| Udmurt Republic | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Удмуртская Республика (Russian) Удмурт Республика (Udmurt) |
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| — Republic — | |||
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| Anthem: National Anthem of the Udmurt Republic | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Political status | |||
| Country | Russia | ||
| Federal district | Volga[1] | ||
| Economic region | Urals[2] | ||
| Established | November 4, 1920 | ||
| Capital | Izhevsk | ||
| Government (as of August 2010) | |||
| - President[3] | Alexander Volkov[4] | ||
| - Legislature | State Council[3] | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Area (as of the 2002 Census)[5] | |||
| - Total | 42,100 km2 (16,254.9 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 57th | ||
| Population (2010 Census)[6] | |||
| - Total | 1,522,761 | ||
| - Rank | 30th | ||
| - Density | 36.17 /km2 (93.7 /sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 69.2% | ||
| - Rural | 30.8% | ||
| Population (2002 Census)[7] | |||
| - Total | 1,570,316 | ||
| - Rank | 29th | ||
| - Density | 37.3 /km2 (97 /sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 69.7% | ||
| - Rural | 30.3% | ||
| Time zone(s) | MSD (UTC+04:00)[8] | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | RU-UD | ||
| License plates | 18 | ||
| Official languages | Russian;[9] Udmurt[10] | ||
| http://www.udmurt.ru/en/ | |||
The Udmurt Republic (Russian: Удму́ртская Pеспу́блика, Udmurtskaya respublika; Udmurt: Удмурт Республика), or Udmurtia (Удму́ртия, Udmurtiya) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. Population: 1,522,761 (2010 Census preliminary results).[6]
Contents |
| History of Udmurtia | |
|---|---|
This article is part of a series |
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| Volga Bulgaria | |
| Mongol invasion | |
| Golden Horde | |
| Khanate of Kazan | |
| Ar begs | |
| Muscovy | |
| Kazan Governorate | |
| Udmurt Autonomous Oblast | |
| Udmurt ASSR | |
| Udmurt Republic | |
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Udmurt Republic Portal |
The Uralic language community was founded in the late Stone Age in the Ural region. Later, a Permic community split off from the Uralic community. At the end of the first millennium CE, Proto-Udmurts were differentiated from the Permic generality. Originally, the Proto-Udmurts lived in the middle Kama River region, then began to settle around the mouth of the Vyatka River.
Udmurts are mentioned by Arab historians Ibn Fadlan (921) and Abu-Said al-Balchi (950) as neighbors of the Idel River Bolgars. Thus, the southern Udmurts were under the influence of Volga Bulgaria.
By the middle of the second millennium, Udmurts had settled adjacent to the middle reaches of the Vyatka, where they began to settle in the valley of the Cheptsa River — from the mouth to the source of the river. At the Vyatka River, Udmurts first met the Old Rus people, who had been settling there since the 12th century. In addition, Udmurts were in contact with Russian and Arab merchants. The Russian state exerted political and cultural influence on the northern Udmurt. By the 16th century, the northern Udmurt almost became part of the Russian state.
During the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria of 1237, the Mongols also conquered the land where most of the Udmurts lived. They had to pay annual taxes to the Khan of Kazan, who did not otherwise intervene in Udmurt tribal society.
By this time, some Udmurt tribes mixed with Tatars, and these people, still using the Udmurt language, were called Besermaans, or 'Busurmans' in Udmurt. The Maris called Udmurts "Odo". From this name, the Russians derived their second alternative name for Udmurts: Otjans (Otjaki) or Otiny. From this is derived Votjaki.
The Udmurts fought together with the Tatars against the Muscovite Princes up to 1552, when the Khanate of Kazan was conquered and destroyed by the Russians. The territory of modern Udmurtia was divided after 1552 between the Kazan and Vyatka Governorates (guberniyas). During 1553–1557, the Udmurts rebelled against the Russians. In 1582, a new rebellion broke out. The Russians decided to make, from Moscow, an armed venture against the Udmurt rebels. A new revolt started again in 1592 together with the Maris.
In 1609, Udmurts took part in a rebellion and conquered, in 1612 and for a short period, Kazan, together with the Tatars. The next uprising took place when the Udmurts joined the Stenka Razin rebellion in 1667–1671. The Russians still considered Udmurts dangerous enough that an order was issued in 1697 not to sell any iron, which could be used to arm the Udmurt population. The last large scale uprising took place in 1773–1774, when Udmurts joined Yemelyan Pugachyov's rebellion.
The first industrial enterprise, in what is now Udmurtia, was the state-owned Votkinsk Zavod founded as a weapons arsenal on the west bank of the river Kama. In 1917, Udmurts joined the short lived Idel-Ural League which was dissolved in December 1918. On November 4, 1920, the Votsk Autonomous Oblast was formed. On January 1, 1932, it was renamed Udmurt Autonomous Oblast, which was then reorganized into the Udmurt ASSR on December 28, 1934. In Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–1938, the murder of most of Udmurt's nationalist intellectuals had consequences for Udmurt society. During World War II, many industrial factories were evacuated from Ukraine and western borderlands to Udmurtia, considerably increasing the ethnic Russian population in Udmurtia.
The Udmurt Republic in its present form has existed since September 20, 1990.
The republic is located in the eastern portion of the Eastern European Plain, between the Kama and Vyatka Rivers.
| Kind | Polity or geographical feature | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | Kirov Oblast | SW/W/NW/N |
| Perm Krai | NE/E | |
| Republic of Bashkortostan | SE | |
| Republic of Tatarstan | S/SW | |
| Water | Votkinsk Reservoir | E |
Major rivers include:
While there are no large lakes in the Republic, the Votkinskoye Reservoir is partially located on its territory.
The republic's natural resources include oil, peat, mineral waters, and more. Oil reserves are estimated to be 820 million tons (as of 2002). Approximately 7–8 million tons are extracted annually. Most of the oil is exported.
Forests cover over 40% of the republic's territory. Most of the forests are coniferous.
The republic has moderate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters with a lot of snow.
| Month | Average temperature |
|---|---|
| January | −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) |
| July | +18.3 °C (64.94 °F) |
Although as of 2007 the population is declining, the decline is more pronounced in urban areas. Out of the 19,667 births reported in 2007, 12,631 were in urban areas(11.86 per 1000) and 7,036 were in rural areas(14.88 per 1000). Birth rates for rural areas are 25% higher than that of urban areas. Of the total of 21,727 deaths, 14,366 were reported in urban areas(13.49 per 1000) and 7,361 were in rural areas(15.56 per 1000). Natural decline of population was measured at -0.16% for urban areas and an insignificant -0.07% for rural areas (average for Russia is -0.33%)[11].
| Births | Deaths | Birth rate | Death rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 23,286 | 13,265 | 16.4 | 9.3 |
| 1975 | 26,497 | 14,666 | 18.2 | 10.1 |
| 1980 | 27,601 | 16,862 | 18.3 | 11.2 |
| 1985 | 29,343 | 17,553 | 18.8 | 11.2 |
| 1990 | 24,345 | 15,816 | 15.1 | 9.8 |
| 1991 | 22,213 | 16,002 | 13.7 | 9.9 |
| 1992 | 20,074 | 18,063 | 12.4 | 11.1 |
| 1993 | 17,126 | 21,923 | 10.6 | 13.5 |
| 1994 | 16,874 | 24,183 | 10.4 | 14.9 |
| 1995 | 15,484 | 22,445 | 9.6 | 13.9 |
| 1996 | 14,877 | 20,641 | 9.2 | 12.8 |
| 1997 | 15,368 | 19,881 | 9.6 | 12.4 |
| 1998 | 16,130 | 19,080 | 10.1 | 11.9 |
| 1999 | 15,793 | 20,745 | 9.9 | 13.0 |
| 2000 | 16,256 | 21,852 | 10.2 | 13.7 |
| 2001 | 16,636 | 22,810 | 10.5 | 14.4 |
| 2002 | 17,746 | 24,520 | 11.3 | 15.6 |
| 2003 | 17,982 | 24,571 | 11.5 | 15.7 |
| 2004 | 18,238 | 23,994 | 11.7 | 15.4 |
| 2005 | 17,190 | 24,006 | 11.1 | 15.5 |
| 2006 | 17,480 | 22,011 | 11.3 | 14.3 |
| 2007 | 19,667 | 21,727 | 12.8 | 14.2 |
| 2008 | 20,421 | 21,436 | 13.3 | 14.0 |
| 2009 | 21,109 | 20,227 | 13.8 | 13.2 |
| 2010 | 21,684 | 21,200 | 14.2 | 13.9 |
According to the 2010 Census,[12] Russians make up 62.2% of the republic's population, while the ethnic Udmurts only make up 28%. Other groups include Tatars (6.7%), Ukrainians (0.6%), Mari (0.6%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the republic's total population.
| Ethnic group |
1926 census | 1939 census | 1959 census | 1970 census | 1979 census | 1989 census | 2002 census | 2010 census1 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Udmurts | 395,607 | 52.3% | 480,014 | 39.4% | 475,913 | 35.6% | 484,168 | 34.2% | 479,702 | 32.1% | 496,522 | 30.9% | 460,584 | 29.3% | 410,584 | 28.0% |
| Besermyan | 9,200 | 1.2% | 2,998 | 0.2% | 2,111 | 0.1% | ||||||||||
| Russians | 327,493 | 43.3% | 679,294 | 55.7% | 758,770 | 56.8% | 809,563 | 57.1% | 870,270 | 58.3% | 945,216 | 58.9% | 944,108 | 60.1% | 912,539 | 62.2% |
| Tatars | 19,248 | 2.5% | 40,561 | 3.3% | 71,930 | 5.4% | 87,150 | 6.1% | 99,139 | 6.6% | 110,490 | 6.9% | 109,218 | 7.0% | 98,831 | 6.7% |
| Others | 4,716 | 0.6% | 19,481 | 1.6% | 30,314 | 2.3% | 36,794 | 2.6% | 43,061 | 2.9% | 53,435 | 3.3% | 53,408 | 3.4% | 42,558 | 2.9% |
| 1 54,797 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[13] | ||||||||||||||||
Over two thirds of the world population of Udmurts live in the republic.[14]
The majority of the Republic's population is atheist or Russian Orthodox (Russians, Urdmuts, Besermyan and Mari), with many rural people incorporating traditional folk religion into the Orthodox Christian faith, while the majority of the Tatars in the region are Sunni Muslim.
The head of the government in the Udmurt Republic is the President, who is selected by the President of Russia from a list provided by parties represented in the regional parliament, and later approved by the parliament for a five-year term. As of April 2010, the President is Alexander Volkov, who assumed his post on February 20, 2009. He served as the President of the Udmurt Republic since 2000, when the office was elected directly. Prior to the elections, Volkov was the Chairman of the Republic's Council—the highest post at that time.
The Republic's parliament is the State Council, popularly elected every five years. The State Council has 100 deputies.
The Republic's constitution was adopted on December 7, 1994.
Udmurtia is an industrialized republic. The most developed industries include machine building, chemical, and oil and gas industries. The republic also benefited from the transfer of defense industry production during World War II. Izhevsk is the home to the Izhmash factory (AKA Izhmash Joint Stock Company) and Izhmech (AKA Izhevsky Mehanichesky Zavod); Izhmash being the primary manufacturer of Kalashnikov based weapon systems, and the 'home' of the AK-47 rifle. The Udmurt Republic is also home for other military technology factories, and has potential in the electronics and nano technology industries.
In Udmurtia, there are eight professional theaters, a Philharmonic Society, and more than ten state and numerous public museums, which tell of the history and culture of Udmurtia and its people, like the Museum of History and Culture in Sarapul, or the Tchaikovsky Museum in Votkinsk. One of the oldest arms museums is located in Izhevsk, as well as the newer Kalashnikov Museum (dedicated in November 2004), which has recently become a general small-arms museum. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union a new, pan-Uralic cultural movement has evolved called "Ethnofuturism".[15]
The most important facilities of higher education include the Udmurt State University, Izhevsk State Technical University, and Izhevsk State Medical Academy, all located in the capital Izhevsk.
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