The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

that encompasses the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

, the longest river in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, in central and southern

European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...

. The Volga Region is culturally separated into three sections: * Upper Volga Region - from the Volga River's source in

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after ...

to the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on t ...

of the

Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

* Middle Volga Region - from the mouth of the Oka River to the mouth of the

Kama River The Kama (russian: Ка́ма, ; tt-Cyrl, Чулман, ''Çulman''; udm, Кам) is a long«Река � ...

south of

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

* Lower Volga Region - from the mouth of the Kama River to the Volga Delta in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad s ...

, in Astrakhan Oblast The geographic boundaries of the region are vague, and the term "Volga Region" is used to refer primarily to the Middle and Lower sections, which are included in the Volga Federal District and

Volga economic region Volga (Povolzhsky) economic region (russian: Пово́лжский экономи́ческий райо́н; tr.: ''Povolzhsky ekonomichesky rayon'') is one of 12 economic regions of Russia. Composition *Astrakhan Oblast (part of S ...

Geography

The Volga Region is almost entirely within the

East European Plain The East European Plain (also called the Russian Plain, "Extending from eastern Poland through the entire European Russia to the Ural Mountaina, the ''East European Plain'' encompasses all of the Baltic states and Belarus, nearly all of Ukraine, a ...

, with a notable distinction contrasting the elevated western side featuring the Volga Upland, and the eastern side known as Transvolga (russian: Заволжье, Zavolzhye). The latter consists of the elevated High Transvolga and the lowland Low Transvolga. The Idel-Ural region, a collection of six federal subjects between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, is generally considered as a part of the Volga Region, although the river does not run through each of them. Idel-Ural is within an extensive north-western protrusion of the Volga River's

, including numerous tributaries such as the

Malaya Kokshaga River The Malaya Kokshaga ( chm, Изи Какшан, ''Izi Kakšan''; russian: Малая Кокша́га, literally Little Kokshaga) is a river in Mari El, a left tributary of the Volga. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Belaya River which joins the Kama River, a tributary of the Volga.

History

According to different sources, the region was mainly inhabited by Slavic, Turkic and Viking people. Povolzhye played an important part of the emergence of the Rus' Khaganate. The Volga River was used mainly by traders from the Oriental and Viking world.

Population

The region is home to a large portion of Russia's population, with the major cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma,

, Cheboksary,

, Ulyanovsk,

Tolyatti Tolyatti ( rus, Толья́тти, p=tɐlʲˈjætʲ(ː)ɪ), also known as Togliatti, formerly known as Stavropol (1737–1964), is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center ...

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901 ...

, Volgograd and

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of ...

all located directly on the Volga River. Other major cities on tributaries of the Volga include Ryazan, Dzerzhinsk, Kaluga and Oryol on the Oka River, Penza on the Sura River, Perm and

Naberezhnye Chelny Naberezhnye Chelny ( rus, На́бережные Челны́, p=ˈnabʲɪrʲɪʐnɨjə tɕɪlˈnɨ; tt-Cyrl, Яр Чаллы, ''Yar Çallı'', IPA: �jar ɕɑlːɤ̆ is the second largest city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. A major indu ...

on the Kama River,

Yoshkar-Ola Yoshkar-Ola ( Mari and russian: Йошкар-Ола) is the capital city of the Mari El Republic, Russia. Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Mari and was formerly known as Tsaryovokokshaysk () before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk () between 1919 a ...

on the Malaya Kokshaga River, and Dimitrovgrad on the Bolshoy Cheremshan River. Major cities located on tributaries of the Volga's tributaries include

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, the largest city and capital of Russia, on the Moskva River, a tributary of the Oka River. Kirov is located on the Vyatka River, and Ufa, Sterlitamak and Salavat are located on the Belaya River, both tributaries of the Kama River.

References

Regions of Russia * Historical regions {{volga-geo-stub

Geography

History

Population

See also

References