Samara Oblast

Samara Oblast ( rus, Сама́рская о́бласть, r=Samarskaya oblast, p=sɐˈmarskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast ( rus, Ку́йбышевская о́бласть, r=Kuybyshevskaya Oblast, p=ˈkujbɨʂɨfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ). As of the 2010 Census, the population of the oblast was 3,215,532.

The oblast borders Tatarstan in the north, Orenburg Oblast in the east, Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan Province) in the south, Saratov Oblast in the southwest and Ulyanovsk Oblast in the west.

History

The Samara region contains a remarkable succession of archaeological cultures from 7000 BC to 4000 BC. These sites have revealed Europe's earliest pottery ( Elshanka culture), the world's oldest horse burial and signs of horse worship (the Syezzheye cemetery of Samara culture) and the earliest kurgans associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans (e.g., Krivoluchye assigned to Khvalynsk culture).

The Russian Empire established a ''guberniya'' (governorate) in the area in 1851, the Samara Governorate, which was administered from the city of Samara. During the Revolution of 1905, a rebellion took place in November that year at the village of Novaya Tsarevshchina (now Volzhsky) and spread to the village of Stary Buyan, leading to the formation of the short-lived separatist state, the Stary Buyan Republic, within the governorate. There was little local opposition to the new state, and after the failure of local police to end the rebellion, it was successfully suppressed by a punitive expedition of Cossacks and gendarmes led by the vice-governor of the governorate in Samara.

After the decree of Tsar Nicholas II on religious tolerance the Old Believers were forced to pay taxes in favour to the Orthodox Church that they believed to be heretical. The then Ministry of Interior forbade Samara's public officials to prosecute in this practice, which was contrary to the spirit of the decree.

Under Soviet rule most of the governorate's territory was transformed into the Middle Volga Oblast, which was established on May 14, 1928, and a year later on October 20, 1929, it was again transformed into Middle Volga Krai.''Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Union Republics. 1987.'', p. 162 On January 27, 1935, Samara and the Middle Volga Krai were renamed Kuybyshev and Kuybyshev Krai, respectively, in honor of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev. On December 5, 1936, Kuybyshev Krai was transformed into Kuybyshev Oblast upon the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution. On January 25, 1991 by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the Kuibyshev Oblast was renamed the Samara Oblast. On April 21, 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the decision of the presidium of the parliament to rename the region, amending Art. 71 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978, which entered into force on May 16, 1992.

On 1 August 1997 Samara Oblast signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement would be abolished on 22 February 2002.

Tolyatti is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center of a federal subject.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Population:

''Ethnic groups'':
According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the oblast was:
*2,645,124 Russians (85.6%)
*126,124 Tatars

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases