capital city
A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...
of
Mari El
Mari El,; ; officially the Mari El Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is in the European Russia, European region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga River, and administratively part of the Volga Federal ...
,
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 ...
. Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Mari and was formerly known as Tsarevokokshaysk () before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk () between 1919 and 1927 both after the Malaya Kokshaga River and Charla (), by the Mari people.
Yoshkar-Ola was established as a military fortress in 1584, following the Russian conquest of the Mari-inhabited regions of the
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 ...
and its tributaries. It is one of the centers of the
Mari people
The Mari ( ), also formerly known as the Cheremis or Cheremisses, are a Finno-Ugric peoples, Finno-Ugric people in Eastern Europe, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama River, Kama rivers in Russia. They live mostly in the Mari E ...
(especially of the Meadow Mari subgroup) and the administrative center of the Yoshkar-Ola city district.
Demographics
Population:
History
Yoshkar-Ola was established as a military fortress in 1584, following the Russian conquest of the Mari region.
Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Mari and before 1919 was known as Tsaryovokokshaysk (), between 1919 and 1927 also as Krasnokokshaysk () both after the Malaya Kokshaga River and is known as Charla () amongst the Mari people.
During the
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 ...
era, especially after
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 ...
, the city was a regional industrial and transport center and grew to its current size.
The
collapse of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
removed support for
state enterprise
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...
s, and led to the shutdown of most manufacturing activity in the area. Much of the city's economic activity was supported by shuttle traders who would transport (often
counterfeit
A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...
) goods from the bustling markets of
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 ...
to Yoshkar-Ola's
bazaar
A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...
s. The sharp decline in living standards led to the emigration of specialized professionals to larger cities in Russia.
Yoshkar-Ola is located in the MSK time zone (Moscow time). The offset of the applicable time relative to UTC is +3:00 In accordance with the applicable time and longitude, the average solar noon in Yoshkar-Ola occurs at 11:48.
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 ...
.Law #22-Z As a municipal division, the city of republic significance of Yoshkar-Ola is incorporated as Yoshkar-Ola Urban Okrug.Law #15-Z
Transport
Yoshkar-Ola is linked to other cities and regions in Russia by a series of train and bus routes. The local train station is currently served by a daily train to and from the capital
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 ...
with other short-service trains running to and from
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. ...
. Moscow and various other nearby towns and regions can also be reached by buses departing from the local bus station. The Yoshkar-Ola Airport is also located 9 km north of the city and handles small aircraft
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 ...
-bound flights ( Vnukovo International Airport) since April 2012.
Destinations within the city limits can be reached through a network of buses, trolleys, and route taxis, or ''
marshrutka
''Marshrutnoye taksi''27th Guards Missile Army of the
Strategic Rocket Forces
The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; ) is a military branch, separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinenta ...
is located nearby.
Yoshkar-Ola has a prison colony, which came to international attention in September 2022 as the location of a
Wagner Group
The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...
video in which
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch. He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a ...
promised convicts they would be released from prison if they served a six-month combat tour in the
war against Ukraine
The following is a list of major conflicts fought by Ukraine, by Ukrainian people or by regular armies during periods when List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, independent states existed on the Geography of Ukraine, modern ...
.
Climate
The climate of Yoshkar-Ola is very similar to that of
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''Dfb''). The winters are long and cold with much snow and average January temperatures between , and a record low of . On the other hand, the city enjoys very warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry or rainy conditions with July as the hottest month, when the average high is , and temperatures may stay around for weeks.
Demographics
According to the 2021 Census, Yoshkar-Ola has a population of 281,248 people, making it the 71st largest city in Russia. The urban area of the city is 291,892 people.
Following the 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of Yoshkar-Ola is:
Education
The main building of Mari state technical university.jpg,
The main building of Mari State University.jpg,
Yoshkar-Ola is home to 88 educational institutions, among them several institutions of higher education, including: Mari State University * Volga State University of Technology (before 2012, Mari State Technical University) Interregional Open Social Institute There are also 30 schools for primary students aged between 7 and 18 and 52 kindergartens.
Additionally, Yoshkar-Ola has many private educational centers offering different qualifications and trainings in such disciplines as foreign languages, computer science and many others.
Bourges
Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...
, France
*
Princeton, West Virginia
Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield micropolitan area.
History Early history
Princeton was ...
, United States
*
Szombathely
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Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...