Volga region: population and economy

The Volga is a great Russian river, it has become a symbol of our country. She wrote songs about her, she became a character of legends, epics, fairy tales and literary works. At the sight of the beauty of the landscapes that frame the main artery of European Russia, the soul of every patriot is filled with joy and peace. The population of the Volga region is made up of people of different nations who live amicably and work for the glory of their land and all of Russia.

Gray-haired old man

Russian Volga did not immediately begin: from time immemorial, ethnoses that had become indigenous in the Volga region were based on its shores. The population consisted of Bulgars, Polovtsians, Mongols, Khazars and other representatives of Asian peoples. Archaeological finds eloquently testify to the high level of the Volga civilization of those centuries. Here are found a place for strong points on their way to the West, the myriad hordes of the Astrakhan Khanate and the Golden Horde. An important historical milestone was the times of the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates. The Russian population of the Volga region began to increase rapidly as the borders of Russia expanded. The first cities on the banks of the great river were Samara, founded in 1586, then Tsaritsyn (1589) and Saratov (1590). And since the second half of the 16th century, the process of colonization of the Volga lands began. They attracted Russian autocrats with myriad fish and soil riches, as well as an extremely important strategic-geopolitical location that allows controlling the Asian-European trade routes.

Agrarian Region

Until the middle of the XIX century, the Volga lands served as a base for the development of the agricultural sector. Local soils allowed to grow good harvests, fish wealth was incalculable, and the middle-range forests became a real treasure for the procurers who sent their goods to all corners of the empire. The gardens became the suppliers of the largest trading enterprises and even the royal table. In the second half of the 17th century, the population of the Volga region was replenished and enriched by immigrants from Germany, invited by Catherine the Great to improve the demographic picture of the region and borrow European agricultural technologies. Agriculture before the revolution continued to be an important income item of each provincial treasury. Strongly there was bread-making, and animal husbandry, and, in addition, in addition, and the extraction of salt. The Ukrainian population of the Volga region was up to 7% of the total population in some uyezds and was represented by the "chumaks" that settled here, that is, professional suppliers of table salt, which was so important and scarce in those times. And today the Little Russian names are not uncommon.

Industrial boom

At the end of the nineteenth century, the population and economy of the Volga region underwent serious changes in connection with the inevitably gaining momentum of the industrial revolution. The empire was being built, it needed cement, and in the Saratov gubernia the production of the most important building materials appeared. The factories were developing, they needed machines - and Tsaritsyn machine-tool enterprises smoked with pipes. The Volga became increasingly important all-Russian transport channel - and in Nizhny Novgorod Sormovo built shipyards. Within one and a half to two decades the industrial potential of the region has increased many times. The rural population of the Volga region was drawn into cities, the process of urbanization, natural for industrialized countries , began. The revolution and the Civil War that followed, accompanied by massive famine, slowed down the development of the region, but not for long. The potential of the Volga region turned out to be very high.

Hunger

Civil war brought innumerable calamities to the edge. The population and economy of the Volga region fell into decay as a result of hostilities and a ruthless policy of food distribution, carried out by the Bolsheviks throughout the country. In 1921, a famine began in the region, aggravated by a drought that led to a crop failure. Its victims were five million people who belonged to all social groups and nationalities that inhabited the region. The population of the Volga region at the time was 25 million people. Thus, from the inconceivable hunger, one out of every five inhabitants of a very recently prosperous region of the empire perished. An indirect victim of this disaster was the Ukrainian peasantry, subjected to an equally ruthless deployment under the pretext of helping the starving. Towards echelons with food went railroad train, filled with mobilized Red Army men from the affected areas. Lenin demanded that one million Volzhans be summoned to the Red Army.

With the famine organized by them, the Bolsheviks fought, confiscating church property and ruining temples. A great deal of help was rendered by foreign organizations. By 1921, the hunger had become less acute, but the consequences of it had a long impact.

Between wars

In the interwar period, the economy of the province developed according to approved general plans. During the five-year plans, power plants were built, light industry enterprises were built. Widely used was the inheritance of the tsarist regime (some of the factories and factories planted at that time still operate today). Much attention was paid to the rise of educational institutions, where new proletarian cadres were trained. Peculiarities of the population of the Volga region could not be ignored - there is a need for a balanced national policy that requires a special approach in each individual case. As an example of such activities, one can cite the establishment of the Republic of Volga Germans, which existed from 1923 to 1941.

The pace of development of the region accelerated during the war. In the Volga region were evacuated many industries from areas captured by the Nazi occupiers. Most of these enterprises remained here after the Victory.

The chemical and oil industries also developed.

Industrial development and personnel

Efforts to industrialize the Volga region yielded results. Of the ten cars produced in the country, seven were produced on the banks of the great Russian river (in Ulyanovsk and Togliatti). The situation with trucks is somewhat more modest, but every tenth is also not too small. In the city of Engels (Saratov region) there is a powerful trolleybus plant. There is a whole complex of enterprises in the region that produces products of precision instrumentation (including defense). The aircraft building and machine tool industries are also seriously represented. The population of the Volga region is a source of qualified personnel, which are trained by many higher educational institutions. In many respects, the region successfully competes with such developed industrial regions as the Urals and Central.

Nowadays

The Volga region today is a vast part of the territory of Russia (more than 6% of its entire area), which includes areas conventionally divided into three groups:

1. Upper Volga: Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo, Kostroma and Yaroslavl;
2. Middle Volga: Samara and Ulyanovsk, as well as the republics of Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Mari El.
3. Lower Volga: Samara, Ulyanovsk, Volgograd and Saratov plus the republics of Kalmykia and Tatarstan.

They are part of two federal districts (Privolzhsky and South).

The region is home to 17 million Russians.

The density of the population of the Volga region is extremely heterogeneous, it is three times higher than the national average (31 people / km2), but in the Republic of Kalmykia is very small - only 4.3 people per square kilometer. Km.

The national composition is specific: 16% of Tatars live here, 5% of Mordovians and Chuvashes live, other nations are represented, but most of all Russians - up to 70%.

There are 90 cities in the Volga region, of which three are "million" (Samara, Kazan and Volgograd). Probably, in the coming years they will be joined by Saratov.

Population growth is characterized by a high rate, but largely due to the large number of migrants. The edge here is indeed good, it has a predictably favorable outlook, and go here for permanent residence willingly.