Bashkiriya

Bashkortostan, officially the Republic of Bashkortostan, sometimes also called Bashkiria, is a republic of Russia between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. The republic borders Perm Krai to the north, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the northeast, Chelyabinsk Oblast to the east, Orenburg Oblast to the south, Tatarstan to the west and Udmurtia to the northwest. It covers . It is the seventh-most populous federal subject in Russia and the most populous republic. Its capital and largest city is Ufa. As of 2025, it has a population of 4,046,094.

Bashkortostan was established on .Национально-государственное устройство Башкортостана, 1917–1925 гг: Общее введение и Том 1 // Билал Хамитович Юлдашбаев, Китап, 2002, , 9785295029165Хрестоматия по истории Башкортостана: Документы и материалы с древнейших времен до 1917 года // Фарит Гумеров, "Китап", 2001 On 20 March 1919, it was transformed into the Bashkir ASSR,''Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Union Republics. 1987.'', p. 25 the first autonomous republic in the Russian SFSR.БСЭ т.4 1950 год стр 347 On 11 October 1990, it adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty. In the Constitution of Bashkortostan and Constitution of Russia, Bashkortostan is defined as a state.

Terminology

The name "Bashkortostan" derives from the name of the Bashkir ethnic group. While the endonym having various theories on its meaning, the most prominent is being a combination of Turkic words ''baş'', meaning 'head', 'chief', 'main', 'principal' and ''qurt'' meaning 'wolf' (one of the animals regarded as sacred to Turkic peoples); the suffix -stan is Persian, commonly used for many Eurasian territorial names. Bashkirs speak the Bashkir language, which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic language group.

History

The first settlements in the territory of modern Bashkortostan date from the early Paleolithic period, but the Bronze Age spurred an upsurge in the population of this territory. When people of the Abashevo culture started settling here, they possessed high skills in manufacturing bronze tools, weapons and decorations. They were the first to establish permanent settlements in the Southern Urals.

Bashkortostan takes its name from its native people, the Bashkirs. The Slavonic name of the country, Bashkiriya, formed at the end of the 16th century. Originally it appeared in the forms ''Bashkir land'', ''Bashkir'', ''Bashkirda'' and ''Bashkir horde''. The ethnonym ''Bashkirs'' first became known in the 7th century. In the 10th century, Al-Balkhi wrote about Bashkirs as a people, divided into two groups, one of which inhabited the Southern Urals, while the other lived near the Danube River, close to the boundaries of Byzantium. His contemporary Ibn-Ruste described the Bashkirs as "an independent people, occupying territories on both sides of the Ural mountain ridge between Volga, Kama, Tobol and upstream of Yaik River".

File:Рисунки в Каповой пещере.jpg, Cave paintings in the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve.
File:Mausoleum of Turahan.jpg, Mausoleum of Turahan, 14th-century building.
File:Башкиры в Гамбурге, 1814.jpg, Bashkirs near Hamburg during the Napoleonic Wars, c. 1813.
File:Командиры БОКБ.jpg, A Red Army cavalry unit made up of Bashkirs, likely taken between 1924 and 1927.

After the early-feudal Mongolian state had broken down in the 14th century, the territory of modern Bashkortostan became divided between the Kazan, the Siberia Khanates and the Nogai Horde. The tribes that lived there were headed by ''bi'' (tribal heads). After Kazan fell to Ivan the Terrible in 1554–1555, representatives of western and northwestern Bashkir tribes approached the Tsar with a request to voluntarily join Muscovy. The Bashkir rebellion of 1662–1664 and the Bashkir rebellion of 1704–1711 were primarily caused by the Russian government's violations of the terms and conditions previously agreed between the Bashkirs and the Russian authorities. Bashkirs were also largely involved in the Pugachev Rebellion (their leader Salawat Yulayev, currently considered a national hero of the Bashkirs, was one of Pugachev's closest aides).

Starting from the second half of the 16th century, Bashkiria's territory began taking shape as a part of the Russian state. In 1798, the Spiritual Assembly of Russian Muslims was established, an indication that the tsarist government recognized the rights of Bashkirs, Tatars, and other Muslim nations to profess Islam and perform religious rituals. Ufa Governorate (), with a center in Ufa, was formed in 1865—another step toward territorial identification.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 were the All-Bashkir Qoroltays (conventions), which required a decision on the need to create a national federal republic within Russia. As a result, on 28 November 1917, the Bashkir Regional (Central) Shuro (Council) proclaimed the establishment of territorial and national autonomy in areas of Orenburg, Perm, Samara, and Ufa provinces with a predominantly Bashkir population.

In December 1917, delegates to the All-Bashkir (constituent) Congress, representing the interests of the population edge of all nationalities, voted unanimously for the resolution (Farman #2) of the Bashkir regional Shuro for the proclamation of national-territorial autonomy (of the Republic) Bashkurdistan. The congress formed the government of Bashkurdistan, the Pre-parliament—Kese-Qoroltay and other bodies of power and administration, and decisions were made on how to proceed.

In March 1919, based on the agreements of the Russian Government, the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. During the Soviet period, Bashkiria was granted broad autonomous rights, the first among other Russian regions. The administrative structure of the Bashkir ASSR was based on principles similar to those of other autonomous republics of Russia.

On 11 October 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic adopted the declaration on state sovereignty of the Bashkir ASSR. On 25 February 1992, the Bashkir ASSR was renamed the Republic of Bashkortostan.

On 31 March 1992, a Federative Compact "On separation of authorities and powers among federal organs of power of the Russian Federation and the organs of power of the Republic of Bashkortostan" was signed. On 3 August 1994, a Compact "On separation of authorities and mutual delegating of powers among the organs of power of the Russian Federation and the organs of power of the Republic of Bashkortostan" was signed, granting the republic autonomy. This agreement was unilaterally abolished on 7 July 2005.

Geography

Bashkortostan contains part of the southern Urals and the adjacent plains.

File:Шихан Торатау и коровы.jpg, Shihan Toratau. Single hills are popular symbols of Bashkortostan.
File:Atysh waterfall (2008).jpg, Atysh waterfall
File:Лошади на Банном.jpg, Bashkir horses near Yakty-Kul lake
File:Лес вокруг г.Ямантау.jpg, Autumn Yamantau

* ''Area'': (according to the 2002 Census)
* ''Borders'': Bashkortostan borders with Perm Krai (N), Sverdlovsk Oblast (NE), Chelyabinsk Oblast (NE/E/SE), Orenburg Oblast (SE/S/SW), the Republic of Tatarstan (W), and the Udmurt Republic (NW)
* ''Highest point'': Mount Yamantau (1,638 m)
* ''Maximum north-south distance'': 550 km
* ''Maximum east-west distance'': over 430 km

Rivers

There are over 13,000 rivers in the republic. Many rivers are part of the deep-water transportation system of European Russia; they provide access to ports of the Baltic and Black seas.

Major rivers include:
* Belaya (Aghidhel) River