Agryzsky District (; ) is a territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of

Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

within the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The district is located in the northeast of the republic on the bank of the

Agryz Agryz (; ) is a town and the administrative center of Agryzsky District in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the Izh River (Volga's basin), east of Kazan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 19,300. History It was fou ...

accounts for 52.7% of the district's total population and is located 304 km east of

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

and 36 km from

Izhevsk Izhevsk or Ijevsk (, ; , or ) is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city in Russia, and the most populous in Udmurtia, with over 600,000 ...

. The settlement of Agryz first appeared in historical records in 1646. After the suppression of Pugachev's uprising in 1775, Agryz became part of the Sarapulsky county (

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

) within the Vyatka province. In 1914-1915, a railway connecting

with the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

was built near the Agryz settlement. Since the founding of the railway station, Agryz has become one of the largest railway hubs in the region. The Agryzsky district was first formed in 1924. In 1963, the district's territory was included in the

Yelabuga Yelabuga (also spelled ''Elabuga''; ; ) is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River and east from Kazan. Population: The evolution of name The name of the city of Yelabuga comes from the T ...

agricultural region, but a year later Agryz would be restored within its former borders. In September 2020, at a meeting of the Minister of Transport and Roads of Tatarstan, Agryz was selected as the site for a future international transport and logistics center. It is planned that the Agryz station will become a terminal for the export of goods to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and other countries. The project is being developed by the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Railway Transport.

Geography and Climate

Agryz district is located in the north-east of the Republic of Tatarstan. It shares borders with the

Udmurt Republic Udmurtia, officially the Udmurt Republic, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. It was established as the Udmurt (until 1931 — Vots ...

(

Alnashsky district Alnashsky District (; , ''Alnaš joros'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Udmurt Republic and municipalLaw #64-RZ district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of the Udmurt Republic, twenty-five in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. It ...

, Mozhginsky, Malopurginsky, Kiyasovsky, Sarapulsky, Karakulinsky districts) to the west, north and east; as well as with the Menzelinsky, Tukaevsky and Mendeleevsky districts of Tatarstan in the south along the watercourse of the Nizhnekamsky reservoir. The area is located in the south of the Sarapulskaya Upland, in the valley of the Izh River. According to experts, the region has the wettest and coldest climate of all the Tatarstan regions with short, rainy summers and rainy springs. There are a number of nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries in the district, including the large Kichke-Tan natural reserve and the Agryz state hunting reserve. One of the largest natural monuments in the region, "The floodplain of the Kyrykmas River", is located not far from the villages of Devyaterykh and Sosnovo. The natural park covers an area of more than a thousand hectares and consists of subtaiga forests and is a home to rare plants and animals. There are 29 species of fish in the Kyrykmas River and 75 species of birds inhabit its floodplains. The Agryz state hunting reserve with an area of more than 30 thousand hectares was organized in 1984 to restore the population of beavers and wood grouses. The reserve's forests are home to about ten species of animals, the hunting and trapping of which is limited. There are about 30 ancient archaeological sites on the Agryz territory, many of which date back to the early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. The following archaeological sites are protected by the state: * Krasnoborsk graveyard * Zyevsky graveyard * Malinovskie Big and Small fortified settlements, * The second Mynovsky ancient settlement. According to a number of indexes, the

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

situation in the area is described as satisfactory. At the same time, in neighboring Udmurtia, the pollution emissions in 2015 amounted to 148 million tons.

Flag and Coat of Arms

In August 2006, the Council of the Agryzsky municipal district approved its new heraldic insignia. The central figure of the coat of arms is represented by a rider on a white horse harnessed with a red bridle depicted on a green background. The figure is dressed in a white shirt, pants, a black sleeveless jacket and boots with a silver Tatar skullcap (kelapush) on his head. The rider personifies the legendary founder of the village, the warrior Agryz (Egerzhe), who points forward with his right hand as if predicting the future of the region. His figure is accompanied by a silver eight-pointed star with a wing — an allegorical depiction of the wind rose. The golden wing on the coat of arms is a symbol of the railway and Agryz station as a major railway junction. The blue bottom line of the coat of arms symbolizes the waters of the Nizhnekamsk reservoir, while the green field emphasizes the role of agriculture in the regional economy. The flag is based on heraldic elements of the coat of arms. In the flag, white represents clarity and reconciliation, red for courage, black for eternity and wisdom, green means health and nature, and blue honor and immortality. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 2:3.

Etymology

The district derives its name from the settlement of Agryz. According to a popular legend, which is reflected on the district's coat of arms, the toponym comes from the name of one of the mythical brothers Egerzhe () who led the Tatar resettlement to this region after the conquest of Kazan. There is also a version that the toponym could derive its name from the local river.

History

The small Tatar village of Agryz was first mentioned in historical sources from 1646 among the possessions of the Tatar noble family of Yaushevs. In 1774,

Yemelyan Pugachev Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (also spelled Pugachyov; ; ) was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks and the leader of the Pugachev's Rebellion, a major popular uprising in the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great. The son of a Do ...

's rebellious army was stationed near the settlement. After the suppression of the uprising, Agryz became part of the Sarapulsky uyezd of the Vyatka province. In 1881, the local imam established the Agryz madrasah, where many prominent Tatar scholars and religious leaders studied and worked. Among them were the writers Daut Gubaidi and Najip Dumavi, the historian Jamal Validi, the archaeographer Zeynab Maksudova and others. In 1901, a Tatar women's school was founded in the village. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were 667 households in Agryz as well as a school and three mosques. The village experienced significant growth in 1914 when the Kazan-

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

railway and the Agryz station were built. During the anti-Bolshevik Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising, Agryz fell under the control of the rebels and passed to

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

only in the fall of 1918. In 1921, the Agryzsky canton was formed as part of the

Tatar ASSR The Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as Tatar ASSR or TASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. The resolution for its creation was signed on 27 May 1920 and the republic was proclaimed on 25 June 1920. Kazan ...

and Agryz received the status of a city. In 1921-1922, a severe famine broke out in the

Volga region The Volga region, known as the ( , ; rus, Поволжье, r=Povolžje, p=pɐˈvoɫʐje; ), is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European ...

affecting the lives and killing several millions of people. During the period from January to March 1922, 738 people died of starvation and typhus in the Agryzsky canton. In June 1922, the city suffered a large fire that destroyed 134 courtyards, a mosque, baths and warehouses, or 18% of the total housing stock. Among other things, about 300 poods (roughly 5.5 tons) of bread were burned in the city. Historical reports do not report any casualties. The Agryzsky canton repeatedly changed its borders and administrative affiliation. In 1924, the canton received the status of a district and was assigned to the Yelabuga executive committee. At its time of formation, the district included 25 village councils and 105 settlements with a population of more than 29 thousand people. In October 1960, almost the entire territory of the abolished Krasnoborsky district was transferred to Agryz. In February 1963, as a result of the republican administrative and territorial reforms, Agryz was included in the Yelabuga agricultural region, but by the following year it had already restored to its former borders.

Agryzhan Tatars

''The Agryzhan spelled out Agrizhan Tatar or Agryjan (Indian form), were the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

descendants of 51 Indian Hindu Punjabi

Khatri Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...

Merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and one Indian Muslim trader from North India mostly from Khatri caste, primarily from the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, but also from Indian Merchants of

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

from the

Marwari people The Marwari or Marwadi (Devanagari: मारवाड़ी) are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group that originate from the Marwar region of Rajasthan, India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani la ...

, who settled in Astrakhan between 1636 and 1725 , and called ''Astrakhan Indians'' this Men married with Buddhist Kalmyks, with local

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

and Orthodox Christian Russian women. The families moved and lived then in the Agryz suburb and the descendants of these Indo-Turkic marriages were named after this suburb. The Agrizhan eventually assimilated with the Muslim

Astrakhan Tatars Astrakhan Tatars () are an ethnic subgroup of the Tatar. In the 15th to 17th-centuries, the Astrakhan Tatars inhabited the Astrakhan Khanate (1459–1556), which was also inhabited by the Nogai Horde, and the Astrakhan Tatars exerted a profoun ...

. They speak Tatar language and russian language as first languages, but they know about there Indian Heritage and are proud about it. * * * * * *

Administrative and Municipal Status

Currently, the district executive committee is subordinated to the Council, the head of the district and its residents. Since October 2020, the position of the head of the executive committee has been held by Artur E. Akbashev. The head of the region is Azat R. Valeev. In 2020 the Agryzsky district included one city and 72 settlements. According to the results of the 2010 census, Tatars make up 58.1% of the region's population, 25.2% are

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, 8% are Mari, 6.4% are

Udmurts The Udmurts (, ) are a Permian (Finno-Ugric) ethnic group in Eastern Europe, who speak the Udmurt language. They mainly live in the republic of Udmurtia in Russia. Etymology The name ''Udmurt'' comes from * 'meadow people,' where the first part ...

. As of 2018, the birth rate per thousand people was 8.5% and the death rate 13.8%. In 2019, both indexes dropped to 7.9% and 13.2%, respectively. Thus, the rate of natural population decline in 2019 was 5.3%.

Economics

Contemporary Agryzsky District

Since the construction of a railway line and a marshalling yard in 1914-1915, the railway has been Argyz's core enterprise. Economists point out that about a third of the city's inhabitants work for the

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

and the industry contributes about 50% of the tax revenue of the district budget. In 2020, Agryz was one of the 50 main marshalling yards in Russia. The station receives up to 10 thousand wagons per day and sorts about three thousand. The Agryz railway junction includes a repair and maintenance depot, a track machine station, communication centers and other departments. In September 2020, at a meeting of the Minister of Transport and Roads of Tatarstan, Agryz was selected as the future site for a new international transport and logistics center. According to the plan, the Agryz station will become a terminal for the export of goods to China and other destinations in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The project is being developed under the auspices of the All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Transport. Agriculture plays a leading role in the economy of the Agryz region and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross regional product. Agricultural lands cover about 100 thousand hectares, or more than 60% of the district's territory.

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, and potatoes are among the crops cultivated in the district. Among the most important industries are meat and dairy cattle breeding and beekeeping. The largest investors of the region include the companies Navruz and Agrofirma-Agryz (formerly Ak Bars-Agryz) which have invested in the construction and renovation of livestock farms and agricultural machinery. Other significant agricultural enterprises include Agryz-Agrokhimservis, Nazyar, S.-Omga, as well as individual farms. The main companies of the food and meat processing industry are the Agryz MK meat-packing plant, the Khlebopischekombinat and the "Bulgar" bakery plant. Additionally, the district specializes in the production of bread and grain procurements, met cattle, pork and dairy products. Economists state that the district has the potential to create an agro-industrial cluster that could unify farmers, processors and trade enterprises. Moreover, the region has large reserves of sand and clay, facilitating the operation of local construction and industrial organizations such as Stroygrad, Mirstroy and Stroygigant.

Investment Potential

In the period January-October 2020, the Agryzsky municipal district was ranked twenty-second in the republic in terms of socio-economic development. In 2019 the Agryzsky region attracted more than 5.3 billion rubles investment which is in excess of the 4 billion raised in the previous year. According to the Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan for Social and Economic Monitoring, the region's investment in fixed assets in the first half of 2020 amounted 4.2 billion rubles, or two percent of the total investment in the republic. The largest funds were allocated to machinery, equipment and state inventory. During the same time period, more than 11 thousand square meters of housing were commissioned in the Agryz district. The 2015 the inauguration of the "Agryz-Razvitie" industrial site with a total area of twenty thousand square meters played a significant role in the development of the region's economy. Its main activity is the production of meat and meat products. With the commissioning of new workshops and areas, the plant's combined income in 2018 exceeded 1.3 billion rubles, while its share of tax payments to the district budget doubled. In 2019, another industrial site "Dobrolyubovo Village" with an area of 2.5 hectares was organized on the territory of the district. By its opening, two residents operated on the site, the producers of dairy products "Elis" and the mixed feed producer "Dobrolyubovo". As a part of the republican project "Strategy 2030", the district's administration over the next decade will be focusing on creating a strong agro-industrial complex while reducing the natural rate of population decline in the region as well as increasing its average salary. The development of small and medium-sized businesses will be a special priority of this strategy. In 2018, the share of small businesses in the volume of gross territorial product was about 27%, while 42% of the total number of small and medium-sized businesses are engaged in the consumer market.

Transport

The city of Agryz serves as the regional center and a large railway junction connecting Udmurtia with Tatarstan and the

. The Agryz station is located at the intersection of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

—

, Agryz—Izhevsk as well as Agryz—

Naberezhnye Chelny Naberezhnye Chelny (, ; , ) is the second largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. A major industrial center, Naberezhnye Chelny stands on the Kama River east of Kazan near Nizhnekamsk Reservoi ...

—Akbash railway lines. The local road network is poorly developed, and the territory to the east of the Izh River is one of the most inaccessible and remote areas in the republic. The main regional road is Agryz—Kryndy—

Mendeleyevsk Mendeleyevsk (; ) is a town and the administrative center of Mendeleyevsky District in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of Nizhnekamskoye Reservoir, from the republic's capital of Kazan. As of the 2010 Census, its p ...

. A small part of the M7 highway "Yelabuga—

—

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...

", running through Udmurtia has been laid near the districts' borders. In the village of , a wharf on the

Kama ''Kama'' (Sanskrit: काम, ) is the concept of pleasure, enjoyment and desire in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It can also refer to "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature.Monier Williamsका� ...

was opened. In summers, there is a ferry crossing the

Izh River The Izh (; , ''Oč''; ) is a river in Udmurtia and Tatarstan, Russian Federation, a right-bank tributary of the Kama. It is long, of which are in Tatarstan, and its drainage basin covers .Tazi Gizzat and the local history museums in villages of Salaush, Tabarli and Izh-Bobya. Additionally, Agryz Central Library has 25 branches and owns a fund of more than 285 thousand copies of books and other printed materials. There are 28 mosques and four churches in the district. Since 1931 the local newspaper "Әгерҗе хәбәрләре" ("Agryzskie Vesti") has been published in the region in Tatar and Russian. The sports infrastructure of the region is represented by the Lokomotiv stadium, the Sputnik ice palace, schools and a number of other sports facilities.

Cultural Heritage

Regional cultural heritage sites include: * The 1905 house in the village of Izh-Bobya where the Tatar educators Nigmatullins—Bobinsky (Bubi) lived. * A mosque in the village of Izh-Bobya was built in 1895 at the expense of the merchant M. Akhmetzhanov. * The estate of the merchant M. Akhmetzhanov dating from the late 19th century * The 1886 estate of the steward Arslangali Shaimardanov in the village of Izh-Bobya * Tomb of Gabdulla Bubi (1871-1922) in the village Izh-Bobya. * Peter and Paul Church in the village of Krynda was built in 1871. * House of H. Sattarov in the village of Nizhnee Kuchukovo dating from the early 20th century. * The mosque Saklovo in the village of Saklovo was built in 1906-1912. * The building of the volost government of the early 20th century in the village of Isenbaevo. Cultural heritage establishments: * Water tower (Agryz, built in 1916, not used since 1962); * Burial places of Soviet soldiers who died in the city of Agryz during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; * Monument to Vladimir Azin (installed in 1967, Agryz); * Mass grave of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

(1967, Agryz); * Building of the locomotive depot (1919, Agryz); * Monument to a steam locomotive (installed in 2000, Agryz); * Tomb of Kutdus Abdrakhmanov (1882-1962, village Izh-Bobya); * The grave of the merchant M. Akhmetzhanov (1843-1925, the village of Izh-Bobya); * Grave of the Tatar poet Daut Gubaidi (1873-1919, village Kadrali); * House of merchants Gogolevs (two buildings of the late 19th - early 20th centuries in the village of Krasny Bor); * Nikolskaya Church (1875, village Staraya Chekalda); * Tomb of Hamit Rakhim (1899-1939, Tuba village).