Mordovia

Subject of the Russian Federation Republic of Mordovia Республика Мордовия ( Russian ) Мордовия Республикась ( Eryan ) Мордовия Республиксь ( Mokshan ) flag coat of arms Federal district Volga surface 26,128  km² population 834,755 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) Population density 32 inhabitants / km² Capital Saransk Official languages Ersyan , Mokshan , Russian Ethnic composition Russians (53.2%) Mordvins (39.9%) Tatars (5.2%) (as of 2010) head Vladimir Dmitrievich Volkov (since September 19, 2017) Founded January 10, 1930 Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone prefixes (+7) 834xx Postcodes 430000-431999 License Plate 13, 113 OKATO 89 ISO 3166-2 RU-MO Website www.e-mordovia.ru

Coordinates: 54 ° 12 '  N , 44 ° 30'  E

The Republic of Mordovia ( Russian Республика Мордовия Respublika Mordowija , hence also called Mordovia in German , Eryan Мордовия Республикась , Mokshan Мордовия Республия Республия is a republic in the European part of Russia .

geography

Mordovia is located in the Volga Federal District between Moscow and the Volga . It borders in the north on the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast , in the west on the Ryazan Oblast , in the east on the Ulyanovsk Oblast , in the northeast on Chuvashia and in the south on the Penza Oblast . The capital Saransk is about 600 kilometers southeast of Moscow.

In Mordovia there are around 500 lakes and ten rivers with a length of more than 100 kilometers: the Mokscha with the Issa , Siwin , Wad , Parza and Wyscha flowing in their catchment area, and the Sura with Alatyr , Insar and Pjana . The largest lakes are Inerka and Tatarka .

population

Traditional Mordovian clothing

The Mordvins are a Finno-Ugric people who were or are more exposed to assimilation pressure from the Russians than other peoples in Russia. In the 2010 census, only around 40% of the population claimed to be Mordovian. The Russians make up the majority of the population and live especially in the larger cities. Several hundred thousand Mordvins live in other parts of Russia or the successor states of the former Soviet Union. A large minority in the region are the Tatars , whose proportion of the population in Mordovia is over five percent. The proportion of smaller minorities, such as Ukrainians , Belarusians (2002: 1,240 people) or Chuvashes (2002: 1,097 people), is shrinking, especially due to emigration. Mordovia has seen a steady population decline since around 1970. In the forty years from 1970 to 2010 the decrease was 194,807 inhabitants; this corresponds to 18.9% of the population.

Equal official languages ​​are the two Mordovian languages Ersyan and Mokshan as well as Russian . The majority of the population professes the Russian Orthodox Church .

Administrative divisions and cities

→ Main article : Administrative division of the Republic of Mordovia

View of the capital Saransk

Monastery in Temnikow

The Republic of Mordovia is divided into 22 Rajons and an urban district , which is formed by the republic capital Saransk . Saransk is also the only major city in the republic; Rusajewka and Kowylkino as well as four other cities and 13 urban-type settlements follow at a considerable distance (as of 2014).

Largest cities and urban settlements

City * / City settlement	Russian	Residents (October 14, 2010)
Saransk *	Саранск	297,415
Ruzayevka *	Рузаевка	47,523
Kowylkino *	Ковылкино	21.307
Komsomolski	Комсомольский	13,513
Subowa Polyana	Зубова Поляна	10,338
Krasnoslobodsk *	Краснослободск	10.151

See also : List of cities in the Republic of Mordovia

history

The area of ​​today's Mordovia was already inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples in the sixth century . In the early Middle Ages the area belonged to the sphere of influence of the Volga Bulgarians and the Kievan Rus . After the Mongol storm , the region was controlled by the Golden Horde . After Ivan IV. Of Moscow , the Khanate of Kazan defeated, Mordovia came under Russian rule. The Mordovian upper class quickly adopted Russian culture and the Christian Orthodox religion , while the common people long clung to their original shamanic religion. It was not until the 18th century that Christianization began throughout Mordovia.

During the Soviet Union, Mordovia was the Mordovian Okrug from July 16, 1928 , and renamed the Mordovian Autonomous Oblast on January 10, 1930 . In the 1920s, two uniform spellings for the two Mordovian languages Ersyan and Mokshan were developed and a separate literature was developed. Since December 20, 1934, Mordovia was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) within the Russian Federative Socialist Soviet Republic (RSFSR) .

The Moksha River

In 1990 Mordovia became an autonomous republic within Russia. The head of the republic is Vladimir Volkov . Mordovia has been suffering from severe population decline for decades.

Transport and economy

The republic has good transport links, including to Moscow , Nizhny Novgorod and Samara . In addition, Mordovia also has a highly developed, diversified economy and is rich in natural resources ( precious metals ).

Others

→ Main article : DubrawLag

There have been numerous labor camps in Mordovia since the 1920s. In the Soviet Union they were part of the gulag system . From 1990 the number of inmates in these camps has been roughly halved, but the conditions of detention remain poor; there are reports of guards beating or rape inmates. Among others, Nadezhda Tolokonnikowa , singer of the punk band Pussy Riot , and Svetlana Bachmina, who played a role in the Yukos case, were interned in Mordovian camps.

gallery

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  Street in Saransk

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  Military Museum in Saransk

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  Makarovsky Monastery

Web links

Commons : Republic of Mordovia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the republic administration

References and comments

1. ↑ Administrativno-territorialʹnoe delenie po subʺektam Rossijskoj Federacii na 1 janvarja 2010 goda (administrative-territorial division according to subjects of the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2010). ( Download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
3. ↑ Nacional'nyj sostav naselenija po sub "ektam Rossijskoj Federacii. (XLS) In: Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Rosstat, accessed on June 30, 2016 (Russian, ethnic composition of the population according to federal subjects , results of the 2010 census). 
4. ^ As the Mordovian Autonomous Region within the RSFSR
5. ↑ Population of the Russian territorial units by nationality 2010. ( MS Excel ) Lines 577–585 (Russian)
6. ↑ theguardian.com