Tatarstan, or the Republic of Tatarstan, is a subject of the Russian
Federation, a republic within it. It is part of the Volga Federal
District and is part of the Volga Economic Region.
It was formed
on the basis of the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive
Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of May 27, 1920 as the
Autonomous Tatar Socialist Soviet Republic, from December 5, 1936 - the
Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
On August 30, 1990,
in connection with the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty,
it was transformed into the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic, from
February 7, 1992, the Republic of Tatarstan.
According to
paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Tatarstan of 1992, the names “Republic of Tatarstan” and “Tatarstan” are
equivalent.
The capital is the city of Kazan.
It borders
with the Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara and Orenburg regions, the Republic of
Bashkortostan, the Mari El Republic, the Udmurt Republic and the Chuvash
Republic.
Official languages: Tatar and Russian.
There are two official languages in the republic - Tatar and Russian. Almost all Tatars speak Russian.
Tatarstan is located in the center of the European part of Russia on
the East European Plain, at the confluence of two rivers - the Volga and
Kama. Kazan is located east of Moscow at a distance of 800 km (by road)
/ 720 km (in a straight line).
The total area of Tatarstan is
67,836 km². The length of the territory of the republic is 290 km from
north to south and 460 km from west to east.
The highest points
of Tatarstan (up to 380 meters high) are located on the
Bugulminsko-Belebeevskaya Upland.
The territory of the republic
is a plain in the forest and forest-steppe zone with small hills on the
right bank of the Volga and the southeast of the republic. 90% of the
territory lies at an altitude of no more than 200 meters above sea
level.
More than 18% of the territory of the republic is covered
with forests, deciduous species (oak, linden, birch, aspen), coniferous
species are represented by pine, spruce and fir. The local fauna is
represented by 430 species of vertebrates and invertebrates.
The climate is moderate continental (according to Alisov), moderate
continental humid with warm summers, Dfb (according to Köppen),
characterized by warm summers and moderately cold winters. The warmest
month of the year is July (+19…+21°C), the coldest is January
(−13…−14°C). The absolute minimum temperature is −44…−48°C (in Kazan
−46.8°C on January 21, 1942). Maximum temperatures reach +37…+42°C (in
Kazan +39.0°C on August 1, 2010). The absolute annual amplitude reaches
80–90°C.
Average precipitation is from 460 to 520 mm. The growing
season is about 170 days.
Climatic differences within Tatarstan
are small. The number of hours of sunshine during the year ranges from
1763 (Bugulma) to 2066 (Menzelinsk). The sunniest period is from April
to August. The total solar radiation for the year is approximately 3900
MJ/sq.m.
The average annual temperature is approximately 2–3.1°C.
A stable transition of the average daily temperature above 0°C
occurs at the beginning of April and at the end of October. The duration
of the period with temperatures above 0°C is 198-209 days, below 0°C -
156-157 days.
The average annual precipitation is 460–540 mm.
During the warm period (above 0°C) 65–75% of the annual precipitation
falls. The maximum precipitation occurs in July (51–65 mm), the minimum
in February (21–27 mm). The Pre-Kama and Pre-Volga regions are most
moistened by precipitation, the western Trans-Kama region is the least
wet.
Snow cover forms after mid-November and melts in the first
half of April. The duration of snow cover is 140-150 days a year, the
average height is 35-45 cm.
Tatarstan is located in the MSC time zone (Moscow time). The applied time offset relative to UTC is +3:00.
The soils are very diverse - from gray forest and podzolic soils in
the north and west to various types of chernozems in the south of the
republic (32% of the area). On the territory of the region there are
particularly fertile, powerful chernozems, and gray forest and leached
chernozem soils predominate.
There are three soil regions on the
territory of Tatarstan:
Northern (Predkamye) - the most common are
light gray forest (29%) and sod-podzolic (21%), located mainly on
watershed plateaus and upper parts of slopes. 18.3% percent is occupied
by gray and dark gray forest soils. On hills and hills, turf soils are
found. 22.5% is occupied by washed away soils, floodplains - 6-7%,
swamps - about 2%. In a number of areas (Baltasinsky, Kukmorsky,
Mamadyshsky) erosion is strong, affecting up to 40% of the territory.
Western (Pre-Volga region) - in the northern part forest-steppe soils
(51.7%), gray and dark gray (32.7%) predominate. A significant area is
occupied by podzolized and leached chernozems. High areas of the region
are occupied by light gray and soddy-podzolic soils (12%). Floodplain
soils occupy 6.5%, swamp soils - 1.2%. In the southwest of the region,
chernozems are widespread (leached soils predominate).
South-eastern
(Zakamye) - to the west of Sheshma, leached and ordinary chernozems
predominate, the right bank of Maly Cheremshan is occupied by dark gray
soils. To the east of Sheshma, gray forest and chernozem soils
predominate, in the northern part of the region - leached chernozems.
The elevations are occupied by forest-steppe soils, the lowlands -
chernozems.
The humus content in the arable horizon is highest (more
than 8%) in the southern part of Tatarstan (in particular, Almetyevsky,
Aznakaevsky, Bugulminsky, Bavlinsky and other areas).
The main subsoil resource of the republic is oil. The Republic has
800 million tons of recoverable oil; The size of the predicted reserves
is over 1 billion tons.
127 fields have been explored in
Tatarstan, including more than 3,000 oil deposits. Here is the second
largest deposit in Russia and one of the largest in the world -
Romashkinskoye, located in the Leninogorsk region of Tatarstan. Among
the large deposits, the Novoelkhovskoye and Sausbashskoye deposits, as
well as the medium Bavlinskoye deposit, stand out. Along with oil,
associated gas is produced - about 40 m³ per 1 ton of oil. Several minor
deposits of natural gas and gas condensate are known.
112 coal
deposits have been identified on the territory of Tatarstan. At the same
time, only coal deposits associated with the South Tatar, Melekessky and
North Tatar regions of the Kama coal basin can be used on an industrial
scale. The depth of coal occurrence is from 900 to 1400 m.
In the
depths of the republic there are also industrial reserves of limestone,
dolomite, building sand, clay for the production of bricks, building
stone, gypsum, sand and gravel mixture, peat, as well as promising
reserves of oil bitumen, brown and hard coal, oil shale, zeolites,
copper, bauxite . The most important are zeolite-containing rocks (about
half of the republic’s non-metallic reserves), carbonate rocks (about
20%), clay rocks (also about 30%), sand-gravel mixture (7.7%), sands
(5.4%), gypsum (1.7%). 0.1% is occupied by phosphorites, iron oxide
pigments and bitumen-containing rocks.
The largest rivers - the Volga (177 km across the territory of the
republic) and the Kama (380 km), as well as two tributaries of the Kama
- Vyatka (60 km) and Belaya (50 km), provide a total flow of 234 billion
m³/year (97.5% of the total flow of all rivers). In addition to them,
about 500 small rivers with a length of at least 10 km and numerous
streams flow through the territory of the republic. Large reserves of
water resources are concentrated in the two largest reservoirs -
Kuibyshev and Nizhnekamsk. There are also more than 8 thousand small
lakes and ponds in the republic.
The hydropower potential of
rivers is realized on the river. Kama of the underutilized Nizhnekamsk
hydroelectric power station generating about 1.8 billion kWh/year
(according to the project - 2.7 billion kWh/year). The depths of the
republic contain significant reserves of groundwater - from highly
mineralized to slightly brackish and fresh.
The largest water
bodies in Tatarstan are 4 reservoirs, providing the republic with water
resources for various purposes.
Kuibyshevskoe - created in 1955, the
largest not only in Tatarstan, but also in Europe, provides seasonal
regulation of the flow of the Middle Volga.
Nizhnekamsk - created in
1978 and provides daily and weekly redistribution to the waterworks.
Zainskoe - created in 1963, serves for technical support of the state
district power station.
Karabashskoye - created in 1957, serves to
supply water to oil fields and industrial enterprises.
On the
territory of the republic there are 731 technical structures, 550 ponds,
115 wastewater treatment plants, 11 protective dams.
As of 2005,
29 underground fresh water deposits with reserves of approximately 1
million cubic meters/day have been explored in Tatarstan; approximately
a third of the reserves have been prepared for industrial development.
The reserves of mineral underground waters are also quite large. As
of 2004, the total reserves of mineral groundwater are 3.293 thousand
cubic meters per day.
Main article: List of specially protected natural areas of Tatarstan
On the territory of Tatarstan there are more than 150 specially
protected natural areas with a total area of approximately 150 thousand
hectares (2% of the total area of Tatarstan). The protected areas
include:
The Volzhsko-Kama Nature Reserve, created in 1960, is
located on the territory of the Zelenodolsk and Laishevsky districts. It
is characterized by great biodiversity, there are more than 70 species
of vascular plants and 68 species of vertebrates.
The Lower Kama
National Park was created in 1991 on the territory of the Yelabuga and
Tukaevsky districts; it includes various forests.
According to the Institute of Environmental Problems of the Republic
of Tatarstan, a satisfactory environmental situation is typical for the
territory where only 10% of the population of the republic lives, 43% of
the population lives in the territory with a severe and alarming
environmental situation, 47% in the territory with a moderately tense
and tense ecological situation.
The forest cover of Tatarstan is
16.2% (for the Russian Federation as a whole - 45.4%). The trend towards
environmental degradation began after 2000. By 2009, the condition of
the atmospheric air had especially deteriorated.
Since 2000,
Naberezhnye Chelny, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk have been included in the
Priority List of cities with the highest levels of air pollution. The
cities of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk were excluded from this list in 2007,
Naberezhnye Chelny in 2011, but air pollution in these cities is
characterized as high. 59.5% of the amount of pollutants emanating from
all stationary sources of emissions was captured and neutralized,
including solids - 92.3%, VOCs - 60%.
The largest sources of
emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere: OAO Tatneft - 79.8 thousand
tons; PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim", Nizhnekamsk - 39.8 thousand tons; JSC
Tatenergo - 29.2 thousand tons. In Kazan, the total emission of
pollutants from stationary man-made sources of industrial enterprises in
2014 amounted to 29,000 tons.
In 2007, 5216.14 million m³ of
water was used in recycling and re-consecutive water supply systems,
saving 93% of fresh water. Water losses during transportation amounted
to 107.64 million m³ (about 14% of the total water intake in the
republic). The volume of wastewater discharged into surface water bodies
in 2007 amounted to 598.52 million m³, including 493.45 million m³ of
contaminated wastewater (82%), there is no normatively treated
wastewater.
In 2007, work on the construction of a drinking water
treatment station was completed in Nizhnekamsk, for which 164.5 million
rubles were spent; PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" - work continued on the
reconstruction of sewer networks and structures (costs - 54.6 million
rubles); OJSC Nizhnekamskshina - work on the reconstruction of sewer
networks and structures (costs - 25.9 million rubles).
The history of human settlements in this area dates back to the 8th
century BC. Later, on the same territory there was a medieval state of
the Volga Bulgars. In the 13th century, Bulgaria was conquered by the
Mongols and, after the division of Genghis Khan's empire, was included
in the Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde).
At the beginning of the 15th
century, Khan Ulu-Muhammad announced the creation of the Kazan Khanate
after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The new state began to
independently build relations with other countries, including the Moscow
state. In the middle of the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan IV
the Terrible, in 1552 Kazan was conquered by Moscow and included in the
Russian state.
The Kazan district was formed as part of Russia,
and after the reform of Peter I - the Kazan province. The territory did
not have self-government: the head of the province was the governor,
appointed directly by the Emperor. After the revolution, on the
initiative of V.I. Lenin, on May 27, 1920, a decree was signed on the
formation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the
territories of part of the Kazan and Ufa provinces as part of the RSFSR.
Since August 30, 1990, the official name of the republic is the Tatar
Soviet Socialist Republic (as well as the Republic of Tatarstan), and
since February 7, 1992, the Republic of Tatarstan (Tatarstan). On April
21, 1992, the renaming was approved.
There are 1,428 mosques and 319 temples registered on the territory
of the republic. Two religions are most widespread in the Republic of
Tatarstan: Islam and Orthodox Christianity.
Sunni Islam was
adopted as the official religion in Volga Bulgaria in 922. And in 1313,
Khan Uzbek made Islam the state religion of the Golden Horde. Currently,
it is professed by a significant part of the Tatars. The leadership of
Muslims is carried out by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the
Republic of Tatarstan.
Christianity (Orthodoxy) appeared in the
middle of the 16th century after the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to
the Russian state. The followers of this religion are mainly Russians,
Chuvash, Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts and Kryashens. The Tatarstan
Metropolitanate is located on the territory of the republic. In
addition, there are communities of other directions of Christianity: Old
Believers, Catholics, Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists, Evangelical
Christians: Baptists, Pentecostals and others.
Judaism, Buddhism
and Krishnaism are slightly widespread.
Historical and geographical factors determined the location of
Tatarstan at the junction of two major civilizations: eastern and
western, which largely explains the diversity of its cultural wealth.
There are 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Tatarstan - the Kazan
Kremlin, the Bulgarian State Museum-Reserve and the Assumption Monastery
on the island of Sviyazhsk.
One of the clear examples of state
cultural policy in the field of preservation and popularization of
heritage is the Kazan Kremlin. Thus, during the celebration of the
1000th anniversary of Kazan, thousands of residents of the republic and
guests from near and far abroad witnessed the greatness of the restored
Annunciation Cathedral and the recently rebuilt Kul Sharif mosque,
symbolizing the peaceful coexistence of the two main religions of the
republic - Christian and Muslim.
The uniqueness of the Kazan
Kremlin as an exceptional evidence of historical continuity and cultural
diversity over a long period of time was confirmed on November 30, 2000
at the session of the UNESCO intergovernmental committee by its
inclusion in the List of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. In
September 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic issued a decree
on the creation of the Museum of Archeology on the territory of the
State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve "Kazan Kremlin".
In 2014, Ancient Bolgar, the capital of the ancient Bulgarian
Khanate (Volga Bulgaria), was also included in the List of World
Cultural and Natural Heritage. In 2017, the Sviyazhsk Assumption
Monastery, the main Orthodox spiritual, educational and missionary
center of the Kazan diocese and the Middle Volga region during the
16th-18th centuries, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
825 newspapers and magazines are published in Tatarstan, including
regional newspapers in Russian, Tatar, Udmurt and Chuvash languages.
The Republic of Tatarstan is a region with high potential for tourism
and recreation. Among the key factors determining its high
competitiveness in the Russian and international tourism markets are a
significant number of natural attractions, historical and cultural
sites, as well as the development of sports tourism.
The Republic
of Tatarstan is one of the leaders among the regions of the Russian
Federation in the field of tourism, showing steady positive dynamics in
the main indicators of industry development. The annual growth rate of
the tourist flow to the republic is on average 13.5%, the growth rate of
the volume of sales of services in the field of tourism is 17.0%. A
positive trend in the growth dynamics of the main indicators is noted
according to the interim data for 2016. The number of foreign citizens
who arrived in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2016 was 250,000 people.
The Republic of Tatarstan is considered one of the leaders among the
regions of the Russian Federation in terms of the number of business
entities in the tourism industry and tourism infrastructure facilities.
At the end of 2016, 104 tour operators were registered in the Republic
of Tatarstan, of which 32 were in the field of domestic tourism, 65 in
the field of domestic and inbound tourism, 6 in the field of domestic,
inbound and outbound tourism, and 1 in the field of domestic and
outbound tourism.
As of January 1, 2017, there are 404 collective
accommodation facilities (CRF) operating on the territory of the
Republic of Tatarstan, of which 379 CRF are subject to classification
(183 in Kazan, 196 in other municipalities of the Republic of
Tatarstan). 334 collective accommodation facilities received a
certificate of category assignment, which is 88.1% of the total number
of operating ones.
In 2016, special attention was paid to the
development of tourist centers of the Republic of Tatarstan - Kazan,
Great Bolgar, the island city of Sviyazhsk, Elabuga, Chistopol, Tetyush.
The growth of tourist flow in the main tourist centers of the republic
compared to 2015 averaged 45.9%.
Currently, sanatorium and resort
recreation is developing rapidly in Tatarstan. There are 46 sanatorium
and resort institutions operating on the territory of the Republic of
Tatarstan. The capacity of the facilities of the sanatorium and resort
complex of Tatarstan is 8847 beds, more than 4300 specialists are
employed in providing services to residents. In 2016, more than 160
thousand people rested in sanatoriums of the Republic of Tatarstan. 22
sanatorium and resort institutions of the Republic of Tatarstan are
members of the Association of sanatorium and resort institutions
"Sanatoriums of Tatarstan", including 11 sanatoriums of PJSC Tatneft.
In 2016, with the support of the State Committee of the Republic of
Tatarstan for Tourism, for the development of the tourism industry in
the republic, the official tourism brand “Visit Tatarstan” was created,
within which a special tourism resource began to function, where
information on the main attractions and recreation in Tatarstan is
available.
Tatarstan is a region with significant educational and scientific
potential. The education sector employs 170,000 people. Secondary 9-year
education is compulsory and free. In total, there are 2,434 secondary
schools in the republic, where about 600,000 schoolchildren study. More
than 90% of children who have received the educational minimum
established by law continue their education at school for 2 years or in
secondary specialized educational institutions.
Tatarstan is
known for the high level of development of academic, university and
industrial science. For more than 200 years, Kazan has been one of the
leading scientific centers in Eastern Europe. World-famous schools of
mathematicians, chemists, astronomers, physicists, orientalists,
linguists and physiologists appeared here. The names of N. I.
Lobachevsky, N. N. Zinin, A. M. Butlerov, A. E. Arbuzov, E. K. Zavoisky,
V. V. Radlov, K. Fuks, Sh. Mardzhani and K. Nasyri were included in
history of world science.
During the Great Patriotic War, Kazan
scientific schools made a huge contribution to strengthening the
country's defense capability, working closely with the USSR Academy of
Sciences, which was evacuated to Kazan.
By decree of the
President of the Republic of Tatarstan on September 30, 1991, the
Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan (AST) was established.
Since the creation of ANT, there has been a constant process of
replenishing its ranks and improving its organizational structure.
Currently, the ANT unites 32 full members, 52 corresponding members and
10 honorary members. The Academy includes seven departments, uniting
biologists, doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, physicists, power
engineers, and chemists. The range of their research is very wide and is
aimed at solving current scientific, technical, socio-economic,
humanitarian and cultural problems facing the republic at the present
stage of development. Many of the developments of the Academy's
scientists are carried out at the level of the latest achievements of
world science and technology and are recognized by the general
scientific community. Most of the research is practical in nature.
The Academy closely cooperates with the Russian Academy of Sciences
(primarily through the Kazan Scientific Center), the academies of
sciences of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan,
Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Tajikistan,
research centers of Turkey, France and others countries with which 21
treaties and 5 agreements on scientific cooperation have been concluded.
The Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan has established and annually awards
the State Prize of the Republic of Tatarstan in Science and Technology,
five named prizes (named after Sh. Marjani, X. Mushtari, G. Kamay, V.
Engelhardt, A. Teregulov) and two international prizes: in physics -
named E. K. Zavoisky (together with the Kazan Institute of Physics and
Technology of the KSC RAS and KSU) and in chemistry - named after A. E.
and B. A. Arbuzov (together with the Institute of Organic and Physical
Chemistry of the KSC RAS).
Kazan is one of the oldest educational centers in Russia. There are more than 30 higher educational institutions in Tatarstan (including 16 state ones), most of which are concentrated in Kazan. Three Kazan universities (Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan National Research Technical University named after A. N. Tupolev) are among the 50 best universities in Russia.
In the republic, as of 2021, there are: 872 schools with the Russian language of instruction, 629 schools with the Tatar language of instruction, 89 schools with the study of the Chuvash language; 22 schools with the study of the Udmurt language, 16 schools with the study of the Mari language; 3 schools with the study of the Mordovian language; 1 school with Hebrew studies. The total number of schoolchildren is 469,000. There are also 98 institutions of secondary vocational education (87 state and 11 non-state) operating in the republic, with 73,000 students studying there.
On July 21, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting of
the Council on Interethnic Relations, stated that forcing a person to
learn a non-native language, regardless of the status of the language
itself, is unacceptable, which caused numerous discussions in the
educational sphere and among residents of many regions, including
Tatarstan. Next, the President instructed the Prosecutor General of
Russia, Yuri Chaika, to conduct a check on the voluntariness of studying
national languages in schools by November 30. The result of the
inspections was numerous warnings to school principals in Tatarstan with
a demand to remove the Tatar language from the compulsory curriculum due
to its absence from the federal standard. Tatarstan President Rustam
Minnikhanov voiced his opinion regarding the problem, disagreeing with
the fact that the state language of the republic could be voluntary.
On November 29, 2017, the parliament of Tatarstan, which previously
advocated maintaining the equal status of the Russian and Tatar
languages in the republic, including in the educational sphere,
unanimously voted for the voluntary study of the Tatar language in
schools. And Tatarstan prosecutor Ildus Nafikov, speaking with a report,
noted that the Tatar language can only be taught on a voluntary basis
with the written consent of parents for a maximum of two hours a week.
As a result, the Tatar language was removed from the republic’s
education system as a compulsory subject.
Many experts have
expressed fears that the exclusion of the state languages of the
republics from the compulsory school curriculum will put them on the
brink of extinction. Opinions have been expressed that there are
political motives in the actions of the federal center on the language
issue.