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Kazan Khanate

Kazan khanate

The Kazan Khanate (Tatar: Qazan xanlığı; Russian: Казанское ханство) (1438-1552) was a Tatar state on the territory of former Volga Bulgaria with its capital in Kazan. It covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan. It was founded by Olug Moxammat khan in 1437 or 38 as the Golden Horde finally disintegrated. An alternative theory suggests that by late 14th - early 15th century, the former territories of Volga Bulgaria (Kazan Ulus or Kazan Duchy within Golden Horde) managed to regain a degree of independence. The principality was self-governed and maintained a dynasty of Bolgar rulers. Olug Moxammat usurped the throne with help of local nobility. There are suggestions that the transfer of power was finalized by Moxammat's son Maxmud in 1445. The Kazan Khanate was prone to civil turmoil and struggles for the throne. The khans were replaced 19 times in 115 years, for a total of 15 khans, some ruling 2 or 3 times. The Khan was often elected from Gengizides by Kazan noblemen and even by the citizens themselves. Gengizides The politics of the Kazan Khanate was strongly influenced by Muscovy, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Crimean Khanate. Kazan was the capital from 1437 to 1552. In 1487 the Russians briefly occupied the town of Kazan, only to withdraw shortly thereafter. During the war against the Russian occupation (1552-1556) Mishatamaq and Chalem became capitals of the Kazan Khanate. In 1552 the khanate was conquered by Tzar Ivan IV of Russia. In retaliation, Devlet Giray Khan of the Khanate of Crimea attacked Moscow.

Khanate's geography and population

The territory of the Kazan Khanate included the lands of Muslim Bolgar-populated Bolğar, Cükätäw, Kazan, Qaşan duchies and other lands, that originally was belong to Volga Bulgaria. The majority of population were Kazan Tatars (i.e. Muslim Bolgars that adopted the Tatar language). Their self-idenitity was not restricted to Tatar; many identified as simply Muslims or the people of Kazan. According to Ginghizide tradition, the local Turkic tribes were also called Tatars by steppe nobility and, later, the Russian elite. The local feudal nobility were ethnic Bolgars, but the Kazan khans' seat and body-guard were composed of steppe Tatars (Kipchaks, and later of Nogais) that lived in Kazan. The higher nobility were also drawn from the Golden Horde. It included members of 4 families: Arghyn, Baryn, Qypchaq, and Shirin. Islam was the state religion. Subject territories included the Chuvash, Mari, Mordva, Tatar-Mishar, Udmurt, and Bashkir lands, and the steppe areas of Volga Bulgaria. Perm and some of the Komi tribes were also incorporated into the Khanate. The lands settled by the Mishars, who arrived during the period of the Golden Horde period, was also settled by Finnic Mordvins and Burtas, who were later assimilated into the resident Mishar population. Their territory was governed by former steppe Tatars. Some of the Mishar duchies never belonged to Kazan and instead joined the Qasim Khanate or Russia. Russian sources state that about 5 languages were used in the Kazan khanate. The first was the Tatar language (consisting of the Middle dialect of the Kazan Tatars, formerly Muslim Bolgars) and the Western dialect of the Mishars (formerly steppe Tatars that spoke Kipchak). The Chuvash language was a descendant of the Bolgar language, which was still spoken around pagan Chuvash. The Bolgar language also strongly influenced the Middle dialect of Tatar language. Another three was probably Mari languages, Mordvin languages and Bashkir language, which also originated from the Bolgar and Kipchak languages. The state language was Tatar, and its written form Old Tatar language was predominant. The Volga, Kama and Vyatka were the main rivers of the khanate, as well as the major trade ways. Most of the khanate territory was covered by forests, and only the southern part consisted of steppe. The Western Urals also were under the control of Kazan.

Economics

The Khanate's urban population produced clay ware, wood and metal handiworks, leather, armor, ploughs and jewels. The major cities were Qazan, Arça, Cükätaw, Qaşan, Çallı, Alat and Cöri. The urban populattion also traded with the people of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia. In the 16th century, Russia became the main trading partner of Kazan, and the khanate shared the economic system utilized by the Russians. The major markets were Taşayaq Bazaar in Kazan and Markiz Isle fair on the Volga River. Agricultural landownership was by the söyurğal and hereditary estates.

Society

The state was governed by the khan. His action was based on the cabinet council Diwan's decisions and advisements. The nobility included bäk (beg), ämir (emir), and the morza (murza). Military estates consisted of the uğlan (ulan), bahadir, içki (ichki). Muslim clergy also played a major role. They were divided into säyet (seid), şäyex (sheikh), qazí (qazi), and imams. The ulema or clergy played a judicial role, and maintained the madrassas and maktabs (schools). The majority of the population were qara xalıq (black people): a free Muslim population, who lived on state land (the designation "black" in Turkic culture was often used to refer to commoners, and not intended as a racial designation; on this point see also Khazars). The feudal lands were mostly settled by çura (serfs). Prisoners of war were often sold in Turkey or Central Asia. Occasionally they were sold within the Khanate as slaves (qol) and sometimes were settled on feudal lands to became çura later. The non-Muslim population of the Khanate were required to pay the yasaq.

Culture

In general, the culture of the Kazan Khanate descended from that of Volga Bulgaria. Cultural elements of the Golden Horde were also present in noble circles. A large part of the population were literate. Large libraries were present in mosques and madrassahs. Kazan became a center of science and theology. Worldly literature also developed: the most prominent Old Tatar language poets were Möxämmädyar, Ömmi Kamal, Möxämmädämin, Ğärifbäk, and Qolşärif. Möxämmädyar renovated the traditions of Kazan poetry, and his verses were very popular. The city of Bolghar still was preserved as a sacred place, but only served this function due to the emergence of Kazan as a major economic and political center in the 1430s. The architecture of khanate is represented by white-stone architecture, and wood carvings.

Administrative division

Khnate was divided into 5 daruğa: Alat, Arça, Gäreç, Cöri and Nuğay. The term daruğa translates into direction. They replaced some duchies that the khanate originated from. Some feudal lords gained independence from Kazan, but those attempts were later surpressed.

Military forces

daruğa The military of the khanate consisted of armament and men from the darughas and subject lands, khan guards, and the troops of the nobility. The number of soldiers was never constant, ranging from 20'000 to 60'000 in number. Often, troops from Nogay, the Crimean and Russia also served for the Kazan khans. Fire-arms (arquebuse) were used for defending the walls of Kazan.

History

During the reign of Olug Moxammat and his son Maxmud, Kazan forces occupied Muscovy and its subject lands several times. The Grand Duke of Moscow Vassily II was defeated in a battle near the Suzdal, and was forced to pay tribute to the Kazan khan. In July 1487, Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow occupied Kazan and seated a puppet leader, Möxämmädämin, to the Kazan throne. The Kazan Khanate subsequently became a Moscow protectorate. As Russian influence grew stronger, Russian nobles and merchants received more advantageous conditions than the local population. The supporters of a union with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate tried to use those greivances to provoke revolts ( in 1496, 1500, and 1505), but with negligible results. In 1521, Kazan emerged from the dominance of Moscow, concluding a mutual aid treaty with the Astrakhan Khanate, Crimean Khanate and the Nogay Horde. Kazan and Crimean forces then attacked Muscow jointly. The reinforcement of Crimea displeased the pro-Moscow elements of the Kazan Khanate, and some of these noblemen provoked a revolt in 1545. The result was the deposition of Safa Giray. A Moscow supporter, Şahğäli, occupied the throne. Following that year, Moscow organized several campaigns to impose control over Kazan, but the attempts were unsuccessful. With the help of the Nogays, Safa Giray returned to the throne. He executed 75 noblemen, and the rest of his opposition escaped to Moscow. In 1549 he died, and his 3-years-old son Ütämeşgäräy was recognized as khan. His regent and the de-facto ruler of the khanate was his mother Söyembikä. The administration of ulan Qoşçaq gained a degree of independence under her rule. At that time sons of Safa Giray Mübarek, Bülek, and Safa Giray Mubarek's grandson Devlet Giray were in Crimea. Even when a invitation to the Kazan throne was sent to them, the elements of the nobility that were interested in fostering instability protested. Qoşçaq's government continued to exasperate relations with Muscovy. Group of disgruntled noblemen in the beginning of 1551 invited a supporter of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Şahğäli, for the second time. At the same time the lands to the east of the Volga River (Chuvashia) was given to Muscovy. Ütämeşgäräy, along with his mother, was sent to a Moscow prison. Şahğäli occupied the Kazan throne until February 1552. Anti-Moscow elements in the Kazan government exiled Şahğäli and invited the Astrakhan prince Yadegar Moxammad, along with the Nogays, to aid them. Kazan was then put under siege. In a Russian castle (Sviyazhsk), where the forces of Ivan IV were concentrated. Later Kazan was completely besieged. In August 1552 Russians defeated the Tatar inner troops, burnt Archa and some castles. After 2 month of siege, and after the destuction of the citadel walls on October, 3, the Russians entered the city. Some defenders escaped from the besiege, but the most were unable to. Yadegar Moxammad was imprisoned and the majority of the population of Kazan (nearby 50'000-60'000) were massacred. After fall of Kazan, territories such as Udmurtia and Bashkortostan joined Russia without conflict. The khanate's administration was liquidated, pro-Moscow and neutral nobles kept their lands, but some were executed. Tatars were then resettled from rivers, roads and away from Kazan. Free lands was settled by Russians and sometimes by pro-muscovite Tatars. Orthodox bishops forcibly baptized many Tatars, executing resisters. Until 1558, however, a partisan war was waged by the population. Rebel governments were formed in Chalem and Mishatamaq. But the Nogays under Ğäli Äkräm often spoiled the agricultural population, and the coalition went to ruin. After a brutal repression against Kazan partisans ended, their commanders were executed. By some estimates nearby 500'000 residents of the khanate died during the occupation wars. The Colonial administration, known as the Kazan Palace's Office undertook the Russification of the Tatars and other peoples. The term Khanate of Kazan was in use until 1708 when the Kazan Governorate was formed. With the aid of some scholars, the Khanate of Kazan was restored in 1612 with the help of the ethnic Russian population, but it was later dismantled. Russian forces under the leadership of Kuzma Minin suppressed the rebellion.

Russian language

Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, ) is the most widely spoken language of Europe and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, and is therefore related to Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, as well as the modern Germanic, Romance, and Celtic languages, including English, French, and Irish, respectively. Written examples are attested from the 10th century onwards. While it preserves much of its ancient synthetic-inflexional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of the international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations. NOTE. Russian is written in a non-Latin script. All examples below are in the Cyrillic alphabet, with transcriptions in IPA.

Classification

Russian is a Slavic language in the Indo-European family. From the point of view of the spoken language, its closest relatives are Belarusian and Ukrainian, the other two national languages in the East Slavic group. In many places in Ukraine and Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably. The basic vocabulary, principles of word-formation, and, to some extent, inflexions and literary style of Russian have been influenced by Church Slavonic, a developed and partly adopted form of the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic language used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Many words in modern literary Russian are closer in form to the modern Bulgarian language than to Ukrainian or Belarusian. However, the East Slavic forms have tended to remain 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 slightly different meanings. For details, see Historical Sound Changes and History of the Russian language. Outside the Slavic languages, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have been greatly influenced by Greek, Latin, French, German, and English.

Geographic distribution

Russian is primarily spoken in Russia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the USSR. Until 1917, it was the sole official language of the Russian Empire. During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice. Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role and superior status was reserved for Russian. Following the break-up of 1991, several of the newly independent states have encouraged their native languages, which has partly reversed the privileged status of Russian, though its role as the language of post-Soviet national intercourse throughout the region has continued. In Latvia, notably, its official recognition and legality in the classroom have been a topic of considerable debate in a country where more than third of the population is Russian-speaking, consisting mostly of post-World War II immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR (Belarus, Ukraine). Similarly, in Estonia, the Soviet-era immigrants and their Russian-speaking descendants constitute about one quarter of the country's current population. A much smaller Russian-speaking minority in Lithuania has largely been assimilated during the decade of independence and currently represent less than 1/10 of the country's overall population. In the twentieth century it was widely taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR, especially in Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. However, younger generations are usually not fluent in it, because Russian is no longer mandatory in the school system. It was, and still is, widely taught in Asian countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Mongolia due to Soviet influence, and is still used as a lingua franca in Afghanistan by various tribes. Russian is also spoken in Israel by at least 750,000 ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (1999 census). The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian. Sizeable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America (especially in large urban centers of the US and Canada such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Miami, and Chicago). In the first two of them, Russian-speaking groups total over half a million. In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, live in their self-sufficient neighborhoods (especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early sixties). It is important to note, however, that only about a quarter of them are ethnic Russians. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union the overwhelming majority were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterwards the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat. According to the United States 2000 Census, Russian was reported as language spoken at home by 1.50% of population, or about 4.2 million, placing it as #10 language in the United States. Significant Russian-speaking groups also exist in Western Europe. These have been fed by several waves of immigrants since the beginning of the twentieth century, each with its own flavour of language. Germany, Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, and Greece have significant Russian-speaking communities totaling 3 million people. Two thirds of them are actually Russian-speaking descendants of Germans, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, or Ukrainians who either repatriated after the USSR collapsed or are just looking for temporary employment. But many are well-off Russian families acquiring property and getting education. Earlier, the descendants of the Russian émigrés tended to lose the tongue of their ancestors by the third generation. Now, when the border is more open, Russian is likely to survive longer, especially when many of the emigrants visit their homelands at least once a year and also have access to Russian websites and TV channels. Recent estimates of the total number of speakers of Russian:

Official status

Russian is the official language of Russia, and an official language of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine) and the unrecognized Moldovan Republic of Transnistria. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for many of the both native and RSL (Russian as a second language) speakers in Russia and many of the former Soviet republics. 97% of the public school students of Russia, 75% in Belarus, 41% in Kazakhstan, 24% in Ukraine, 23% in Kyrgyzstan, 21% in Moldova, 7% in Azerbaijan, 5% in Georgia received their education only or mostly in Russian, although the corresponding percentage of ethnic Russians was 80% in Russia, 11% in Belarus, 27% in Kazakhstan, 17% in Ukraine, 9% in Kyrgyzstan, 6% in Moldova, 2% in Azerbaijan, 1.5% in Georgia.

Dialects

Despite levelling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary, a large number of dialects exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of the Russian language into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between the two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern, Central and Southern, with Moscow lying in the Central region. Dialectology within Russia recognizes dozens of smaller-scale variants. The dialects often show distinct and non-standard features of pronunciation and intonation, vocabulary, and grammar. Some of these are relics of ancient usage now completely discarded by the standard language. Also cf. Moscow pronunciation of "-чн-", e.g. "булошная" (buloshnaya - bakery) instead of "булочная" (bulochnaya). The northern dialects typically pronounce unstressed clearly (the phenomenon called okanye оканье); the southern palatalize the final and aspirate the into . It should be noted that some of these features are also present in modern Ukrainian, indicating a linguistic continuum or strong influence one way or the other. Among the first to study Russian dialects was Lomonosov in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth, Vladimir Dal compiled the first dictionary that included dialectal vocabulary. Detailed mapping of Russian dialects began at the turn of the twentieth century. In modern times, the monumental Dialectological Atlas of the Russian Language (Диалектологический атлас русского языка ), was published in 3 folio volumes 1986-1989, after four decades of preparatory work. The standard language is based on the Moscow dialect.

Derived languages

- Fenia or Fenka, a criminal lingo of ancient origin, with Russian grammar, but with distinct vocabulary.
- Surzhyk is a Ukrainian-Russian pidgin spoken in some rural areas of Ukraine
- Trasianka is a Belarusian-Russian mix (sort of pidgin) used by a large portion of the rural population in Belarus.
- Russenorsk is an extinct pidgin language with Russian vocabulary and Norwegian grammar, used for communication between Russians and Norwegians in Svalbard and Kola Peninsula.
- Runglish: Russian-English pidgin.

Writing system

Alphabet

Runglish publication describing the "Slavonic" language.]] Russian is written using a modified version of the Cyrillic (кириллица) alphabet, consisting of 33 letters. The following table gives their majuscule forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound: Old letters that have been abolished at one time or another but occur in this and related articles include or , і , and or . The yers ъ and ь were originally pronounced as ultra-short or reduced , (conventional transcription, not IPA). For information on an informal approach on transliterating Russian into English, see the article Transliteration of Russian into English.

Orthography

Russian spelling is reasonably phonetic in practice. It is in fact a balance among phonetics, morphology, etymology, and grammar, and, like that of most living languages, has its share of inconsistencies and controversial points. The current spelling follows the major reform of 1918, and the final codification of 1956. An update proposed in the late 1990's has met a hostile reception, and has not been formally adopted. The punctuation, originally based on Byzantine Greek, was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reformulated on the French and German models.

Sounds

The phonological system of Russian is inherited from Common Slavonic, but underwent considerable modification in the early historical period, before being largely settled by about 1400. The language possesses five vowels, which are written with different letters depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalized. The consonants typically come in plain vs. palatalized pairs, which are traditionally called hard and soft. (The 'hard' consonants are sometimes said to be velarized, but this is only the case for /l/.) The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate variation in pitch. Stressed vowels are somewhat drawled, while unstressed vowels (except /u/) tend to be reduced to an unclear schwa. Russian syllable structure can be quite complex with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to 4 consecutive sounds. Using a formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant the stucture can be described as follows: (C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)

Consonants

Russian is notable for its distinction based on palatalization of most of the consonants. While /k/, /ɡ/, /x/ do have palatalized allophones , only might be considered a phoneme, though it is marginal and generally not considered distinctive. It should be noted that palatalization is a phonological concept, and not all 'soft' consonants are phonetically palatalized. The velar and labial consonants are truly palatalized, which means that the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant. The coronal stops, however, are phonetically laminal. In addition, in the case of /t/ and /d/, the tongue is raised enough to produce frication, thus making affricate-like. (There is no contrast between frication and no frication, though, as /ts/ is never palatalized.) are postalveolar with a flat tongue (laminal retroflex).

Grammar

Russian has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflexional structure, although considerable levelling has taken place. Russian grammar encompasses
- a highly synthetic morphology
- a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:
- a polished vernacular foundation;
- a Church Slavonic inheritance;
- a Western European style. The spoken language has been influenced by the literary, but continues to preserve characteristic forms. The dialects show various non-standard grammatical features, some of which are archaisms or descendants of old forms since discarded by the literary language.

Vocabulary

Western European See History of Russian language for an account of the successive foreign influences on the Russian language. The total number of words in Russian is difficult to reckon because of the ability to agglutinate and create manifold compounds, diminutives, etc. (see Word Formation under Russian grammar). The number of listed words or entries in some of the major dictionaries published during the last two centuries, and the total vocabulary of Pushkin, are as follows: Philologists have estimated that the language today may contain as many as 350,000 to 500,000 words. (As a historical aside, Dahl was, in the second half of the nineteenth century, still insisting that the proper spelling of the adjective русский, which was at that time applied uniformly to all the Orthodox Eastern Slavic subjects of the Empire, as well as to its one official language, be spelled руский with one s, in accordance with ancient tradition and what he termed the "spirit of the language". He was contradicted by the philologist Grot, who distinctly heard the s lengthened or doubled.)

The language of abuse and invective

Main article: Mat (language) Apparently, the ability to curse effectively has always been recognized as a form of art not only in certain quarters of society, but even by the more conservative-minded literati. For example, as far back as in the nineteenth-century naval yarns of Staniukovich, "artistic invective" (артистическая ругань ) keeps coming out of the sailors' mouths, though it is never spelled out. The ability to agglutinate has produced the so-called "three-decker curse" (трёхэтажный мат ).

Proverbs and sayings

Main article: Russian proverbs, Russian sayings Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица ) and sayings (поговоркa ). These were already tabulated by the seventeenth century, and collected and studied in the nineteenth and twentieth, with the folk-tales being an especially fertile source.

History and examples

See also: Reforms of Russian orthography The history of Russian language may be divided into the following periods.
- Origins
- The Kievan period (9th-11th centuries)
- Feudal breakup (12th-14th centuries)
- The Moscovite period (15th-17th centuries)
- Empire (18th-19th centuries)
- Soviet period and beyond (20th century) See also:
- Examples of literary language (12-20th century) Judging by the historical records, by approximately 1000 AD the predominant ethnic group over much of modern European Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus was the Eastern branch of the Slavs, speaking a closely related group of dialects. The political unification of this region into Kievan Rus, from which both modern Russia and Ukraine trace their origins, was soon followed by the adoption of Christianity in 988-9 and the establishment of Old Church Slavonic as the liturgical and literary language. Borrowings and calques from Byzantine Greek began to enter the vernacular at this time, and simultaneously the literary language began to be modified in its turn to become more nearly Eastern Slavic. Dialectal differentiation accelerated after the breakup of Kievan Rus' in approximately 1100, and the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century. After the disestablishment of the "Tartar yoke" in the late fourteenth century, both the political centre and the predominant dialect in European Russia came to be based in Moscow. There is some consensus that Russian and Ukrainian can be considered distinct languages from this period at the latest. The official language remained a kind of Church Slavonic until the close of the seventeenth century, but, despite attempts at standardization, as by Meletius Smotrytsky c. 1620, its purity was by then strongly compromised by an incipient secular literature. The political reforms of Peter the Great were accompanied by a reform of the alphabet, and achieved their goal of secularization and Westernization. Blocks of specialized vocabulary were adopted from the languages of Western Europe. By 1800, a significant portion of the gentry spoke French, less often German, on an everyday basis. The modern literary language is usually considered to date from the time of Alexander Pushkin in the first third of the nineteenth century. The political upheavals of the early twentieth century and the wholesale changes of political ideology gave written Russian its modern appearance after the spelling reform of 1918. Political circumstances and Soviet accomplishments in military, scientific, and technological matters (especially cosmonautics), gave Russian a world-wide if occasionally grudging prestige, especially during the middle third of the twentieth century. Since the collapse of 1990-91, fashion for ways and things Western, economic uncertainties and difficulties within the educational system have made for inevitable rapid change in the language. Russian today is a tongue in great flux.

References

The following serve as references for both this article and the related articles listed below that describe the Russian language:

In English

- B. Comrie, G. Stone, M. Polinsky, The Russian Language in the Twentieth Century, 2nd. ed. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996
- W.K. Matthews, Russian Historical Grammar, London, University of London, Athlone Press, 1960
- T.R. Carleton, Introduction to the Phonological History of the Slavic Languages, Columbus, Ohio : Slavica Publishers, 1991
- A. Stender-Petersen, Anthology of old Russian literature, New York, Columbia University Press, 1954

In Russian

- Иванов В.В. Историческая грамматика русского языка. "Просвещение", М., 1990.
- Цыганенко Г. П. Этимологический словарь русского языка. Киев, 1970.
- Т. Н. Михельсон, Рассказы русских летописей XV–XVII веков. М., 1978
- Н.М. Шанский, В.В. Иванов, Т.В. Шанская. Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка. М. 1961.
- А. Шицгал, Русский гражданский шрифт, "Исскуство", Москва, 1958, 2-e изд. 1983.
- Л. П. Жуковская, отв. ред. Древнерусский литературный язык и его отношение к старославянскому. М., «Наука», 1987. Many further references are listed in the books above.

External links

- [http://www.declan-software.com/russian Russian language learning software]
- [http://www.russianlessons.net/ Online Russian language lessons]
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=81 All free Russian dictionaries]
- [http://overstuffed-closet.net/russian The Russian Language Fanlisting]
- [http://www.speakrus.ru/dict/ Free downloadable vocabularies of the Russian language]
- [http://RusWin.net Cyrillic (Russian)]
- [http://www.masterrussian.com MasterRussian.com - vocabulary words and phrases, tips, hand-picked links]
- [http://www.ifstudio-translations.com/ Free Russian translations.]
- [http://tinyurl.com/5lhlp Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary of Russian language]
- [http://www.masterrussian.net/mforum Russian Language Forum. A large community interested in Russian]
- [http://www.gramota.ru "GRAMOTA". An educational/reference site on the Russian language, supported by the Russian government. (In Russian)]
- [http://www.lib.ru "Moshkov's library". A large collection of classical and modern Russian e-texts. (In Russian)]
- [http://www.languagehelpers.com/Russian/TheRussianAlphabet.html Russian alphabet with sound (languagehelpers.com)]
- [http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/ Reference Grammar]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Russian-english/ Russian - English Dictionary]
- [http://www.lorem-ipsum.info/_russian Generator for Russian typographical filler text]
- [http://www.andaman.org/book/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm G. Weber, "Top Languages"]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rus SIL Ethnologue Report for Russian]
- [http://www.linguarus.com Russian for Everybody (Self-Learning)]
- [http://www.applelanguages.com/en/learn/russian.php Russian courses]
- [http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Indo-European/Slavic/Russian/ ODP Russian Language category]
- [http://www.language-usa.com/ Russian Translation USA]
- [http://runglish1.narod.ru Runglish]
- [http://www.orlandorussians.com/ Russian Language Groups in America]
- [http://www.russki-mat.net/ Multilingual Russian slang dictionaries]
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Russian-english/ Russian English Dictionary] from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition Category:Languages of Belarus Category:Languages of Finland Category:Languages of Russia Category:Languages of Ukraine Category:Languages of Kazakhstan Category:Languages of Georgia Category:Languages of Armenia Category:Languages of Azerbaijan Category:Languages of Turkmenistan Category:Languages of Uzbekistan Category:Languages of Moldova Category:Languages of Tajikistan Category:Languages of Kyrgyzstan Category:Languages of Estonia Category:Languages of Latvia Category:Languages of Lithuania Category:Languages of China Category:Languages of Mongolia Category:Languages of Afghanistan Category:Languages of Bulgaria Category:Russian language Category:East Slavic languages ko:러시아어 ms:Bahasa Russia ja:ロシア語 simple:Russian language th:ภาษารัสเซีย

1552

Events

- January 15 - Henry II of France and Maurice of Saxony sign the Treaty of Chambord
- February 24 - Privileges of the Hanseatic League abolished in England
- March - Act of Uniformity imposes Protestant prayerbook in England
- April - War between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun
- May - Maurice of Saxony captures Augsburg and almost seizes Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at Innsbruck
- August 2 - John Frederick, Elector of Saxony and Philipp I of Hesse taken prisoner by Charles V in 1546 are released
- August 2 - Peace of Passau revokes the Augsburg Interim of 1548 and promises religious freedom to the Protestant princes
- October - December - Unsuccessful Siege of Metz by Charles V
- October 2 - Khanate of Kazan falls to troops of Ivan IV of Russia
- Hungary - defence of Eger from Turks
- Persian Gulf - Ottoman Empire Red Sea Fleet attacks the Portuguese stronghold of Hormuz but fails to capture it
- Spain - Bartolomé de Las Casas publishes his attack on colonial practices in the New World, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
- Italy - Bartolomeo Eustachi makes important discoveries on the structure of the ear and heart

Births

- February 1 - Edward Coke, English colonial entrepreneur and jurist (died 1634)
- February 8 - Agrippa d'Aubigné, French poet and soldier (d. 1630)
- February 19 - Melchior Klesl, Austrian statesman and cardinal (died 1630)
- February 28 - Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (died 1632)
- April 15 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (died 1626)
- June 18 - Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet (d. 1637)
- July 18 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1612)
- August 24 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)
- October 6 - Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary to China (died 1610)
- December 30 - Simon Forman, English occultist and astrologer (d. 1611)
- Hans von Aachen, German mannerist painter (died 1615)
- Thomas Aufield, English Catholic martyr (died 1585)
- Jean Bertaut, French poet (died 1611)
- Henri I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (died 1588)
- Philemon Holland, English translator (died 1637)
- Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, Spanish politician (died 1625)
- Tsar Vasili IV of Russia (d. 1612)
- Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese daimyo (died 1615)
- Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (died 1636)
- Jack Ward, English pirate (died 1622) See also :Category: 1552 births.

Deaths

- January 10 - Johann Cochlaeus, German humanist and controversialist (born 1479)
- February 26 - Heinrich Faber, German composer (born 1500)
- April 18 - John Leland, English historian (born 1502)
- June 10 - Alexander Barclay, British poet (born 1476)
- August 15 - Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (b. 1477)
- October 14 - Oswald Myconius, Swiss protestant reformer (born 1488)
- December 2 - Francis Xavier, Spanish Jesuit missionary (born 1506)
- Sebastian Münster, German cartographer and cosmographer (born 1488)
- Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (born 1498)
- Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, English politician (born 1509)
- Philippe Verdelot, French composer (born 1475)
- Edward Edward Wotton, English zoologist (born 1492) See also :Category: 1552 deaths. Category:1552 ko:1552년

Volga Bulgaria

Volga Bulgaria or Volga-Kama Bolghar, is a historic state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now the Russian Federation. Today, Republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia are considered to be descendants of Volga Bulgaria in terms of territory and ethnicity. Chuvashia

Origin

First-hand information on Volga Bulgaria is rather sparse. As no authentic Bulgar records have survived, most of our information comes from contemporary Arabic, Persian, or Russian sources. Some information is provided by excavations. It is thought that the territory of Volga Bulgaria was originally settled by the Finno-Ugric peoples. The Turkic Bulgars moved into the area in about 660, commanded by Kotrag Khan, Kubrat's son. Some Bulgar tribes, however, continued westward and after many adventures settled along the Danube River, in what is now known as Bulgaria proper, where they merged with or were assimilated by the Slavs, adopting a South Slavic tongue and a Eastern Orthodox faith. Most scholars agree that the Volga Bulgarians were subject to the great Khazarian Empire. Sometime in the late 9th century unification processes started, and the capital was established at Bolğar (also spelled Bulgar) city, 160 km south from modern Kazan. Most scholars doubt, however, that the state could assert independance from the Khazars until the latter were annihilated by Svyatoslav of Rus in 965. 965]] In order to promote unity among warring tribes and to obtain a powerful ally in his struggle with the Khazars, Almas Khan of Volga Bulgaria wrote a letter to the Khalif asking him for learned men and priests who could read Quran and build mosques. On May 11, 922 the khan welcomed the Baghdad missionary Ahmad ibn Fadlan, and 4 days later a tribal assembly proclaimed Islam the official religion of the state.

Heyday

A large part of the region's population was Turkic and included Bulgars, Suars, Barsil, Bilars, Baranjars and part of Burtas (by ibn Rustah). Modern Chuvashes and Kazan Tatars descend from the Volga Bulgars, although linguistic evidence suggests that the Chuvashes represent an earlier Turkic ethnos, which may be connected to the Huns. Another part comprised Finnic and Magyaric (Asagel and Pascatir) tribes, from which Bisermäns and Tatars probably descend. The head of Volga Bulgaria was iltäbär (sometimes elteber). After the Islamization his title became sheikh. The known eltebers are: Almış (Almas), Mikail bine Cäğfär (Mikaul ibn Jafar), Mö'mim bine Äxmäd (Mumin ibn Ahmad), Mö'min bine âl-Xäsän (Mumin ibn al-Hasan), Talib bine Äxmäd (Talib ibn Ahmad). Commanding the Volga River in its middle course, the state controlled much of trade between Europe and Asia prior to the Crusades (which made other trade routes practicable). The capital, Bulgar, was a thriving city, rivalling in size and wealth the greatest centres of Islamic world. Trade partners of Bolghar included form Viking, Bjarmland, Yugra and Nenets at the north to Baghdad and Constantinople an the south, from Western Europe to China at the East. Other major cities included Bilär, Suar (Suwar), Qaşan (Kashan) and Cükätaw (Juketaw). Modern cities Kazan and Yelabuga were founded as Volga Bulgaria's border fortresses. Yelabuga Some of the Volga Bulgarian cities still haven't been found, but they are mentioned in Russian sources. They are: Aşlı (Oshel), Tuxçin (Tukhchin), İbrahim (Bryakhimov), Taw İle. Some of them were ruined after and during the Mongol invasion. The Russian principalities to the west posed the only tangible military threat. In the 11th century, the country was devastated by several Russian raids. Then, at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, the rulers of Vladimir (notably Andrew the Pious and Vsevolod III), anxious to defend their eastern border, systematically pillaged Bulgarian cities. Under Slavic pressure from the west, the Bulgars had to move their capital from Bolghar to Bilär.
Decline
Main article: Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria In 1223, an advance guard of Genghis Khan's army entered Volga Bulgaria but was fought back. In 1236, the Mongols returned but it took them 5 years to subjugate the whole country. Thenceforth Volga Bulgaria became a part of the Ulus Jochi, later known as the Golden Horde. It was divided into several principalities; later each of them became a vassal of the Golden Horde and received some autonomy. By the 1430s, the Khanate of Kazan was established as the most important of these principalities.
See also

- Bulgaria
- Khanate of Kazan
- Khazaria
- Chuvashia
- Atil
- Category:Former monarchies Category:Former countries in Europe Category:Tatarstan history Category:Tatars Category:Turkic peoples Category:History of Russia

Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan ( Tatar: Татарстан Республикасы/Tatarstan Respublikası; ) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). The unofficial Tatarstan motto is: Buldırabız! (We can!).

Terminology

The direct transliteration of its name from Russian is Respublika Tatarstan. Another version of its Tatar name reads Tatarstan Cömhüriäte (cömhüriät also is the Tatar term for republic; derived from the Arabic word "Jumhuriyya"), but it is not official. Another version of Russian name is Тата́рия (Tatariya) and is was official among with Tatar ASSR during Soviet rule.

Geography

The Republic is located in the center of the East European Plain, approximately 800 km east of Moscow. It lies between the Volga River and the Kama River (a tributary of the Volga), and extends east to the Ural mountains.
- Area: 67,836.2 km²
- Borders:
- internal: Kirov Oblast (N), Udmurtia (N/NE), Bashkortostan (E/SE), Orenburg Oblast (SE), Samara Oblast (S), Ulyanovsk Oblast (S/SW), Chuvashia (W), Mari El (W/NW).
- Highest point: 343 m
- Maximum N->S distance: 290 km.
- Maximum E->W distance: 460 km.

Time zone

Tatarstan is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Rivers

Major rivers include:
- Belaya (Ağidel) River (navigable)
- Ik (Iq) River
- Kama (Çulman) River (navigable)
- Volga (İdel) River (navigable)
- Vyatka (Noqrat) River (navigable) Vyatka (Noqrat) River

Lakes

Major reservoirs of the republic include:
- Kuybyshevskoye Reservoir
- Nizhnekamskoye Reservoir The biggest lake is Qaban.

Natural resources

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.

Climate

- Average January temperature: -16°C
- Average July temperature: +19°C
- Average annual precipitation: up to 500 mm

Administrative divisions

:Main articles: Administrative divisions of Tatarstan (Russian form), Counties of Tatarstan (Tatar form).

Demographics

About 70 nationalities inhabit Tatarstan. Major ethnic groups are the Tatars (51.3%), Russians (41%), Chuvashes (about 3%). Mordvinians, Udmurts, Mari, and Bashkirs also live in the territory of the Republic. Official languages are Tatar and Russian. According to the 2002 Russian Federal Law (On Languages of Peoples of the Russian Federation), the official script is Cyrillic. Tatarstan's government as well as human rights groups are strongly opposed to this law.
- Population: 3,779,265 (2002)
- Urban: 2,790,661 (73.8%)
- Rural: 988,604 (26.2%)
- Male: 1,749,050 (46.3%)
- Female: 2,030,215 (53.7%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,161
- Average age: 36.5 years
- Urban: 35.7 years
- Rural: 38.7 years
- Male: 33.8 years
- Female: 38.8 years
- Number of households: 1,305,360 (with 3,747,267 people)
- Urban: 970,540 (with 2,762,818 people)
- Rural: 334,820 (with 984,449 people)

History

The main article is History of Tatarstan

Middle Ages

The earliest known organized state within the boundaries of Tatarstan was Volga Bulgaria (c. 700-1238 CE). The Volga Bulgars had an advanced mercantile state with trade contacts throughout Inner Eurasia, the Middle East and the Baltic, which maintained its independence despite pressure by such nations as the Khazars, the Kievan Rus and the Kipchaks. Islam was introduced by missionaries from Baghdad around the time of ibn Fadlan's journey in 922. Volga Bulgaria finally fell to the armies of the Mongol prince Batu Khan in the late 1230's (see Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria.) The inhabitants, mixing with the Golden Horde's Turco-Mongolian, Kipchak-speaking troops and settlers, became known as the "Volga Tatars." In the 1430s the region again became independent as the base of the Khanate of Kazan, Kazan having been founded close to the ruined capital of the Bulgars. Tatarstan was conquered by the troops of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible in the 1550s, with Kazan being taken in 1552. Some Tatars were forcibly converted to Christianity and 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 II. The first mosque to be rebuilt under Catherine's auspices was constructed in 1766-1770.

Modern times

In the 19th century Tatarstan became centers of Jadidism, an Islamic sect that preached a tolerance to other religions. Under the influence of Tatarstan Jadidist theologians, the Tatars were renowned for their friendly 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 (the Idel-Ural State). 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 the majority of the Volga Tatars.

Tatarstan today

Tatarstan declared independence on August 30, 1990. On February 15, 1994 an Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan (On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations) was signed. This agreement is sometimes considered as recognition of Tatarstan's independence by Russian Federation, because it mentions the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan. On the same day the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan was signed, and despite the fact that it does not recognize Tatarstan's sovereignty directly, it complements the former treaty in politics.

Post-Soviet timeline

- 12 June 1991: The first elections for President of Tatarstan. Mintimer Shaymiev was elected.
- 21 March 1992: Referendum held regarding Tatarstan's status. The majority of the population support Tatatrstan's independence.
- November 1992: The Constitution of Tatarstan accepted by parliament.
- 1994: The Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan was signed. Tatarstan becomes a de facto constituent republic of the Russian Federation.
- 1995 and 1999 elections held for the Governmental Council of Tatarstan.
- March 2002: Numerous amendments to Tatarstan's Constitution. Tatarstan officials officially declared Tatarstan to be a part of Russia.

Politics

The head of the government in Tatarstan is the President. As of 2005, the President is Mintimer Shaeymiev (Tatar: Mintimer Şäymiev). Tatarstan's unicameral National Parliament (Däwlät Sovetı) has 100 seats: 50 are for representatives of the parties, other 50 are for deputies from the republic's localities. The speaker of the National Parliament is Farit Mukhametshin (Färit Möxämmätşin). According to the Tatarstan Constitution, the President can be elected only by the people of Tatarstan, but due to Russian federal law this law was suspended for an indefinite term. The Russian law about election of governors says they should be elected by local parliaments and that the candidate can be presented only by the president. On March 25, 2005 Shaymiev was re-elected at the his 4th term by Parliament, due this election was after the changes in electial laws and don't contradict to Tatarstan and Russia's Constitution.

Political status

The Republic of Tatarstan is a constituent republic of the Russian Federation. Most of the Russian federal subjects are tied with the Russian federal government by the uniform Federal Treaty, but relations between the government of Tatarstan and the Russian federal government are more complex, and are precisely defined in the Tatarstan Constitution of 2000. The following passage from the Tatarstan Constitution defines the republic's status without contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation: The Republic of Tatarstan is a democratic constitutional State associated with the Russian Federation by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Powers between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan, and a subject of the Russian Federation. The sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan shall consist in full possession of the State authority (legislative, executive and judicial) beyond the competence of the Russian Federation and powers of the Russian Federation in the sphere of shared competence of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan and shall be an inalienable qualitative status of the Republic of Tatarstan.

External links

#[http://www.tatar.ru/?DNSID=0d972f00a5d7b8bf34f5308fad12bf8f&node_id=1384 Сonstitution of the Republic of Tatarstan] #[http://www.tatar.ru/?DNSID=0d972f00a5d7b8bf34f5308fad12bf8f&node_id=813 Treaty Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan] #[http://www.tatar.ru/?DNSID=0d972f00a5d7b8bf34f5308fad12bf8f&node_id=814 Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic] #[http://www.tatar.ru/?DNSID=0d972f00a5d7b8bf34f5308fad12bf8f&node_id=815 List of Intergovernmental Agreements Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan]

Economy

Tatarstan is one of the most economically developed federal subjects of Russia; it is also the second most industrialized federal subject after Samara Oblast. Industrial production constitutes 45% of the Republic's gross regional domestic product. The most developed branches are chemical and oil processing, machine building, and wood processing industries.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Tatarstan Major libraries include the Science Library of Kazan State University and the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan. There are two museums of republican significance, as well as 90 museums of local importance. In the past several years new museums appeared throughout the Republic. There are 16 theaters in Tatarstan.

Education

The most important facilities of higher education include Kazan State University, Kazan State Medical University, Kazan State Technical University and Russian Islam University, all located in the capital Kazan.

Religion

The most common faiths include Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodox Church. As of 2004, there were 1,208 buildings used for religious purposes in Tatarstan; 1,014 of which were Islamic, and 176—Russian Orthodox.

Miscellaneous

The people of ethnic majority of Tatarstan are usually offended when called Tartars. The preferred name is Tatars. Inhabitants of Tatarstan regardless of ethnicity are usually called Tatarstaners (, ). The name Tatarstan derives from the Tatar and Persian stan (an ending common to many Muslim countries). Other variants of the republic's name are Russian Tataria (former official Russian name) and Turkish Tataristan. Some Tatarstaners wish for their state to be renamed Bulgaristan (like Alania), claiming that the region was called Bulgaristan by its inhabitants until 1922 in tribute to the early settlers.

External links

- [http://www.tatar.ru/english Official website of Tatarstan].
- [http://www.tatar.ru Official website of Tatarstan]
- [http://www.tatar.ru/tatar Official website of Tatarstan] (in Tatar, Cyrillic script).
- [http://www.kcn.ru/tat_en/university/index.php3 Official website of Kazan State University].
- [http://www.kcn.ru/tat_ru/universitet/index.php3 Official website of Kazan State University].
- [http://www.kgmu.kcn.ru/index_eng.html Official website of Kazan State Medical University].
- [http://www.kgmu.kcn.ru/index_rus.html Official website of Kazan State Medical University].
- [http://www.kai.ru/en/ Official website of Kazan State Technical University].
- [http://www.kai.ru/ Official website of Kazan State Technical University].
- [http://www.kcn.ru Tatarstan on the Internet] (also in Tatar (Cyrillic script)).
- [http://dmoz.org/Bookmarks/A/alber/Tatarstan/ DMoz.org: a collection of Tatarstan-related links].
- [http://www.kcn.ru/tat_en/tatarstan/agree.htm A text of the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan "On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations"].
- [http://www.rferl.org/reports/tb-weekly-report/ TB-Idel-Ural Weekly] Category:Republics of Russia ! ko:타타르스탄 공화국 ja:タタールスタン共和国

Mari El

The Mari El Republic (; Mari: Марий Эл Республика) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). The direct transliteration of the republic's Russian name is Respublika Mariy El and Mari name is Marii El Respublika. The republic is also sometimes called Mariy El or Marii El in English.

Geography

The Republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of the Russian Federation, along Volga River. Swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic. 57% of the republic's territory is covered by forests.
- Area: 23,200 km².
- Borders:
- internal: Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (SW/W/NW/N), Kirov Oblast (N/NE/E), Tatarstan (SE/S), Chuvashia (S)
- Highest point: 278 m

Time zone

Mari El is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Rivers

There are 476 rivers in Mari El. Most of them are all considered to be minor: 10-50 m wide and .5-1.4 m deep. They usually freeze from mid-November till mid-April. Major rivers include:
- Bolshaya Kokshaga River
- Buy River
- Ilet River
- Iravka River
- Kundysh River
- Lazh River
- Malaya Kokshaga River
- Maly Kundysh River
- Nemda River
- Rutka River
- Urzhumka River
- Vetluga River (navigable)
- Volga River (navigable)
- Yushut River

Lakes

There are over 200 lakes in Mari El, most of them with the area of less than 1 km² and depth of 1-3 m. Many lakes are located among swamps. Swamps cover large areas (10-70 km², up to 100 km²), and usually freeze in December. Average depth of the swamps is .5-1.5 m (up to 3 m), but they are impassable in fall and spring due to flooding. Major lakes include:
- Karas Lake
- Kichiyer Lake
- Yalchik Lake
- Tair Lake
- Cheboksary Reservoir

Natural Resources

There are virtually no natural resources of industrial significance in the republic. Other resources include peat, mineral waters, and limestones.

Climate

Climate is moderately continental. Winters are moderately cold, snowy. Summers are warm, often rainy.
- Average January temperature: −13°C
- Average July temperature: +19°C
- Average annual precipitation: 450-500 mm

Administrative divisions

:Main article: Administrative divisions of Mari El

Demographics

The Mari, formerly known as Cheremis, are a Volga-Finnic people speaking two closely related languages, Meadow Mari (марий йылме) and Hill Mari (мары йӹлмы). Meadow Mari is official in the republic, along with Russian, and Hill Mari is considered to be a variant. The Mari did not have a designated territory before Russian Revolution of 1917. Now only 48.3% of the Mari live within Mari El. 4.1% of the Mari live outside of Russia. Russians account for 47.5% of the population, followed by the Mari (42.9%) and Tatars (6.0%). Other ethnic groups include over 50 nationalities accounting for 3.6% of the population.
- Population: 727,979 (2002)
- Urban: 459,687 (63.1%)
- Rural: 268,292 (36.9%)
- Male: 338,485 (46.5%)
- Female: 389,494 (53.5%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,151
- Average age: 36.7 years
- Urban: 36.7 years
- Rural: 36.7 years
- Male: 34.0 years
- Female: 39.0 years
- Number of households: 263,382 (with 717,938 people)
- Urban: 173,246 (with 455,006 people)
- Rural: 90,136 (with 262,932 people)

History

Ancient Mari tribes were known since the 5th century. Later their area was a tributary of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde. In the 1440s it was incorporated into the Khanate of Kazan and was occupied by Russia after the fall of Kazan in 1552. Mari Autonomous Oblast was established on November 4, 1920. It was re-organized into Mari ASSR on December 5, 1936. The autonomous Mari El Republic in its present form was formed on December 22, 1990.

Politics

The head of government in the Mari El Republic is the President. As of 2004, the president is Leonid Igorevich Markelov, who was elected in January of 2001.

Economy

The most developed industries are machine construction, metal working, timber, woodworking, and food industries. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Yoshkar-Ola, as well as in the towns of Kozmodemyansk, Volzhsk, and Zvenigovo

Transportation

In the republic, there is one airport, 15 train stations, 53 bus stations, and a river port in Kozmodemyansk (on Volga River), as well as four other minor river ports.

Culture

There are eight museums in Mari El. The largest ones include the National Museum, the Museum of History, and the Republican Museum of Fine Arts in Yoshkar-Ola, and the Museum of Arts and History in Kozmodemyansk.

Education

The most important facilities of higher education include Mari State Technical University, Mari State University, and Mari State Pedagogical Institute; all located in Yoshkar-Ola.

Religion

The most common confessions include Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Old Believers, and Islam. Traditional Mari religion (marla faith—Christianity with elements of Totemism and Shamanism) is also popular.

Tourism

Mari El is a favourite place of Tatarstan tourists. There is Marii Chodra national park in the valley of Ilet, with various attractions, such as boating, riding, mushrooming, ect. Marii Chodra is also favourite place of Kazan Tolkienist, where they use to play their battles.

External links

- [http://gov.mari.ru Official website of the Mari El Republic]
- [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~bergmann/russia/regions/rus12me.htm Map of Mari El]
- [http://www.yoshkar.com Photos and narratives from Mari El] Category:Mari El ko:마리엘 공화국 ja:マリ・エル共和国

Chuvashia

The Chuvash Republic (; Chuvash: Чăваш Республики), or Chuvashia (Russian: Чува́шия) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic) and the homeland of Bulgar Turkic Chuvash people. Chuvashia is located in central Russia, and was officially established in June 1920.

Geography

1920 Chuvashia is located in the center of the European part of Russia, in the heart of the Volga-Vyatka region, midway between Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. The republic is not large, but is one of the most densely populated regions in the Russian Federation, with a total population of 1.35 million people. It is bordered to the north and west by the Volga River, with the Mari El Republic to the north and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast to the west. To the south it borders Mordovia and Ulyanovsk Oblast, to the east Tatarstan. The capital city of Cheboksary is the republic’s major industrial center. Cheboksary is situated on the banks of the Volga River, approximately 650 km east of Moscow. Chuvashia’s central location gives companies located here easy access to some of the most industrially developed regions of the country. The majority of the republic is rural in character, with Cheboksary (population 453,700 in 2004) and Novocheboksarsk (population 125,600 in 2004) in the north along the Volga River being the major industrialized cities. Forests, mostly in the south along the Sura River, cover approximately 30 percent of the land.

Time zone

Chuvashia is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Natural resources

Chuvashia's natural resources include gypsums, sands, tripoli, clays, sapropel deposits, phosphorite and peat.

Climate

Chuvashia has a moderate continental climate. Average temperatures range from −13 °C (−9 °F) in January to 19 °C (66 °F) in July. Annual precipitation can reach 500 mm. The varied continental climate offers opportunities for both summer and winter recreational activities.

Administrative divisions

:Main article: Administrative divisions of Chuvashia.

Demographics

In 2002, Chuvashia had a total population of 1,346,300. 794,800 or 60.9 percent of the population were living in urban areas. 510,200 or 39.1 percent of the population were living in rural areas. The largest city is the capital, Cheboksary, followed by nearby Novocheboksarsk. Within Chuvashia, the Chuvash and Russian nationalities make up about 67 and 27 percent of the population, respectively, giving the region a rich multi-ethnic character.

History

The Chuvash ancestors were tribes of ancient Bulgars and Suars that resided in the Northern Caucasus in the 5th to the 8th centuries. In the 7th and 8th centuries one part of the Bulgars left for the Balkans, where they dissolved among the Slavs. Another part moved to the middle Volga region (see Volga Bulgaria), where they later formed the ethnic foundation for the Chuvash people. The Chuvash nationality was formed from the part of the Bulgar population that did not adopt Islam in the 10th century. During the Mongol invasion to Volga Bulgaria the rest of steppe Chuvash population migrated to the north, where the local Finnic tribes, such as Mari lived. Chuvashia joined the Russia Empire in 1551, after nearby 120 years of being belonged to Khanate of Kazan (see Chalem). In tsarist Russia the territory of modern Chuvashia belonged to two administrative districts – Kazan and Simbirsk. On June 24, 1920 the Chuvash autonomous oblast was formed, which was transformed into Chuvash ASSR in April of 1925. The Chuvash Republic in its present form was formed in 1992.

Politics

The Chuvash Republic is a sovereign republic forming a part of the Russian Federation. As a republic, the region has greater sovereignty than other areas of Russia in determining local policies and procedures. Nikolai Vasilyevich Fyodorov, a former minister of justice of the Russian Federation, was elected as the first president of the Chuvash Republic in 1994 and is still in office. He has a reputation as a pro-market reformer and has pressed the region to establish closer economic ties with foreign countries. He has also pushed to encourage the growth of small businesses. The mayor of Cheboksary, Anatoly Igumnov, is also eager to work with international companies. Both the republic and the city governments have departments of foreign economic relations that are eager to support foreign business visitors.

Economy

:Main article: Economy of Chuvashia Chuvashia is Russia’s center for hops growing and is famous throughout the country for its long history of beer brewing. It is also a major center for electrical engineering, especially in the area of power transmission and control systems. Other leading industries are metalworking, electricity generation, and chemical manufacturing.

Transportation

The transport network in Chuvashia is one of the most developed in Russia. The republic's system of roads, railroads, waterways, and airports closely ties the region with others in and outside of Russia.

Road

Autos, trucks, and buses carry the majority of transportation, as the republic ranks forth in highway density in all of Russia. Cheboksary is situated on one of the main highways of the Russian Federation leading from Moscow to the industrial areas of Tatarstan, the Southern Urals, and Siberia. Furthermore, a recently completed bridge across the Volga to the north connects the republic to the developed Ural-Privolzhsky and Kirov regions. To the south, highways connect Chuvashia with Saratov and Volgograd. Extensive public and private bus systems connect all towns within the republic with each other and with surrounding regions. Standard speed for transportation of containers by road is 400 km per day. Average time of delivery from Cheboksary to Moscow is 1.5 days; to Saint Petersburg, 2.5 days; and to Western Europe, 10 to 15 days.

Railroad

The railway network is also very developed, convenient, and accessible year-round. One of the largest railway junctions of Russia – Kanash – is in the center of the republic. Via Kanash, the rail system connects the major towns in Chuvashia with the big industrial centers of Eastern Siberia, the Urals, and Moscow. Express trains are reliable and almost always on time, presenting a low-cost, comfortable way to travel. Express trains to and from Moscow are available everyday, and the overnight journey is approximately 14 hours each way.

River, sea and air

The Volga River and Sura River connect Chuvashia to a national and international water network. To the south, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan, the Caspian Sea, and Black Sea are directly reachable. To the west, the Volga River connects Cheboksary with Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Moscow, and the northern regions of Russia. By using river-sea vessels, cargo transportation is possible from Chuvash riverports all the way to Saint Petersburg, Novorossiysk (on the Black Sea), Astrakhan, and ports situated on the Danube River. However, the river is frozen from December through April. Boat tours to the major cities along the Volga are of tourist interest, and Cheboksary is a frequent stop on the many boat tours that travel up and down the Volga. The international Cheboksary Airport receives both cargo and passenger aircraft of practically all types and sizes. There are regularly scheduled flights to Moscow and other destinations. Cheboksary is also about a two-hour drive from Nizhny Novgorod, a city with international air connections through Lufthansa.

Culture

The republic has a fascinating cultural heritage, a result of the ethnic Chuvash presence in the region. While Russian is the predominant business language, the Chuvash language is still spoken by many, especially in the country. The Chuvash language belongs to the Bolgar subgroup of the Turkic language group. In ancient times a runic system of writing was used. Chuvashi now uses a modified Cyrillic script that was adopted in 1871. Today, people living in Chuvashia are very proud of their region and take care of their city. As a result, Cheboksary is known as one of the cleanest cities in Russia. There is also a resurgence of native Chuvash pride and many people are

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