Samara Oblast

Samara Oblast ( rus, Сама́рская о́бласть, r=Samarskaya oblast, p=sɐˈmarskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast ( rus, Ку́йбышевская о́бласть, r=Kuybyshevskaya Oblast, p=ˈkujbɨʂɨfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ). As of the 2010 Census, the population of the oblast was 3,215,532.

The oblast borders Tatarstan in the north, Orenburg Oblast in the east, Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan Province) in the south, Saratov Oblast in the southwest and Ulyanovsk Oblast in the west.

History

The Samara region contains a remarkable succession of archaeological cultures from 7000 BC to 4000 BC. These sites have revealed Europe's earliest pottery (Elshanka culture), the world's oldest horse burial and signs of horse worship (the Syezzheye cemetery of Samara culture) and the earliest kurgans associated with Proto-Indo-Europeans (e.g., Krivoluchye assigned to Khvalynsk culture).

The Russian Empire established a ''guberniya'' (governorate) in the area in 1851, the Samara Governorate, which was administered from the city of Samara. During the Revolution of 1905, a rebellion took place in November that year at the village of Novaya Tsarevshchina (now Volzhsky) and spread to the village of Stary Buyan, leading to the formation of the short-lived separatist state, the Stary Buyan Republic, within the governorate. There was little local opposition to the new state, and after the failure of local police to end the rebellion, it was successfully suppressed by a punitive expedition of Cossacks and gendarmes led by the vice-governor of the governorate in Samara.

After the decree of Tsar Nicholas II on religious tolerance the Old Believers were forced to pay taxes in favour to the Orthodox Church that they believed to be heretical. The then Ministry of Interior forbade Samara's public officials to prosecute in this practice, which was contrary to the spirit of the decree.

Under Soviet rule most of the governorate's territory was transformed into the Middle Volga Oblast, which was established on May 14, 1928, and a year later on October 20, 1929, it was again transformed into Middle Volga Krai.''Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Union Republics. 1987.'', p. 162 On January 27, 1935, Samara and the Middle Volga Krai were renamed Kuybyshev and Kuybyshev Krai, respectively, in honor of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev. On December 5, 1936, Kuybyshev Krai was transformed into Kuybyshev Oblast upon the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution. On January 25, 1991 by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the Kuibyshev Oblast was renamed the Samara Oblast. On April 21, 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the decision of the presidium of the parliament to rename the region, amending Art. 71 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978, which entered into force on May 16, 1992.

On 1 August 1997 Samara Oblast signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement would be abolished on 22 February 2002.

Tolyatti is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center of a federal subject.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Population:

''Ethnic groups'':
According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the oblast was:
*2,645,124 Russians (85.6%)
*126,124 Tatars (4.1%)
*84,105 Chuvashes (2.7%)
*65,447 Mordvins (2.1%)
*42,169 Ukrainians (1.4%)
*22,981 Armenians (0.7%)
*123,691 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.
*Births (2008): 36,439 (11.5 per 1000)
*Deaths (2008): 48,593 (15.3 per 1000)

;Vital statistics for 2012
*Births: 38 952 (12.1 per 1000)
*Deaths: 44 593 (13.9 per 1000)
*Total fertility rate:
2009 - 1.42 , 2010 - 1.44 , 2011 - 1.44 , 2012 - 1.54 , 2013 - 1.59 , 2014 - 1.65 , 2015 - 1.71 , 2016 - 1.72(e)

;Religion

According to a 2012 survey 35% of the population of Samara Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 7% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% are Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to any church or are members of non-Russian Orthodox churches, 3% are Muslims, and 1% of the population are adherents of Rodnovery (Slavic folk religion). In addition, 30% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 13% is atheist, and a further 10% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

Economy

In 1997, Samara Oblast became one of the few federal subjects to receive the approval of the President of Russia to implement external bonded loans (Presidential decree No. 1212, dated 12.10.1997 "On Creating Conditions to Conduct Loans Operations on the Internal and External Capital Markets").

Samara Oblast (or Samara Region) has several special investment sites which are built to implement new plants, industries, factories, create new jobs and increase investments in the Samara Region.
* Special economic zone of industrial-production type «Togliatti»
* Industrial Park «Preobrazhenka»
* Industrial Park «Chapaevsk»
* Technopark in the sphere of high technologies "Zhiguli Valley"
* Industrial Park «Togliattisyntez»
* Industrial Park «Stavropolskiy»
In order to help Russian and foreign investors to select a site for project implementation, to provide consulting services free of charge Ministry for Economic Development, Investments and Trade of the Samara Region organized a Non-Profit Unitary Organization – Fund "Investment Promotion Agency of the Samara Region".

The Agency cooperates with investors on the "one-stop-shop" principle, as well as:
* Searches for foreign partners according to the companies' priorities;
* Provides investment consulting services and monitors the implementation of investment projects;
* Promotes the investment opportunities of the Samara Region in Russia and foreign countries by participation in conferences, exhibitions, forums and other events.

Politics

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Samara CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). After the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR in March 1990, the CPSU lost its monopoly on power. The head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.

The Charter of Samara Oblast is the fundamental law of the oblast. The Legislative Assembly of Samara Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Governors:
*Konstantin Titov (1991—2007)
*Vladimir Artyakov (2007—2012)
*Nikolay Merkushkin (2012—2017)
* Dmitry Azarov (acting) (2017—)

Sister relations

* Győr-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

*
Official website of Samara Oblast

Central Eurasian Information Resource: Images of Samara Oblast
University of Washington Digital Collection

{{Use mdy dates, date=December 2015

Oblasts of Russia