in the past, the Mari have also been known as the Cheremis in Russian and the Çirmeş in Tatar. In the 2002 Russian census,604,298 people identified themselves as Mari, almost 60% of Mari lived in rural areas. The Mari have their own language, also called Mari, which is a member of the Uralic language family and it is written with a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet. In the 2002 census,451,033 people stated that spoke the Mari language. Maris have traditionally practiced a pagan faith that closely connected the individual with nature, according to their beliefs, nature exerts a magical influence over people. They relate to it as a sacred, powerful, and living being outside of man cannot exist. Nature serves as a source of absolute good who always helps man as long as he does not harm or oppose it, the Mari native religion also possesses a pantheon of gods who reside in the heavens, the most important of whom is known as the Great White God. Other lesser gods include the god of fire and the god of wind, the Mari also believe in a number of half-men, half-gods who live on earth. The most revered of these is Chumbulat, or Chumbylat, a renowned leader, christianity was adopted by the Mari in the 16th century after their territory was incorporated into the Russian Empire during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. Pagans constitute a significant minority of 25 to 40% of the Mari, most Mari are members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Osteopetrosis affects 1 newborn out of every 20,000 to 250,000 worldwide, during the Soviet Era, the Mari Section was set up under the auspices of Narkomnats, the Peoples Commissariat for nationalities. Its task was to facilitate the union of the Mari people with other people, to abolish anti-Russian mistrust. In practice this involved facilitating grain requisitions by the Soviet state, the recruitment of soldiers for the Red Army, Mari people were generally dis-empowered by these changes. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the situation in Mari El first improved, then declined to the point where the ethnic Mari people are undergoing forced Russification and cultural suppression. The ethnically Russian former Communist Head of State Leonid Markelov has led or allowed an attack on Mari culture. Under his leadership, the government ordered many Mari language newspapers to close, the Marla faith of the Mari people has encountered hostility as well. Vitaly Tanakov was charged with inciting religious, national, social, Mari people have responded to this pressure by organizing methods of cultural preservation and celebration, starting, for instance, a summer school to teach youth Mari language and culture
20.
Finno-Ugric
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Finno-Ugric, Finno-Ugrian or Fenno-Ugric is a traditional grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except the Samoyedic languages. Its commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th-century and is criticized by contemporary linguists. In the past, and occasionally today as well, the term Finno-Ugric was used for the entire Uralic language family and it has been proposed that the area in which Proto-Finno-Ugric was spoken reached between the Baltic Sea and the Ural Mountains. A large amount of vocabulary is only reconstructed up to the Proto-Finno-Ugric level and that methodology has been criticised, as no coherent explanation other than inheritance has been presented for the origin of most of the Finno-Ugric vocabulary. The Samoyedic group has undergone a period of independent development. Proponents of the binary division note, however, that the invocation of extensive contact influence on vocabulary is at odds with the grammatical conservatism of Samoyedic. The consonant *š has not been shown to occur in the traditional Proto-Uralic lexicon. Regular sound changes proposed for this stage are few and remain open to interpretation, *ńäxl+mä → *ńäälmä → *ńälmä tongue Sammallahti further reconstructs sound changes *oo, *ee → *a, *ä for the development from Proto-Finno-Ugric to Proto-Ugric. Similar sound laws are required for other languages as well, janhunen notes a number of derivational innovations in Finno-Ugric, including *ńoma hare → *ńoma-la, *pexli side → *peel-ka → *pelka thumb, though involving Proto-Uralic derivational elements. The Finno-Ugric group is not typologically distinct from Uralic as a whole, the relation of the Finno-Permic and the Ugric groups is adjudged remote by some scholars. But the grouping is far from transparent or securely established, the absence of early records is a major obstacle. As for the Finno-Ugric Urheimat, most of what has been said about it is speculation, however, this approach has been rejected by nearly all other specialists in Uralic linguistics. One argument in favor of the Finno-Ugric grouping has come from loanwords, below are the numbers 1 to 10 in several Finno-Ugric languages. Forms in italic do not descend from the reconstructed forms, the number 2 descends in Ugric from a front-vocalic variant *kektä. The numbers 9 and 8 in Finnic through Mari are considered to be derived from the numbers 1 and 2 as 10–1 and 10–2. One reconstruction is *yk+teksa and *kak+teksa respectively, where *teksa cf. deka is an Indo-European loan, another analysis is *ykt-e-ksa, *kakt-e-ksa, with *e being the negative verb. 100-word Swadesh lists for certain Finno-Ugric languages can be compared and contrasted at the Rosetta Project website, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, the four largest groups that speak Finno-Ugric languages are Hungarians, Finns, Estonians, and Mordvins. Three inhabit independent nation-states, Hungary, Finland, and Estonia, the traditional area of the indigenous Sami people is in Northern Fenno-Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula in Northwest Russia and is known as Sápmi
21.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
22.
Tatars
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The Tatars are a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century CE. The name Tatar first appears in form on the Kul Tigin monument as
23.
Chuvash people
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The Chuvash people are a Turkic ethnic group, native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia. Most of them live in Republic of Chuvashia and surrounding areas, the Tabghach An early medieval Xianbei clan and founders of the Northern Wei dynasty in China. The Old Turkic name Tabghach was used by some Inner Asian peoples to refer to China long after this dynasty, gerard Clauson has shown that through regular sound changes, the clan name Tabghach may have transformed to the ethnonym Chuvash. There are rival schools of thought on the origin of the Chuvash people, one is that they originated from a mixing between the Turkic Sabir tribes of Volga Bulgaria and also according to some researches with local Finno-Ugric populations. Another is that the Chuvash are a remainder of the pre-Volga Bulgar population of the Volga region and they are unusually susceptible to Osteopetrosis, with a prevalence of 1 of every 3, 500–4,000 newborns. The closest ancestors of the Chuvashes seem to be the Turkic Volga Bulgars and it cannot be absolutely proven that the Chuvashs are indeed direct descendants of the early Bulgars, but it is does seem very likely. Racially, the Chuvash seem to be a mixed Finnic and Turkic type, in the samples of the Chuvash DNA project haplogroups J2 and E are more common than the rest of the haplogroups among Chuvashes, followed by N and R1a. According to the data of Rootsi et al, Chuvash carriers of Haplogroup R1a belong to the Balto-Slavic Z282 subclade. A study sampling of unrealted 96 Chuvashes concluded, Earlier genetic research using autosomal DNA markers suggested a Finno-Ugric origin for the Chuvash and this study examines non-recombining DNA markers to better elucidate their origins. The majority of individuals in this sample exhibit haplogroups H, U, and K, all representative of western and northern Europeans, multidimensional scaling was used to examine distances between the Chuvash and 8 reference populations compiled from the literature. Mismatch analysis showed a unimodal distribution, along with neutrality tests, the mismatch distribution is suggestive of an expanding population. Their maternal markers appear to most closely resemble Finno-Ugric speakers rather than fellow Turkic speakers, later, the assertion H, U, and K are absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations turned into virtually absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations. MtDNA gene pool was found to be 89. 1% Caucasian,9. 1% Mongoloid, thus, present-day Chuvash who speak an Altaic-Turkic language are probably more closely related to ancient Mesopotamian-Hittites and northern European populations than to central Asia-Altaic people. Thus, the signal for Chuvashes is close to the supposed arrival time of Oghur speakers in the Volga region. The Chuvash have a central European and some Mediterranean genetic background, Chuvash and the fifth representing present day Bulgarians. From the data obtained in the present work, the backgrounds of both populations are clearly different. On the other hand, whether the Chuvash are a remnant of the Bulgar Hordes cannot be resolved with the data presented in this paper, and further studies are necessary. In the beginning of the first century AD, the Bulgars started moving west through Zhetysu, there they established several states (Old Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast and the Suar Duchy in modern-day Dagestan
24.
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
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Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, also known in English as Nizhegorod Oblast, is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod, from 1932 to 1990 it was known as Gorky Oblast. The oblast is crossed by the Volga River, apart from Nizhny Novgorods metropolitan area the biggest city is Arzamas. Near the town of Sarov there is the Serafimo-Diveyevsky Monastery, one of the largest convents in Russia, the Makaryev Monastery opposite of the town of Lyskovo used to be the location of the largest fair in Eastern Europe. Other historic towns include Gorodets and Balakhna, located on the Volga to the north from Nizhny Novgorod, the oblast covers an area of 76,900 square kilometers, which is approximately equal to the entire area of the Benelux countries or Czech Republic. Agricultural land occupies 41% of this area, forests, 48%, lakes and rivers, 2%, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast borders Kostroma Oblast, Kirov Oblast, the Mari El Republic, the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Mordovia, Ryazan Oblast, Vladimir Oblast, and Ivanovo Oblast. Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is not rich in resources, which are limited to commercial deposits of sand, clay, gypsum, peat, mineral salt. After 1991, the CPSU lost all its power, the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor, was appointed/elected alongside the elected regional parliament. The Charter of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is the law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. According to the 2010 Census, ethnic Russians at 3,109,661 made up 95. 1% of the oblasts population, other ethnic groups included Tatars, Mordva, Ukrainians, and various smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0. 5% of the total. Additionally,42,349 people were registered from administrative databases and it is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group. Births,36,315 Deaths,54,184 Deaths decreased by 8. 5% in 2011 compared to 2010, the actual number of foreigners residing in the oblast as of June 1,2006 was estimated to be over 22,000. The oblast ranks seventh in Russia in industrial output, processing industries predominate in the local economy. More than 650 industrial companies employ nearly 700,000 people, industry generates 83% of the regional GDP and accounts for 89% of all material expenditures. The leading sectors are engineering and metalworking, followed by chemical and petrochemical industries and forestry, woodworking, the first three sectors account for about 75% of all industrial production. The oblast has traditionally been attractive to investors, in 2002, Moodys rating agency confirmed a Caa1rating based on the regions long-term foreign currency liabilities. The region maintains trade relations with countries and has an export surplus
25.
Kirov Oblast
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Kirov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov, the basis of the natural resources of the forest are, phosphate rock, peat, furs, water and land resources. Large stocks of non-metallic mineral raw materials, limestone, marl, clay, sand, in recent decades, in the east of the area revealed a minor recoverable oil reserves and deposits of bentonite clays. In the area is the largest in Europe Vyatsko-Kama deposit of phosphate rock, the area is rich in mineral springs and therapeutic mud. On the territory of Kumyonsky District is famous resort town of federal significance Nizhneivkino, the region has a total length of 19753 River 66.65 kilometers. Northern Uvaly two separate river basins - the Severodvinsk and the Volga, much of the area is occupied by the Vyatka River basin, a tributary of the Kama River in Tatarstan. At Kama is only in the upper reaches, to large flowing within the area are also river mole and Tansy, Luza, Cobra, Cheptsa. The total number of lakes in the area of 4.5 thousand ponds With the total number of closed area of 5.5 million. The largest lakes, Akshuben -85 hectares, the Oryol is 63 hectares, the deepest area of the pond Lezhninskoe Lake -36. 6m. Kirov Krai was established on December 7,1934 and it was transformed into Kirov Oblast on December 5,1936 upon the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution. Kirov Oblast was formed on December 7,1934 and it is divided administratively into 39 districts,6 cities under oblast jurisdiction,13 town under district jurisdiction,58 urban-type settlements, and 580 selsoviets. Kirov Oblast is part of the Volga–Vyatka economic district located in the part of European Russia in the Volga. Agriculture was the priority sector at first, but starting in 1940, there was an upsurge in development of a complex, especially the engineering, metalworking. Kirov Oblast is part of the Volga–Vyatka agricultural zone, where more than half of the area sown in grain is located in Kirov Oblast itself, agricultural land occupies 27% of the regions territory. The most important grain crops are winter and spring wheat and rye, barley and oats are grown for fodder. Increased specialization in the production of more promising fodder crops like winter rye, barley, since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Kirov Oblast is the law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Kirov Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it
26.
Tatarstan
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Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of the Russian Federation, located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, the republic borders Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, the Mari El, Udmurt, and Chuvash Republics, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The area of the republic is 68,000 square kilometres, the unofficial Tatarstan motto is, Bez Buldırabız. As of the 2010 Census the population of Tatarstan was 3,786,488, the state has strong ties with its eastern neighbor the Republic of Bashkortostan. Tatarstan derives from the name of the ethnic group—the Tatars—and the Persian suffix -stan, another version of the Russian name is Тата́рия, which was official along with Tatar ASSR during the Soviet rule. The republic is located in the center of the East European Plain and it lies between the Volga River and the Kama River, and extends east to the Ural mountains. Borders, internal, Kirov Oblast, Udmurt Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg Oblast, Samara Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Chuvash Republic, bugulma-Belebey Upland Volga Upland Vyatskie Uvaly Major natural resources of Tatarstan include oil, natural gas, gypsum, and more. It is estimated that the Republic has over one billion tons of oil deposits, Islam was introduced by missionaries from Baghdad around the time of ibn Fadlans journey in 922. Volga Bulgaria finally fell to the armies of the Mongol prince Batu Khan in the late 1230s The inhabitants, mixing with the Golden Hordes Kipchak-speaking people, another theory postulates that there were no ethnic changes in that period, and Bulgars simply switched to the Kipchak-based Tatar language. In the 1430s, the region became independent as the base of the Khanate of Kazan. The Khanate of Kazan was conquered by the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s, a large number of Tatars were killed and forcibly converted to Christianity and were culturally Russified. Cathedrals were built in Kazan, by 1593 all mosques in the area were destroyed, the Russian government forbade the construction of mosques, a prohibition that was not lifted until the 18th century by Catherine the Great. The first mosque to be rebuilt under Catherines auspices was constructed in 1766-1770, in the 19th century Tatarstan became a center of Jadidism, an Islamic movement that preached tolerance of other religions. Under the influence of local Jadidist theologians, the Tatars were renowned for their relations with other peoples of the Russian Empire. However, after the October Revolution religion was largely outlawed and all theologians were repressed, during the Civil War of 1918–1920 Tatar nationalists attempted to establish an independent republic. They were, however, put down by the Bolsheviks and the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on May 27,1920, the boundaries of the republic did not include a majority of the Volga Tatars. The Tatar Union of the Godless were persecuted in Stalins 1928 purges, there was a famine in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921 to 1922 as a result of war communist policy. The famine deaths of 2 million Tatars in Tatar ASSR and in Volga-Ural region in 1921-1922 was catastrophic as half of Volga Tatar population in USSR died and this famine is also known as terror-famine and famine-genocide in Tatarstan
27.
Chuvashia
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The Chuvash Republic, or Chuvashia for short, is a federal subject of Russia. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic ethnic group and its capital is the city of Cheboksary. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,251,619, the Chuvash Republic is located in the center of European Russia, in the heart of the Volga-Vyatka economic region, mostly to the west of the Volga River, in the Volga Upland. There are over two thousand rivers in the republic—with the major ones being the Volga, the Sura, some of the Volga River valley reservoirs are in the north of the republic, and the Sura River flows towards the Volga along much of the republics western boundary. Climate is moderate continental, with the temperatures ranging from −13 °C in January to +19 °C in July. Annual precipitation varies between 450 and 700 millimeters, but is uneven from one year to another, natural resources include gypsum, sand, clay, sapropel deposits, phosphorite, and peat. There are oil and natural gas deposits, although their extraction has not yet been commercially pursued, forests, mostly in the south along the Sura River, cover approximately 30% of the land. The ancestors of the Chuvash were Bulgars and Suars-which were Turkic tribes-residing in the Northern Caucasus in the 5th to 8th centuries. In the 7th and 8th centuries, a part of the Bulgars left for the Balkans, another part moved to the Middle Volga Region, where the Bulgar population that did not adopt Islam formed the foundation of the Chuvash people. During the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria, the steppe-dwelling Suar migrated north, the Chuvash claim to be the descendants of these Suars who assimilated with the Mari. In 1242, they became vassals of the Golden Horde, later Mongol and Tatar rulers did not intervene in local internal affairs as long as tribute was paid annually to Sarai. When the power of the Golden Horde began to diminish, local Mişär Tatar Murzas from Piana, between 1650 and 1850, the Russian Orthodox Church sent Chuvash-speaking missionaries to try to convert the Chuvash to the Orthodox faith. A group of these created a written Chuvash language. Most of the Chuvash who stayed in the area became Orthodox Christians, in 1918–1919, the Russian Civil War encompassed the area. This ended with victory for the Bolsheviks, to gain support from the local population, Lenin ordered the creation of a Chuvash state within the Russian SFSR. On June 24,1920, the Chuvash Autonomous Oblast was formed, since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Republic administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Republic of Chuvashia is the law of the region. The State Council of the Chuvash Republic is the regional standing legislative body
28.
Bolshaya Kokshaga River
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The Bolshaya Kokshaga is a river in Kirov Oblast and Mari El, Russian Federation. It is a tributary of the Volga. Its length is 297 km and its basin is 6,330 km². The river is fed by snow and rain, and from November till April it is usually frozen, the river originates in the coniferous forests of Kirov Oblast where the area is thinly populated by the Russians and Mari people. The main settlements on Kokshaga are Kiknur and Sanchursk in Kirov Oblast, the Mari El river passes through the Mari Depression, where mixed forests and swamps are situated. This area is thinly populated and the Bolshaya Kokshaga nature reserve is located there. The Bolshaya Kokshaga flows to the Kuybyshev Reservoir, and then to the Volga near Kokshaisk, the main tributary of the Bolshaya Kokshaga is the Bolshoy Kundysh River. Rafting is popular on the Bolshaya Kokshaga in the spring time, in summer the river become shallow and the riverbed becomes blocked with logs floating downstreams
29.
East European Plain
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The East European Plain is a vast interior plain extending east of the North European Plain, and comprising several plateaus stretching roughly from 25 degrees longitude eastward. It includes the westernmost Volhynian-Podolian Upland, than the Central Russian Upland, the plain includes also a series of major river basins such as the Dnepr Basin, the Oka-Don Lowland, and the Volga Basin. Along the southernmost point of the East European Plain are the Caucasus, together with the North European Plain covering much of central Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it constitutes the European Plain, the mountain-free part of the European landscape. The East European Plain covers all or most of the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, the plain spans approximately 4,000,000 km2 and averages about 170 m in elevation. The highest point of the plain, located in the Valdai Hills is 346.9 metres, west, Baltic Sea, Oder and Lusatian Neisse, Sudetenland, Carpathians. South, Balkan Mountains, Crimean Mountains, Caucasus, black Sea, Sea of Azov and The Caspian Sea, Ustyurt Plateau. East, Ural Mountains and Turan Depression, North, White Sea, Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Scandinavian Mountains
30.
Republic of Tatarstan
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Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of the Russian Federation, located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, the republic borders Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, the Mari El, Udmurt, and Chuvash Republics, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The area of the republic is 68,000 square kilometres, the unofficial Tatarstan motto is, Bez Buldırabız. As of the 2010 Census the population of Tatarstan was 3,786,488, the state has strong ties with its eastern neighbor the Republic of Bashkortostan. Tatarstan derives from the name of the ethnic group—the Tatars—and the Persian suffix -stan, another version of the Russian name is Тата́рия, which was official along with Tatar ASSR during the Soviet rule. The republic is located in the center of the East European Plain and it lies between the Volga River and the Kama River, and extends east to the Ural mountains. Borders, internal, Kirov Oblast, Udmurt Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg Oblast, Samara Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Chuvash Republic, bugulma-Belebey Upland Volga Upland Vyatskie Uvaly Major natural resources of Tatarstan include oil, natural gas, gypsum, and more. It is estimated that the Republic has over one billion tons of oil deposits, Islam was introduced by missionaries from Baghdad around the time of ibn Fadlans journey in 922. Volga Bulgaria finally fell to the armies of the Mongol prince Batu Khan in the late 1230s The inhabitants, mixing with the Golden Hordes Kipchak-speaking people, another theory postulates that there were no ethnic changes in that period, and Bulgars simply switched to the Kipchak-based Tatar language. In the 1430s, the region became independent as the base of the Khanate of Kazan. The Khanate of Kazan was conquered by the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s, a large number of Tatars were killed and forcibly converted to Christianity and were culturally Russified. Cathedrals were built in Kazan, by 1593 all mosques in the area were destroyed, the Russian government forbade the construction of mosques, a prohibition that was not lifted until the 18th century by Catherine the Great. The first mosque to be rebuilt under Catherines auspices was constructed in 1766-1770, in the 19th century Tatarstan became a center of Jadidism, an Islamic movement that preached tolerance of other religions. Under the influence of local Jadidist theologians, the Tatars were renowned for their relations with other peoples of the Russian Empire. However, after the October Revolution religion was largely outlawed and all theologians were repressed, during the Civil War of 1918–1920 Tatar nationalists attempted to establish an independent republic. They were, however, put down by the Bolsheviks and the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on May 27,1920, the boundaries of the republic did not include a majority of the Volga Tatars. The Tatar Union of the Godless were persecuted in Stalins 1928 purges, there was a famine in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921 to 1922 as a result of war communist policy. The famine deaths of 2 million Tatars in Tatar ASSR and in Volga-Ural region in 1921-1922 was catastrophic as half of Volga Tatar population in USSR died and this famine is also known as terror-famine and famine-genocide in Tatarstan
31.
Tributary
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A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean, tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. A confluence, where two or more bodies of water together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from, distributaries are most often found in river deltas. Right tributary and left tributary are terms stating the orientation of the relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction, for example, the American River receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago Rivers North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork, the South Branch has its South Fork, forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here, the handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream, for instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river, the Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third, and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary, another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure, stored as a tree data structure
32.
Lake Yalchik
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Lake Yalchik is the largest lake in Mari El, Russia, located in the Marii Chodra national park. Lake Yalchik plays a role in tourism in region and several tourist centres are located here. It is renowned locally for its clean and warm water, lake Yalchik is a system of two lakes, the Greater and Smaller Yalchiks, which are linked by a channel which periodically dries up in summer. The elevation of Smaller Yalchik is higher than that of Greater Yalchik, the area of the lake is increasing due to the karst processes that shape the area. Legend says that the lake appeared after the collapse of a meadow. The last major collapse occurred in 1914 and it generated a tsunami-like wave, at the bottom of the lake there are two series of karst caves,1,600 meters and 1,200 meters long, and up to 30 meters deep. Greater Yalchik has a shape and many bays, whereas Smaller Yalchik has an elongated shape. Smaller Yalchik has two little brooks as inflows, but the Greater Yalchik has none, according to a local Mari legend the lake is named in honour of national hero Yalche. There is also a possibility that the name of the lake has Turkic root, Turkish diminutive suffix is -chik, and yalchik means small yal where yal means village in the Chuvash. Turkish influence could also be seen in the name of the region Mari El, also many of the locations in Marii El have the jär/yer endings, which in Turkish means place. Being popular for its nature, Yalchik attracts many tourists. However, there are no beaches at the lake, and the most of its coastline is covered with reed, many tourists reach Yalchik by own cars, but a significant number of them use a railway. The closest station to Yalchik is in the settlement of Yalchevsky, some Mari and Tatarstan universities sometimes arrange science conferences at the Yalchiks rest home. Article about Yalchik Экология фитопланктона карстовых озёр Среднего Поволжья
33.
Continental climate
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In the Köppen climate system, Continental climates were bordered to the south by Temperate climates or C climates and to the north by Boreal climate or E climates. Köppen also defined continental climates as having more than 30 days with continuous snowcover on the ground, Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature. They tend to occur in the latitudes, where prevailing winds come from over land. Continental climates occur mostly in the Northern Hemisphere which has the large landmasses required for this type of climate to develop, most of northern and northeastern China, eastern and southeastern Europe, and the central and upper eastern United States have this type of climate. In Continental climates, Precipitation tends to be moderate in amount, a portion of the annual precipitation falls as snowfall, and snow often remains on the ground for more than a month. Summers in continental climates can feature thunderstorms and frequent cool temperatures, the timing of intermediate spring-like or autumn-like temperatures in this zone vary depending on latitude and/or elevation. For example, spring may arrive as soon as early March in the parts of this zone. Annual precipitation in this zone is usually between 600 millimetres and 1,200 millimetres, most of it in the form of snow during winter and it also has cold winters and warm summers. Most such areas fit Köppen classifications of Dfa, Dwa or Dfb or Dwb, dry summer continental climates exist in high altitude areas near Mediterranean climates. In some cases, the climate classification of BSk can also be considered to be continental as long it has cold winter. Some climatologists use the 0 °C isotherm instead for the coldest month, Continental climates exist where cold air masses infiltrate during the winter and warm air masses form in summer under conditions of high sun and long days. Places with continental climates are as a rule either far from any moderating effects of oceans or are so situated that prevailing winds tend to head offshore. Such regions get quite warm in the summer, achieving temperatures characteristic of tropical climates but are colder than any other climates of similar latitude in the winter. These climates grade off toward subtropical climates equator-ward where winters are less severe, in Europe these climates may grade off into oceanic climates in which the influence of moderating air masses is more marked toward the west. The subarctic climate, with cold, long and dry winters. Canada, Throughout much of southern Canada from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada, major cities, Whistler, Prince George, Kamloops, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste
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Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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Peat
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Peat, also called turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet because peatland plants capture the CO2 which is released from the peat. Sphagnum moss is one of the most common components in peat, soils that contain mostly peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere, Peatlands, particularly bogs, are the most important source of peat. That said, other less common types, including fens, pocosins. Landscapes covered in peat are home to specific kinds of plants including Sphagnum moss, ericaceous shrubs, because organic matter accumulates over thousands of years, peat deposits also provide records of past vegetation and climates stored in plant remains like pollen. This allows humans to reconstruct past environments and study changes in land use. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world, by volume, there are about 4 trillion cubic metres of peat in the world, covering a total of around 2% of the global land area, containing about 8 billion terajoules of energy. Over time, the formation of peat is often the first step in the formation of other fossil fuels such as coal. This is also the commonly used in the peat industry. At 106 g CO2/MJ, the carbon dioxide emission intensity of peat is higher than that of coal and natural gas, lastly, peat fires have been responsible for large public health disasters including the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions and it is composed mainly of wetland vegetation, principally bog plants including mosses, sedges, and shrubs. As it accumulates, the peat holds water and this slowly creates wetter conditions that allow the area of wetland to expand. Peatland features can include ponds, ridges, and raised bogs, most modern peat bogs formed 12,000 years ago in high latitudes after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. Peat usually accumulates slowly at the rate of about a millimetre per year, using Carbon-dating, scientists found that Peat in peatlands started forming 360 million years ago based on it currently containing 550 Gt of carbon. Peat material is either fibric, hemic, or sapric, fibric peats are the least decomposed and consist of intact fiber. Hemic peats are partially decomposed and sapric are the most decomposed, Phragmites peat is one composed of reed grass, Phragmites australis, and other grasses. It is denser than other types of peat
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Mineral water
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Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may be effervescent or sparkling due to contained gases, traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at their spring sources, often referred to as taking the waters or taking the cure, at places such as spas, baths, or wells. Today, it is far more common for water to be bottled at the source for distributed consumption. Travelling to the water site for direct access to the water is now uncommon. There are more than 3,000 brands of mineral water commercially available worldwide, in Romania resorts developed since antiquity in places such as Băile Herculane, Geoagiu or Slănic. Tourist development resulted in spa towns and hydropathic hotels, the more calcium and magnesium ions that are dissolved in water, the harder it is said to be, water with few dissolved calcium and magnesium ions is described as being soft. No minerals may be added to this water, in many places, however, the term mineral water is colloquially used to mean any bottled carbonated water or soda water, as opposed to tap water. In the European Union, bottled water may be called mineral water when it is bottled at the source and has no or minimal treatment. No additions are permitted except for carbon dioxide, which may be added, removed or re-introduced by exclusively physical methods, no disinfection treatment is permitted, nor is the addition of any bacteriostatic agents. Bottled water Drinking water Lithia water Mineral spa Water quality LaMoreaux, Philip E. Tanner, Judy T, eds
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Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
