Ryazan Oblast (, ) is a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

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 ...

(an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

). Its

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 ...

is the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Ryazan Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...

, which is also the oblast's largest city.

Geography

Ryazan Oblast borders

Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, the oblast's population was 1,443,693. The UNESCO World Heritage L ...

(N),

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,119,115 as of the 2021 Ru ...

(NE), the

Republic of Mordovia Mordovia ( ),; Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Saransk. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the republic was 834,755. Ethnic Russians ( ...

(E),

Penza Oblast Penza Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Penza. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was ...

(SE),

Tambov Oblast Tambov Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tambov. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was&n ...

(S),

Lipetsk Oblast Lipetsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Lipetsk. As of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, its population was&n ...

(SW),

Tula Oblast Tula Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an Oblasts of Russia, oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in European Russia and is administratively part of the Central Federal District, covering an area of . It has a ...

(W), and

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

(NW). In terms of physical geography, Ryazan Oblast lies in the central part of the Russian Plain between the Central Russian and

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

uplands. The terrain is flat, with the highest point of no more than 300 m above sea level. Soils are podzolic and boggy on the left bank of the Oka, changing southward to more fertile podzolic and leached black-earths ( chernozyom).

Hydrography

RybnoeDistrict 06-13 Konstantinovo Oka River 01

Most of the Ryazan Oblast lies within the

Volga basin The Volga (, ) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian ...

, with the Oka the principal river of the area.

History

Human occupation of the area of the Ryazan Oblast dates from at least the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

period.

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...

, Volga Finnic, Tatar tribes inhabited the area and merged into an ethnos, a process virtually completed by the 13th century CE. In 830 the Ryazan area became part of

Rus' Khaganate Rus' Khaganate (, ''Russkiy kaganat'', , ''Ruśkyj kahanat''), or Kaganate of Rus is a name applied by some modern historians to a hypothetical polity suggested to have existed during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern Europe b ...

. Later the Ryazan area became part of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

political system and came under the domination of the

Principality of Chernigov The Principality of Chernigov was one of the largest and most powerful states within Kievan Rus'. For a time the principality was the second most powerful after the Principality of Kiev. The principality was formed in the 10th century and maint ...

(founded in 988). The

Principality of Ryazan The Principality of Ryazan (), later known as the Grand Principality of Ryazan (), was a principality from 1129 to 1521. Its capital was the city of Ryazan, now known as Old Ryazan, which was destroyed in 1237 during the Mongol invasions. The ...

operated as a separate entity from 1097 to 1521, when the area became part of the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

, though with the Qasim Khanate district retaining some autonomy until the 1550s. The

Ryazan Governorate Ryazan Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 to 1929. Its capital was in Ryazan. Administrative division Ryazan Governorate consisted of the follo ...

became separate from the

Moscow Governorate The Moscow Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, and the Russian Empire. It was bordered by Tver Governorate to the north, Vladimir Governorate to the northeast, Ryazan Governorate to the southeast, Tula Gove ...

in 1796.

Soviet Union

Ryazan Oblast was formed out of 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 ...

and

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

oblasts in 1937. It took its present form in 1954 when some of its southern districts were ceded to the newly established

. Also in 1954, it was ceded parts of southern

and no border changes happened afterward.

Administrative divisions

Economy

Soviet Union

In the post-war period of the Soviet Union recovery in the wake of growing competition between USSR and US several ambitious plans severely undermined the economic stability of the region. In Ryazan Oblast, at the behest of central government led by

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

, a regional administration ordered slaughter of livestock in a futile attempt to boost productivity rates (plans included tripling of meat and milk production). Because of series of misjudgement and overestimations these plans resulted in disastrous failure which is known today as Ryazan miracle ().

Modern

Ryazan Oblast is a part of the Central economic region. The oblast is economically favorable due to the water and land routes that pass through it and provide stable domestic and foreign economic ties. It is considered both an industrial and agricultural Oblast. The agriculture in the region is represented by

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

farming and plants cultivation. Livestock farming specializes in raising and fattening

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and breeding

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

, and

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

Beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

is also well developed in the region.

Transportation

* Solotchinskoye peat narrow gauge railway is located in Ryazansky District * Mesherskoye peat narrow gauge railway is located in Klepikovsky District

Demographics

Population: Vital statistics for 2024: *Births: 6,376 (5.9 per 1,000) *Deaths: 16,555 (15.4 per 1,000) Total fertility rate (2024):
1.12 children per woman Life expectancy (2021):
Total — 68.61 years (male — 63.96, female — 73.31) Ethnic composition (2010): *

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

- 95.1% *

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

- 0.8% *

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

- 0.5% *

Mordvins Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha language, Moksha and Erzya language, Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Names While Robert Gordon ...

- 0.5% *

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

- 0.5% * Azeris - 0.4% *

Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...

- 0.3% *Others - 1.9% *74,419 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey 63% of the population of Ryazan Oblast adheres to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, 3% are unaffiliated generic

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, 1% are Orthodox Christian believers without belonging to church or belonging to non-Russian Orthodox churches, 1% are

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, and 1% are adherents of the

Rodnovery The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...

(Slavic native faith) movement. In addition, 15% of the population declares to be "

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), or less commonly "more spiritual than religious", is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not reg ...

", 9% is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 7% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

Tourism

* , an 18th century mansion built by wealthy local trader and farmer.

Notable people

Arts

* Alexander Alexandrov (1883–1946), composer * Yuri Bykov (born 1981), filmmaker *

Erast Garin Erast Pavlovich Garin (September 4, 1980, born Gerasimov) was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter. He was, together with Igor Ilyinsky and Sergey Martinson, one of the leading comic actors of Vsevolod Meyerhold's company and of ...

(1902–1980), comic actor * Alexander Genis (born 1953), writer, broadcaster and cultural critic * Yuri Kholopov (1932–2003), musicologist, music theorist, doctor of arts, and professor of the Moscow Conservatoire * Maximilian Kravkov (1887–1937), writer * Andrei Mironov (born 1975), painter *

Konstantin Paustovsky Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky (, ; – 14 July 1968) was a Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968. Early life Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow. His father was a railroad statist ...

(1892–1968), writer * Alexander Pirogov (1899–1964), bass opera singer *

Yakov Polonsky Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (; ) was a leading Pushkinist poet who wrote poems faithful to the traditions of Russian Romantic poetry during the heyday of realistic prose. Of noble birth, Polonsky attended the Moscow University, where he befriended ...

(1819–1898), writer *

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin ( rus, Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪvˈɡrafəvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof ɕːɪˈdrʲin; – ), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during ...

(1826–1889), satirist *

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

(1918–2008), writer *

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (, ; 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century. One of his narratives was "lyrical evocations ...

(1895–1925), poet * Semen Zhivago (1807–1863), historical painter

Athletics

* Anton Belov (born 1986), professional ice hockey defenceman * Olga Kaliturina (born 1976), high jumper * Maria Kalmykova (born 1978), basketball player * Yuri Kuleshov (born 1981), professional football defensive midfielder * Irina Meleshina (born 1982), long jumper * Ivan Nifontov (born 1987), judoka * Sergei Panov (born 1970), basketball player * Konstantin Selyavin (born 1974), former Russian professional football player * Kirill Sosunov (born 1975), long jumper *

Alexandra Trusova Alexandra "Sasha" Vyacheslavovna Ignatova (née Trusova; rus, Александра Вячеславовна Игнатова née Трусова, , ɐlʲɪˈksandrə ˈtrusəvə; born 23 June 2004) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 O ...

(born 2004), figure skater

Engineering and science

* Andrey Arkhangelsky (1879–1940), geologist * Victor Balykin (born 1947), Russian physicist * Vladimir Gulevich (1867–1933), biochemist * Aleksei Kozhevnikov (1836–1902), neurologist and psychiatrist * Nikolai Kravkov (1865–1924), pharmacologist * Sergey P. Kravkov (1873–1938), soil scientist * Sergey V. Kravkov (1893–1951), psychologist and psychophysiologist *

Andrey Markov Andrey Andreyevich Markov (14 June 1856 – 20 July 1922) was a Russian mathematician best known for his work on stochastic processes. A primary subject of his research later became known as the Markov chain. He was also a strong, close to mas ...

(1856–1922), mathematician * Ivan Michurin (1855–1935), biologist * Sergey Nepobedimy (1921–2014), designer of rocket weaponry *

Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (, ; 27 February 1936) was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist and physiologist known for his discovery of classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs. Pavlov also conducted significant research on ...

(1849–1936), physiologist *

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...

(1857–1935), engineer

Others

Dmitry Andreikin Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin (, born 5 February 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster, World Junior Chess Champion in 2010 and two-time Russian Chess Champion (2012 and 2018). He won the Tashkent leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 and finish ...

(born 1990), chess grandmaster * Roman Putin (born 1977), businessman

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Use mdy dates, date=February 2015 States and territories established in 1937