Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod, colloquially shortened to Nizhny and from 1932 to 1990 known as Gorky, is both a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and the Volga Federal District in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga rivers in Central Russia, with a population of over 1.2 million residents, and roughly 1.7 million residents in the wider urban area. Nizhny Novgorod is the sixth-largest city in Russia, and the second-most populous city on the Volga and in the Volga Federal District. The city is located 420 kilometers (260 mi) east of Moscow. It is an important economic, architectural, educational and cultural centre in Russia and the Volga-Vyatka Economic Region, and provides the majority of Russia's river tourism.

The city was founded on 4 February 1221 by Prince George II of Vladimir. In 1612, Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky organized an army for the liberation of Moscow from the Poles and Lithuanians. In 1817, Nizhny Novgorod became a great trade centre of the Russian Empire. In 1896, at the trade centre, an All-Russia Exhibition was organized. During the Soviet period, the city turned into an important industrial centre, and was known as Gorky. In particular, the Gorky Automobile Plant was constructed in this period. Around this time, the city was given the nickname "Russian Detroit". Shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city was renamed Nizhny Novgorod once again. In 1985, the Nizhny Novgorod Metro was opened. In 2016, Vladimir Putin opened the new 70th Anniversary of Victory Plant, which is part of the Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defence Corporation.

The Kremlin – the historic centre of the city – contains the main government agencies of the city and the Volga Federal District. The demonym for a Nizhny Novgorod resident is нижегородец (nizhegorodets) for men or нижегородка (nizhegorodka) for women, rendered in English as Nizhegorodian. Novgorodian is improper, as it refers to a resident of Veliky Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.