The Chuvash Republic — Chuvashia (Russian: Чува́шская Респу́блика — Чува́шия; Chuvash: Чăваш Республики — Чăваш Ен), or Chuvashia (Чува́шия) for short, is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It is the homeland of the Chuvash people.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Geography
The Chuvash Republic 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.
It is bordered by the Mari El Republic to the north, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast to the west, the Republic of Mordovia to the SW, Ulyanovsk Oblast to the south, and the Republic of Tatarstan to the east and SE. 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 republic's western boundary. The republic's central location gives companies located here access to some of the most industrially developed regions of the country.
The largest city is Cheboksary, together with its neighbour Novocheboksarsk. However the majority of the republic is rural. Forests, mostly in the south along the Sura River, cover approximately 30% of the land.[13]
[edit] Natural resources
The republic's natural resources include gypsum, sand, tripoli[clarification needed], clay, sapropel deposits, phosphorite, and peat.
[edit] Climate
The republic has a moderate continental climate. Average temperatures range from −13 °C (8.6 °F) in January to +19 °C (66.2 °F) in July. Annual precipitation can reach 500 millimeters (20 in)[13] The varied climate offers both summer and winter recreational opportunities.
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Population
According to the 2002 Russian census, the republic's total population was 1,346,300, with 794,800 (60.9%) residing in urban areas and 510,200 (39.1%) in rural areas. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, Chuvashia is home to 1,251,600 people.[14]
The largest city is the capital, Cheboksary (population 453,700 in 2004). Cheboksary is situated mostly on the southern bank of the Volga in the northern part of the republic (one northern bank district was added in the second part of the 20th century), approximately 650 kilometers (404 mi) east of Moscow. Nearby to the east is the next largest city, Novocheboksarsk (population 125,600 in 2004). These two are the major industrialized cities. The next largest town is Kanash.
[edit] Vital statistics
- Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service
| Births | Deaths | Birth rate | Death rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 22,465 | 10,993 | 18.3 | 9.0 |
| 1975 | 22,956 | 12,450 | 18.1 | 9.8 |
| 1980 | 22,612 | 13,908 | 17.4 | 10.7 |
| 1985 | 24,385 | 13,913 | 18.6 | 10.6 |
| 1990 | 21,116 | 13,545 | 15.8 | 10.1 |
| 1991 | 19,113 | 13,459 | 14.2 | 10.0 |
| 1992 | 16,673 | 14,141 | 12.4 | 10.5 |
| 1993 | 14,410 | 16,876 | 10.7 | 12.5 |
| 1994 | 14,498 | 18,003 | 10.8 | 13.4 |
| 1995 | 13,842 | 17,727 | 10.3 | 13.2 |
| 1996 | 13,542 | 16,880 | 10.1 | 12.6 |
| 1997 | 12,822 | 16,762 | 9.6 | 12.5 |
| 1998 | 13,300 | 15,957 | 9.9 | 11.9 |
| 1999 | 12,129 | 17,997 | 9.1 | 13.5 |
| 2000 | 12,363 | 18,640 | 9.3 | 14.0 |
| 2001 | 11,986 | 18,980 | 9.1 | 14.3 |
| 2002 | 12,956 | 19,808 | 9.8 | 15.1 |
| 2003 | 13,171 | 19,978 | 10.1 | 15.3 |
| 2004 | 13,734 | 19,371 | 10.5 | 14.9 |
| 2005 | 13,133 | 19,682 | 10.1 | 15.2 |
| 2006 | 13,291 | 18,900 | 10.3 | 14.7 |
| 2007 | 14,835 | 18,642 | 11.6 | 14.5 |
| 2008 | 14,967 | 18,436 | 11.7 | 14.4 |
- Ethnic groups
According to the 2002 census, ethnic Chuvash make up 67.7% of the republic's population. Other groups include Russians (26.5%), Tatars (2.8%), Mordvins (1.2%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.
| census 1926 | census 1939 | census 1959 | census 1970 | census 1979 | census 1989 | census 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuvash | 667,695 (74.6%) | 777,202 (72.2%) | 770,351 (70.2%) | 856,246 (70.0%) | 887,738 (68.4%) | 906,922 (67.8%) | 889,268 (67.7%) |
| Russians | 178,890 (20.0%) | 241,386 (22.4%) | 263,692 (24.0%) | 299,241 (24.5%) | 338,150 (26.0%) | 357,120 (26.7%) | 348,515 (26.5%) |
| Tatars | 22,635 (2.5%) | 29,007 (2.7%) | 31,357 (2.9%) | 36,217 (3.0%) | 37,573 (2.9%) | 35,689 (2.7%) | 36,379 (2.8%) |
| Mordvins | 23,958 (2.7%) | 22,512 (2.1%) | 23,863 (2.2%) | 21,041 (1.7%) | 20,276 (1.6%) | 18,686 (1.4%) | 15,993 (1.2%) |
| Others | 1,301 (0.1%) | 6,703 (0.6%) | 8,596 (0.7%) | 10,930 (0.9%) | 14,874 (1.3%) | 19,606 (1.4%) | 23,599 (1.8%) |
[edit] Religion
Study of religion is compulsory for schoolchildren in Chuvashia. Of the students, 36.9% enrolled for Secular Studies, 36.0% for Orthodox studies, 25.7% for World Religions and 1.4% for Islamic studies.[15]
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The first inhabitants to leave traces in the area later known as Chuvashia were of the Finno-Ugric Comb Ceramic Culture. Later, people of the Indo-European Battle Axe Culture moved into the area and established several villages. These two peoples assimilated to become the Hillfort Culture of the Middle Volga Area. They had strong economic and linguistic ties with southern steppe peoples like the Scythians and Sarmatians.
The ancestors of the Chuvash were Hunnish Bulgars and Suars 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, where, together with local Slavs, they established the state of modern Bulgaria. Another part moved to the Middle Volga Region (see Volga Bulgaria), where the Bulgar population that did not adopt Islam formed part of the ethnic foundation of the Chuvash people.[13]
During the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria, the steppe-dwelling Suar migrated north, where Finnic tribes, such as the Mordvins and Mari lived. The Chuvash claim to be descendants of these Suars who assimilated with the Mari.
They became vassals of the Golden Horde in 1242, after a bloody uprising which the Mongols brutally suppressed with an army of 40,000 warriors. Later Mongol and Tatar rulers did not intervene in local internal affairs as long as the annual tribute was paid to Sarai. The Tokhtamysh–Timur war (1361–1395) devastated 80% of the Suar people. When the power of the Golden Horde began to diminish, the local Mişär Tatar Murzas from Piana and Temnikov tried to rule the Chuvash area.
[edit] Russian Empire
During Ivan the Terrible's war of conquest against the Khanate of Kazan, in August 1552, the Chuvash Orsai and Mari Akpar Tokari princes swore their loyalty to the Grand Duchy of Muscovy at Alatyr on the Suvarley River. This ended nearly 120 years under the rule of the Khanate of Kazan. In return, Ivan promised to honor all historic land rights of the Chuvash and Maris on both sides of the Volga River from the Kerzhenets to the Sviyaga River. In addition, Ivan ordered a five year period freedom from tribute for the Chuvash and Mari leaders. The Chuvash provided 15,000 soldiers and the Mari 10,000 to Ivan's army for the final attack against Kazan, giving the Muscovites a force of 100,000 against the Khanate's 30,000 Nogai Tatars defending the fortified city.
Disappointed by Russian rule, a portion of the Chuvash population rebelled and joined with the Mari during the Kazan War of 1552–1594. During the Time of Troubles, they joined the troops of the False Dmitri.
Within the Russian Empire, the territory of modern Chuvashia was divided into two administrative districts: the northern part under the Kazan Governorate and the southern part under the Simbirsk Governorate. The border ran roughly from Kurmish to Buinsk.
The Chuvash and Mari joined the Stenka Razin and Pugachev rebellions in 1667–1671 and 1773–1775 respectively, when the Volga area from Astrakhan to Nizhni Novgorod was in open revolt against Moscow's rule. During these years, many Chuvash escaped east to the southern Urals.
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 missionaries created a written Chuvash language. The first Chuvash grammar was published in 1769. Chuvash had earlier been written with a Runic script or the Arabic alphabet. A revised Cyrillic alphabet for Chuvash was first introduced in 1873 by Ivan Yakovlevich Yakovlev. The Latin alphabet has been used as well, though there is no standard transcription. Most of the Chuvash who stayed in the area became Orthodox Christians, but some remained pagan.
A number of Russian noble families received large estates in the Chuvash lands as reward for their services to the Tsar. The formerly independent landowning Chuvash peasants became serfs to rich Russian landowners. Russian became the official language. Few attempts were made to provide primary education in the Chuvash language, and all higher education was in Russian.
After Alexander II abolished serfdom, many land-hungry Chuvash peasants moved to other areas in Russia to seek their own land. Between 1860 and 1914, nearly half of the Chuvash population left their home areas. The final wave of migration occurred during the Stolypin agrarian reforms.
[edit] Soviet Union
During the 19th and early 20th century, national feelings started to grow among the Chuvash intelligentsia. They connected with other minority pro-independence movements in the middle Volga area. Marxist ideology gained popularity among the poorest peasants and industrial workers. On May 15, 1917, the Chuvash joined the Idel-Ural Movement and in December 1917 joined the short-lived Idel-Ural State, when an agreement was reached with Tatar representatives to draw the eastern border of Chuvashia at the Sviyaga River.
The Chuvash promised to respect the Islamic Tatars' religion and grant them local and cultural autonomy inside the League of Idel Ural States. The southern border with the Mordvins was set along the Sura River, with equal rights guaranteed to the Chuvash living west of the Sura. In the south, the border went along the Barysh, Bolshoi Akla and Tsilna Rivers between the Sura and Sviyaga. In the north, there was a dispute with representatives of the Mari-populated Tsykma (Kozmodemyansk) and other areas in Chuvashia.
In 1918–1919, the Russian Civil War encompassed the area. This ended with victory for the Bolsheviks, who were mainly ethnic Russians, with strong support from Nizhny Novgorod troops. The local Chuvash independence-minded politicians were executed by 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, which was transformed into the Chuvash ASSR in April 1925.
The 1930–1931 Communist campaign against the rich kulak peasant class, which resulted in their deportation to Gulag prison camps and the elimination of independent peasant farms, hit the Chuvash ASSR's agricultural production hard. The Great Purge in 1936–1938 dealt a great blow to the Chuvash intelligentsia; many were shot or deported to prison camps. Most of the local Chuvash teachers were shot, making it difficult to teach Chuvash, as the Russian replacements did not know the language. Ethnic Russians kept control of the area, and the Russification of the Chuvash and Mari peoples intensified.
From 1930 to 1940, a shift from mainly agriculture to industry was initiated. By 1940, the Chuvash ASSR produced 35,000,000 kWh of electricity, 848,000 m2 raw timber, 369,000 m2 sawn timber, 40,000 m cotton cloth, 200,000 pairs of hosiery, 184,000 pairs of leather footwear, and 600 tons of animal fats.
According to an order dated May 28, 1940 by the Central Committee of Communist Party, 20,000 Kolkhoz peasant families of Belorussian, Chuvash, Mordvin and Tatar origin were transferred to the "New districts of the Leningrad Oblast and the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic", recently conquered in the Soviet-Finnish war. In 1941, another 20,000 families followed, each family averaging five persons. Lavrentiy Beria even suggested to transfer the entire Chuvash population from Chuvashia to Karelia to form a population security belt "against the Finnish Fascists".
During the Great Patriotic War and the postwar industrialization period, more and more Russians moved to the expanding towns of Chuvashia. The rural population remained mostly agriculturally oriented Chuvashians and Kuruk Maris. In the south of the republic, Russians and other minorities, such as Ukrainians, moved in to work in the newly created Chuvash Forest Industry Combinate.
In 1964, the Chuvash ASSR produced 350,000,000 kWh electricity, 1,073,000 m2 raw timber, 760,000 m2 sawn timber, 113,100,000 m cotton cloth, 28,800,000 pairs of hosiery, 1,800,000 pairs of leather footwear, and 3,200 tons of animal fats.
On January 1, 1966, the population of the Chuvash ASSR was 1,178,000.
In 1990, the republic was renamed the Chuvash Soviet Socialist Republic.
[edit] Post-Soviet period
In 1992, it was given its present name.
The Chuvash Republic is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. As a republic, the region has greater sovereignty than other areas of Russia in determining local policies and procedures. Nikolay Vasilyevich Fyodorov, a former minister of justice of the Russian Federation, was elected the first President of the Chuvash Republic in 1994. He has a reputation as a pro-market reformer and has pressed the region to establish closer economic ties with other countries. He has also encouraged the growth of small businesses. The mayor of Cheboksary, Anatoly Igumnov, is also eager to work with international companies. Both republic and city governments have departments of foreign economic relations to work with foreign businesspeople.
As of 2011, the President of the Republic is Mikhail Ignatyev.[11]
[edit] Economy
The Chuvash Republic is the most populous and fertile country in the middle Volga region. There are deciduous woodlands on fertile black earth. In agriculture, wheat and sugar-beet, pigs and beef cattle have become more important than the rye, oats, barley and dairy cattle which are typical for the whole area.
The republic 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.[13] Other leading industries are metalworking, electricity generation, and chemical manufacturing. There are also large timber-working mills at Shumerlin.
[edit] Transportation
The transport network in the republic 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.[13]
[edit] Roads
Only four roads in the Chuvash Republic are classified as important federal highways. The most important is Highway M-7, which runs from Nizhny Novgorod through the northern parts of the republic from Yadrinsky Nikolskoye via Malye Tyumerli, Kalmykovo, Khyrkasy, Novye Lapsary, Kugesi, Shivlinsk, Staraya Tyurlema, to Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan. It also forms a connection via Chuvashia through the southern suburbs of Cheboksary and Novocheboksary to the Mari El Republic and the Vyatka Highway. Part of this road is classified as a motorway, the only one in the republic. From Yadrinsky Nikolskoye, the federal road P-178 runs through Yadrin, Shumerlya, Alatyr, to Surskoye in Ulyanovsk Oblast and further to Ulyanovsk. In the eastern part of Chuvashia, the federal road A-151 runs from Tsivilsk through Kanash, Komsomolskoye, Chkalovskoye, Karabay-Shemursha, Shemursha to Ulyanovsk and Saratov. All other roads in Chuvashia are classified as local area roads.
Automobiles, trucks, and buses are the major forms of transportation, with the republic ranking fourth in highway density in all of Russia.[13] 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. A recently completed bridge across the Volga River in the north connects the republic to the developed Ural and Volga Federal Districts. 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 the surrounding regions.[13]
The standard speed of transportation of containers by road is 400 kilometres (250 mi) per day. The 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.[13]
[edit] Railways
The railway network is highly 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 provide a low-cost, comfortable way to travel. Express trains to and from Moscow are available every day, with the overnight journey taking approximately fourteen hours each way.
The following lines serve railway traffic in the Chuvash Republic:
- Arzamas-Kanash line
- Krasny Usel - Kanash -Sviyazhsk line
- Kanash - Cheboksary II - Cheboksary I - Cheboksary II - Novocheboksarsk line
In addition to these lines, there are 26 kilometres (16 mi) of 1520 mm gauge industrial lines running from Altyshevo station, on Alatyr-Kanash section, to Pervomaysky, located just west of Starye Aybesi in Alatyrsky District.
All railway lines in Chuvashia are operated by the MPS Gorky Railway Division. Steam locomotives were mostly replaced in 1970 by diesel locomotives and when the main Arzamas-Kanash-Sviyazhsk line was electrified, the diesel locomotives were replaced by electric ones.
The Arzamas-Kanash-Sviyazhsk line is a double track main line, while the others are single track lines. The 84 km (52 mi) Sviyazhsk-Kanash section was electrified in 1986, the 142 km (88 mi) Kanash-Sergach section in 1987.
In 1967, there were four daily passenger trains in both directions on the Alatyr-Kanash line. One of them was the semifast Sochi-Sverdlovsk-Sochi long distance transit train, halting only at Alatyr, Buinsk, and Kanash. Cheboksary was connected by daily semifast passenger train to Moscow. The travel time was 17.30[clarification needed] hours for the 758 km (471 mi) journey. 21 express and passenger trains used the Arzamas-Kanash-Sviyazhsk main line in the summer high season in both directions. Of these, four did not halt in Chuvashia. Most of the remaining semifast trains stopped at Shumerlya, Piner, Burnary, and Kanash. Four pairs of semifast trains also stopped at Tyurmari. In the 1999-2000 timetable, 11 pairs of Moscow-Kanash-Kazan express trains stopped at Kanash. The Chuvashia 53/54 express trains between Moscow and Kanash took 11.23 hours, back 10.57 hours.[clarification needed]
In addition to Russian 1524 mm gauge railways, there were six 750 mm narrow gauge railway lines: two short peat briquette industry lines at Severny and Sosnovka on the north side of the Volga, and four forest railways at Shumerlya, Atrat and Kirya. All opened in the 1930s. In 1965, their total length was 145 kilometres (90 mi):
- Shumerlya-Kabanovo-Rechnoy-Burak-Krasnobar forest railway - total length 72 kilometres (45 mi)
- Shumerlya-Kumashka-Salantshik-Yakhaykino forest railway - 46 kilometres (29 mi)
- Kirya-Lesopunkt Lyulya forest railway - 13 kilometres (8.1 mi)
- Atrat-Dolnaya Polyana-Lesozavod Gart forest railway - 14 kilometres (8.7 mi)
All lines were closed in the economic uncertainty after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
[edit] Rivers
The Volga and Sura Rivers 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 river ports 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.[13]
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.[13]
[edit] Air
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 four-hour drive from Nizhny Novgorod, a city with international air connections through Lufthansa.
[edit] Culture
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 Bulgar 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.
There has been a resurgence of native Chuvash pride, with many people looking back to their Chuvash roots and exploring the culture and heritage and relearning the language. Most building signs, road signs, and announcements are in both Russian and Chuvash.
Cultural organizations include the Chuvash State Puppet Theater and the Chuvash National Museum.
[edit] Education
There are five higher educational institutions, including the Chuvash State University, the Chuvash State Pedagogical Institute, and the Chuvash State Agricultural Academy located in Cheboksary. These, together with 28 colleges and technical schools, are currently attended by approximately 45,000 students.
(copy of wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment