Perm, Russia

Perm (russian: Пермь, p=pʲermʲ), previously known as Yagoshikha (Ягошиха) (1723–1781), and Molotov (Молотов) (1940–1957), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Perm Krai, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Kama River, near the Ural Mountains, covering an area of , with a population of over one million residents. Perm is the fifteenth-largest city in Russia, and the fifth-largest city in the Volga Federal District.

In 1723, a copper-smelting works was founded at the village of ''Yagoshikha''. In 1781 the settlement of Yagoshikha became the town of ''Perm''. Perm's position on the navigable Kama River, leading to the Volga, and on the Siberian Route across the Ural Mountains, helped it become an important trade and manufacturing centre. It also lay along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Perm grew considerably as industrialization proceeded in the Urals during the Soviet period, and in 1940 was named ''Molotov'' in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov. In 1957 the city returned to its historical name.

Modern Perm is still a major railway hub and one of the chief industrial centers of the Urals region. The city's diversified metallurgical and engineering industries produce equipment and machine tools for the petroleum and coal industries, as well as agricultural machinery. A major petroleum refinery uses oil transported by pipeline from the West Siberian oilfields, and the city's large chemical industry makes fertilizers and dyes. The city's institutions of higher education include the Perm A.M. Gorky State University, founded in 1916.

Etymology

The name ''Perm'' is of Uralic etymology ( Komi-Permyak: Перем, ''Perem''; kv, Перым, ''Perym''). Komi is a member of the Permic branch of the Uralic languages, which is also named for Perm. In Finnish and Vepsian ''perämaa'' means "far-away land"; similarly, in Hungarian ''perem'' means "edge" or "verge". The geologic period of the Permian takes its name from the toponym.

Geography

The city is located on the bank of the Kama River upon hilly terrain. The Kama is the main tributary of the Volga River and is one of the deepest and most picturesque rivers of Russia. This river is the waterway which grants the Ural Mountains access to the White Sea, Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. The Kama divides the city into two parts: the central part and the right bank part. The city stretches for along the Kama and across it. The city street grid parallels the Kama River, travelling generally east-west, while other main streets run perpendicularly to those following the river. The grid pattern accommodates the hills of the city where it crosses them.

Another distinguishing feature of the city's relief is the large number of small rivers and brooks. The largest of them are the Mulyanka, the Yegoshikha, the Motovilikha (all are on the left bank of Kama River), and the Gayva (on the right bank).

Perm has a continental climate with warm summers and long, cold winters.

History

Perm is located in the old Permiak area. Perm was first mentioned as the village of Yagoshikha () in 1647; however, the history of the modern city of Perm starts with the development of the Ural region by Tsar Peter the Great. Vasily Tatishchev, appointed by the Tsar as a chief manager of Ural factories, founded Perm together with another major centre of the Ural region, Yekaterinburg.

In the 19th century, Perm became a major trade and industrial centre with a population of more than 20,000 people in the 1860s, with several metallurgy, paper, and steamboat producing factories, including one owned by a British entrepreneur. In 1870, an opera theatre was opened in the city, and in 1871 the first phosphoric factory in Russia was built. In 1916, Perm State University—a major educational institution in modern Russia—was opened.

After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Perm became a prime target for both sides because of its military munitions factories. It was heavily rumored from July-September 1918 that the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her four daughters were imprisoned at the perception and Berezine buildings. According to the File on the Tsar, the Grand Duchess Anastasia would have attempted to flee. On December 25, 1918, the Siberian White Army under Anatoly Pepelyayev (who acknowledged the authority of the Omsk Government of Aleksandr Kolchak), took Perm. On July 1, 1919, the city was retaken by the Red Army.

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky