Volga region: population and economy

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Volga is a great Russian river, it has become a symbol of our country. Songs were composed about her, she became a character in legends, epics, fairy tales and literary works. At the sight of the beauty of the landscapes framing 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, living together and working for the glory of their region and all of Russia.

Grey old man

The Russian Volga did not immediately become: from time immemorial, ethnic groups that became indigenous in the Volga region founded their state formations on its banks. The population was Bulgars, Polovtsy, Mongols, Khazars and other representatives of Asian peoples. Archaeological finds eloquently testify to the high level of the Volga civilization of those centuries. Countless hordes of the Astrakhan Khanate and the Golden Horde found a place for strongholds on their way to the West here. An important historical milestone was the time of Astrakhan andKazan 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 starting from the second half of the 16th century, the process of colonization of the Volga lands began. They attracted the Russian autocrats with countless fish and soil we alth, as well as an extremely strategically geopolitical location that allowed them to control the Asian-European trade routes.

Agrarian region

Until the middle of the 19th century, the Volga lands served as a base for the development of the agricultural industry. Local soils made it possible to grow good crops, fish resources were innumerable, and the forests of the middle belt became a real treasure for the purveyors who sent their goods to all corners of the empire. Gardens became suppliers of the largest trade 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. Before the revolution, agriculture continued to be an important source of income for every provincial treasury. Grain growing, animal husbandry, and, in addition to everything, s alt mining was also strong here. The Ukrainian population of the Volga region in some districts was up to 7% of the total population and was represented by the “chumaks” who settled here, that is, professionalsuppliers of table s alt, a product so important and scarce in those days. And today Little Russian surnames are not uncommon here.

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 production of the most important building materials appeared in the Saratov province. Factories developed, they needed steel machines - and the machine-tool enterprises of Tsaritsyn began to smoke with pipes. The Volga was becoming increasingly important as an all-Russian transport channel - and shipyards were built in Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod. Within one and a half to two decades, the industrial potential of the region has increased many times over. The rural population of the Volga region reached out to the cities, and the process of urbanization, natural for industrialized countries, began. The revolution and the ensuing Civil War, 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

The civil war brought innumerable disasters to the region. The population and economy of the Volga region fell into decay as a result of hostilities and the ruthless policy of food distribution carried out by the Bolsheviks throughout the country. In 1921, famine began in the region, exacerbated by a drought that led to crop failure. Its victims were five million people belonging to all social groups and nationalities,inhabiting the region. The population of the Volga region at that time was 25 million people. Thus, every fifth inhabitant of the recently prosperous region of the empire perished from an unimaginable famine. An indirect victim of this disaster was the Ukrainian peasantry, subjected to an equally merciless apportionment under the pretext of helping the starving. Trains filled with mobilized Red Army soldiers from the affected areas were moving towards the food trains. Lenin demanded that a million Volzhans be drafted into the Red Army.

The Bolsheviks fought against the famine organized by them, confiscating church property and ruining churches. A lot of help was provided by foreign organizations. By 1921, the famine had become less acute, but its effects were long-lasting.

Between the wars

In the interwar period, the economy of the region developed according to the approved master plans. During the five-year plans, power plants were built, light industry enterprises were built. The legacy of the tsarist regime was also widely used (some of the plants and factories laid down then are still working). Much attention was paid to the development of educational institutions where new proletarian cadres were trained. The peculiarities of the population of the Volga region could not be ignored - there was a need for a balanced national policy that requires a special approach in each individual case. An example of such activity is the establishment of the Republic of the Volga Germans, which existed from 1923 to 1941.

PaceThe development of the region accelerated during the war. In the Volga region, many industries were evacuated from the areas captured by the Nazi invaders. 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 have yielded results. Of the ten cars produced in the country, seven were produced on the banks of the great Russian river (in Ulyanovsk and Tolyatti). The situation with trucks is somewhat more modest, but every tenth is also not so little. A powerful trolleybus plant operates in the city of Engels (Saratov region). A whole complex of enterprises operates in the region, manufacturing products of ultra-precise instrumentation (including those for defense purposes). The aircraft and machine tool industries are also seriously represented. The population of the Volga region is a source of qualified personnel, who are trained by many higher educational institutions. In many respects, the region successfully competes with such developed industrial regions as the Ural and Central regions.

Today

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

1. Upper Volga: Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo, Kostroma and Yaroslavl;.
2. Middle Volga: Samara and Ulyanovsk, as well as the republicsChuvashia, 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 (Volga and South).

17 million Russians live in the region.

The population density of the Volga region is extremely heterogeneous, it is three times higher than the national average (31 people/sq. km), but in the Republic of Kalmykia it is very low - only 4.3 people/sq. km.

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

There are 90 cities in the Volga region, of which three are "millionaires" (Samara, Kazan and Volgograd). Saratov will probably join them in the coming years.

Population growth is characterized by a high rate, but this is largely due to the large number of migrants. The region here is really good, it has predictably favorable prospects, and people come here for permanent residence willingly.