The Samara region.
General information
.png)
The Samara Region is situated in the south-eastern part of the European Russia in the middle part of the Volga, Europe's biggest river, and occupies the area of 53 600 square kilometers that is 0.31% of the territory of Russia . In the North it borders on the Republic of Tatarstan , in the South - the Saratov Region, in the East - the Orenburg Region and in the North-West - the Uliyanovsk Region. The Region stretches for 335 km from the North to the South and for 315 km from the West to the East.
Being a forest and steppe zone, the Region is covered with the pine and deciduous woods in the North, and its southern part is occupied by the steppe. The largest mountain-mass and at the same time one of the most beautiful places of Russia is the Zhiguli Mountains, situated immediately in the river Volga bend - "Samarskaya Luka" in Russian. Apart from the Volga , the main waterway of the region, the major rivers are the Samara, the Sok, the Kinel, the Bolshoy Irghiz and the Kondurcha.
The Samara Region has sharp continental climate with the average annual air temperature +3.8 degrees centigrade. The average temperature in January is -13.9 degrees centigrade and + 20.1 in July.
Adjacency to the waterless Asian deserts affects the southern part of the Region resulting in recurring droughts there. This very circumstance makes a good deal of land in the Region unpropitious for farming.
3279 thousand people live in Samara permanently. The largest cities are Samara (1210,6 thousand people), Togliatti (724,1 thousand people), Syzran (187,3 thousand people), Novokuibyshevsk (117,6 thousand people), Chapayevsk (86,7 thousand people), Zhigulyovsk (59,8 thousand people), Otradny (53,4 thousand people).
History
According to the archaeological data the first human settlements on the territory of the Middle Volga area emerged in the period of the late Paleolith. Hunting was the major pursuit of ancient people. There were plenty of wild animals in the area - hairy rhinoceros, mammoth, aurochs, elk, giant deer and so on.
At ancient times separate Scythian-sarmatian tribes roamed on the territory of the future Samara Region. This is known by the archaeological artefacts from the sepulchral mounds built by those people.
Since the 7c. AD the Middle Volga area fell under the influence of the Khazar Khanate, though after the defeat of that state in the 10 century by the troops of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav the peoples of the Volga region got rid from the Khazar rule.
In the Middle Ages the southern border of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria ran through the territory of the present Samara Region. After the army of the Mongol Khan Batu invaded Europe in the 13 century the Middle Volga area for a long time became a part of the Golden Horde, and later, of its successor - the Kazan Khanate. In 1391 one of the greatest battles of the medieval era between the armies of the Central Asia sovereign Timur and the last Golden Horde ruler Tokhtamysh took place at the river Kondurcha, and Timur won.
As the Russian power and influence increased, the exclusively favorable position of the Middle Volga in terms of economy and defense made the Muscovite sovereigns grow interested to this land. Soon after the fall of Kazan , by the order of Czar Fedor Ioannovich in 1586 a fortress was founded at the mouth of the river Samara as an outpost of the Russian state against the raids of nomads. The fortress was named after the river.The first Samara voevode (military commander) was Prince Grigoriy Osinfovich the Prince Zasekin. The origin of the name Samara as such is more like an enigma, and its meaning was lost in the deep of ages. Anyway, as back as on the Venice geographical maps of the 14th century a convenient quay named Samar was marked at the Volga bend near the present Samara. Apparently, the meaning of the word Samara is hidden in the forgotten language of some long extinct nation.
A brisk intersection of trade routes, fertile soil, rich pastures and abundant fisheries stimulated influx of populace and boosted colonization of this land. In 1850 the Samara province was promoted to the status of a separate administrative unit. It was popular all over Russia as a major center of wheat trade and agricultural production. Outstanding figures of national and foreign culture worked wonders here, they were: Alexey Tolstoy, Korolenko, Garin-Mikhaylovsky, Gorky , Repin, Gasek and many others.
Dramatic developments that struck Russia in the first decades of the 20th century did not miss the Samara land. Three revolutions, the First World War and civil war deeply engraved on the history of the land. As it was usual at that time, the city Samara was named after Kuibyshev , and the region was renamed accordingly. In its present borders the Region has existed since December, 1936.
It became one of the nation's biggest industrial centers during the Second World War as a result of evacuation of a number of engineering and aircraft works to here from the western regions. And after most of the government offices and diplomatic corps had moved to Samara later in 1941 the city was rightfully called the capital of the rear. In the post-war period the Region continued to build up its economic potential developing the oil, aerospace engineering, hydro-energy and motor-car industries. Nowadays the Samara Region is one of the major contributors to the industrial might of this country along with Moscow , Saint-Petersburg and the Ural.
In 1990 the historical name was reverted to the city and the region - Samara and the Samara Region.
Education and culture
There are 13 state schools of higher learning, 9 private ones, 62 professional schools of various ownership, 1112 high schools and 16 private high schools.
Several dozens of scientific institutions and labs continue to carry out different research programs in many fields of knowledge. Fundamental investigations, applied studies and design works are carried out by 72 institutions, including 5 academic, 15 research institutes and 20 design groups. The Central Specialized Design Lab dealing with the space technologies is known throughout the whole world. The Region's scientific fame is upheld by the branch of the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences , the Radio Institute, the Giprovostokneft Institute, up-to-date scientific scholarships at the Samara State University , Medical University , Technical University , Pedagogical University and Agricultural Academy standing on the front line of science. There are over hundred state, municipal, private, folklore and amateur theaters. The Gorky Academic Drama Theater, the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, The Koleso Theater, the Gorod Theater and many others are among the most popular ones. The Samara Philharmonic Society is reputed not only for its splendid building, but for its diverse repertoire as well. It was there that for the fist time in the world there was rendition of the famous Seventh ( Leningrad ) Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich who was living in Kuibyshev (Samara) in evacuation.
Picture galleries and libraries of the Region keep attracting scores of citizens to them.
Many of the Region's 4600 sports sites foster actively the popularization of the physical culture and sports.
The city of Samara
The city of Samara was first mentioned in official documents in 1586 in the reign of Fedor Ioannovich when in the spring time construction of a fortress on the Volga was started for protection from the Nogays and Kalmyks, and provision of the waterway from Kazan to Astrakhan . The fortress was small; an impenetrable forest approached almost close to it from the North and East; the river Samara protected it from the South and the mighty Volga - from the West. In 1688 the fortress Samara was renamed to the Samara city.
In 1708 in the reign of Peter I Samara ranked the ninth town of the Kazan province, and since 1719 it was attached to the Astrakhan province. At that time there were 210 citizens' homesteads on the territory of the town. Since 1851 Samara was a provincial town with the population of 15 thousand. The Samara province ranked first in the whole of the Russian Empire per the amount of wheat harvested. 375 shops traded colonial, manufactured and other goods. Bazaars took place every week in two squares.
Later in the 19th century there were 46 plant and factories in Samara where 2.5 thousand regular workers were employed. The rise of industry was hampered by absence of the required energy supply. The first city power station in Samara was built in 1900. By 1917 as many as 90 industrial enterprises operated in Samara, e.g. a mechanical bakery and a grain-elevator containing 140 million pounds of grain.
Since the town has a convenient geographical location the Donbass and Urals became major metal suppliers for the industry that laid foundation for the set-up of a lot of big enterprises of the machine engineering and metal processing. There were such natural resources in the vicinity of the town as sulphur, phosphorites, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, chalk, clay and sand. It made for the industry of construction materials. In the 30s Samara became a center of oil production and processing in Russia . All those natural and economic conditions made for the development of the city as a big industrial city.
During the World War II the local industrial potential was complemented by powerful industrial base of the enterprises evacuated from Moscow , Leningrad and other cities.