Kanash (; , ''KanaÅŸ'', lit. ''
soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
'') is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in the
Chuvash Republic
Chuvashia, officially known as Chuvash Republic — Chuvashia, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic languages, Turkic ethnic group. Its capital city, capital i ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, located at a major railway junction from
Cheboksary
Cheboksary is the capital city of Chuvashia, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River.
Geography
The city is located in the Volga Upland region and stands on the shore of the Cheboksary Reservoir. Its area is .Resolution #2083 The satellite city ...
, the
capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
of the republic. Population:
History
It was founded in 1891. Between 1891 and 1925 it was called Shikhrany ().
The town's history is closely linked to the development of the railway. The
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
–
Kazan
Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
line was completed, except for the
Imperatorsky Romanovsky railway bridge across Volga, in December 1884 by private
Moscow Ryazan Railway Company which was renamed to
Moscow Kazan Railway Company on July 11, 1891, which provided all train service in the area up to 1918, when all the remaining private railways were nationalized by the Bolsheviks.
The opening of the station, which was then surrounded by woodland, provided a convenient production point for the timber industry, and windmills were built in the area. In 1911, there were more than forty trading firms in Shikhrany. In 1912, a primary school was opened, and in 1914—a middle school. In 1919, Shikhrany station became a railway junction, when the
Arzamas
Arzamas (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Tyosha River (a tributary of the Oka River, Oka), east of Moscow. As of 2024, it has a population of 103,629.
History
Arzamas ...
–Shikhrany line, which had been under construction from 1914, when the last section was completed from the Tsarkli River bridge to Shihrany, and opened to full traffic. The line had been in restricted use with limited car loads since summer 1917.
By 1925, when Kanash was granted town status, its population was approximately 2,200.
Another station was built in 1926 for goods transit. The first power station, which supplied electricity to the railway station, portions of the town, and thirteen nearby villages, was constructed in 1929.
Construction of the Kanash–Cheboksary line began in 1939, bringing the number of lines connecting Kanash up to four.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, railway production facilities and transit capacity were substantially increased.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, local industry was diversified. Factories producing furniture, tools, polymers, and plastics, and car repair factories were built.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of administrative divisions, Kanash serves as the
administrative center
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of
Kanashsky District
Kanashsky District (; , ''Kanaş rayonĕ'') is an administrativeLaw #28 and municipalLaw #37 district (raion), one of the twenty-one in the Chuvash Republic, Russia. It is located in the eastern central part of the republic and borders with Tsiv ...
, even though it is not a part of it.
[Law #28] As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the
town of republic significance of Kanash—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
.
As a
municipal division, the town of republic significance of Kanash is incorporated as Kanash Urban Okrug.
[Law #37]
Notable residents
*
Alexandra Boltasseva (born 1978), professor of electrical and computer engineering
*
Nadezhda Wijenberg (born 1964), long-distance runner
*
Viatcheslav Mukhanov
Viatcheslav Fyodorovich Mukhanov (; born October 2, 1956) is a Soviet/Russian born German theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He is best known for the theory of Quantum Origin of the Universe Structure. Working in 1980-1981 with Gennady Chib ...
(born 1956), theoretical physicist and cosmologist
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
Official website of KanashKanash Business Directory
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Chuvashia
Monotowns in Russia