Cheboksary is the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Chuvashia Chuvashia, officially known as Chuvash Republic — Chuvashia, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic languages, Turkic ethnic group. Its capital city, capital i ...

Russia 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 ...

. It is a port on the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

Geography

The city is located in the

Volga Upland The Volga Upland, also known as the Volga Uplands, Volga Hills, or Volga Plateau (), is a vast region of the East European Plain in the European part of Russia that lies west of the Volga River and east of the Central Russian Upland. The uplan ...

region and stands on the shore of the Cheboksary Reservoir. Its area is .Resolution #2083 The

satellite city A satellite city or satellite town is a smaller municipality or settlement that is part of (or on the edge of) a larger metropolitan area and serves as a regional population and employment center. It differs from mere suburbs, Subdivision (la ...

of Novocheboksarsk is located about east of Cheboksary.

History

Cheboksary was first mentioned in written sources in 1469, but according to archaeological excavations, the area had been populated much earlier. The site hosted a Bulgarian city of Veda Suvar, which appeared after Mongols defeated major Volga Bulgarian cities in the 13th century. During Khanate period the town is believed by some to have had a Turkic (probably, Tatar) name Çabaqsar and that the current Russian and English names originate from it. However, in maps by European travelers it was marked as Cibocar (Pizzigano, 1367), Veda-Suar (

Fra Mauro Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., (c.1400–1464) was an Italian ( Venetian) cartographer who lived in the Republic of Venice. He created the most detailed and accurate map of the world up until that time, the Fra Mauro map. Mauro was a monk of the Ca ...

, 1459). Shupashkar, the Chuvash name literally means the "fortress of the Chuvash". In 1555, the Russians built a fortress and established a settlement here. In 1625, there were 458 soldiers quartered in Cheboksary, and in 1646 there were 661 males living in the settlement. At the end of the 17th century, Cheboksary was regarded as a major commercial city of the Volga region, and in 1781 it was granted town status within

Kazan Governorate Kazan Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR from 1708 to 1920, with its capital in Kazan. History Kazan Governorate, together with seven other ...

. In the beginning of the 19th century the population was about 5500, the town had a sawmill and several small manufactures. In the 16th and the first half of the 17th century the Vvedensky cathedral, four monasteries and eight churches had been built, in the 18th century the stone buildings of treasury and archive, magistracy, court, and ten churches. In 1880, here were counted 783 houses (33 of them from stone), 91 stores, three schools, two hospitals, and one bank. In the beginning of the 20th century, 5,100 people lived in Cheboksary. In 1965, the population grew to 163,000.

Administrative and municipal status

Cheboksary is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the republic.Law #28 Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with two

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

s ( Novye Lapsary and

Sosnovka Sosnovka () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities Altai Krai As of 2012, six rural localities in Altai Krai bear this name: * Sosnovka, Charyshsky District, Altai Krai, a '' selo'' in Mayaksky Selsoviet of Cha ...

) and two rural localities, incorporated as the city of republic significance of Cheboksary—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. As a municipal division, the city of republic significance of Cheboksary is incorporated as Cheboksary Urban Okrug.Law #37

City divisions

For administrative purposes, Cheboksary is divided into three city districts: Kalininskiy, Leninskiy, and Moskovskiy.

Demographics

Population: The city of Cheboksary together with the satellite city Novocheboksarsk forms a polycentric agglomeration with a population of more than 680 thousand people.

Ethnic composition

The population of Cheboksary consists mainly of the two following ethnic groups; the Chuvash (62%), and ethnic

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 ...

(34%). Mixed marriages are quite common.

Culture

Cheboksary possesses many cultural opportunities. These include the Public Order (Badge of Honor) Russian Drama Theater, a philharmonic

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, the

Chuvash State Puppet Theater The Chuvash State Puppet Theater (, ) is a puppet theater, located in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, Russia. The group combines traditional European and national styles. Theater is a member of the International Association of Puppet Theaters ( ...

and numerous theaters (showing productions in both

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Chuvash languages). However, a very popular gathering place for the locals is the recently completed ''zaliv'' (

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

), situated in the middle of the city. Cheboksary also has boardwalks and beaches along the

, where people swim in the summer. There are also a number of heated pools, health clubs, and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

s (including the Chuvash National Museum and Russia's only

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

museum). Cheboksary hosted a language festival in 1996.

Sport

Cheboksary regularly hosts

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

meetings and

racewalking Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

events, including the

2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 10 and 11 May 2008 in the streets of Cheboksary, Chuvashia, Russia. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results was given for the IAAF. Complete results were published. ...

, the 2015 European Team Championships Super League, and the 2016 Russian athletics and

masters athletics Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of athletics (sport), athletics for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by World Masters Athletics. The events include track and field, road running and cross ...

championships. The 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships were moved from Cheboksary to Rome as part of IAAF sanctions against

doping in Russia Systematic Doping in sport, doping of Sport in Russia, Russian athletes has resulted in 51 Olympic medals List of stripped Olympic medals, stripped from Russia (and Russian associated teams), four times the number of the next highest, and more th ...

Education

Educational institutions include the Chuvash State University, Chuvash State Agriculture Academy, the Chuvash State Pedagogical University, and the Cheboksary Cooperative Technical School. *Cheboksary Physics and Mathematics School * Cheboksary Cooperative Institute

Economy

Cheboksary is located near the Cheboksary Dam generating up to 1,404 MW, with a reservoir of . Cheboksary is the location of the headquarters of the Concern Tractor Plants, Russia's leading machine building company and one of the largest heavy mechanical engineering companies in the world.

Transportation

Local public transportation

An extensive system of

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es, autobuses, and

minibuses A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

covers the city, providing quick, convenient access to all parts of the city. For those who prefer

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

s, there are several taxi agencies available, but the favorite means of transportation among locals are so-called "Gypsy" cabs. In Russia, anybody who owns a car is potentially a taxi. This can be a convenient way to get around but it is also potentially dangerous. Official taxis cost less than 6 dollars for travel between most points within the city.

River

Because the

runs through Chuvashia, Cheboksary is a frequent stop on the many

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

tours that travel along the major cities up and down the Volga. To the south,

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

, the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

, and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

are directly reachable. To the west, the Volga River connects Cheboksary with

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

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 ...

, and the northern regions of Russia. By using river-sea vessels, it is possible to take cargo from Chuvash riverports all the way to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was History In antiquity, the shores of the ...

(on the Black Sea),

, and ports situated on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

river. However, the river is frozen from December to April.

Air

The Cheboksary Airport (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

CSY,

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

UWKS, international airport since 1995) receives both cargo and passenger aircraft of practically all types and sizes. There are regularly scheduled flights to

and other destinations. Chuvashia Airlines was based at this airport until operations ceased in 2009. Cheboksary is located about a four-hour drive from Strigino International Airport near

, which offers more flight connections.

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

in the region is

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: Dfb), and it is similar to the climate in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November until late March with a permanent snow cover.

Media

* « To health via culture» — Journal of the World Health Culture Organization.

Gallery

File:New Cheboksary Government House.jpg, The new Government House of the Chuvash Republic File:TOB-2017.jpg, The Chuvash State Opera and Ballet Theater File:Чувашский государственный художественный музей.JPG, Chuvash State Art Museum File:Cheboksary National Library.jpg, Chuvash National Library File:Проспект Ленина, 2, Чебоксары (2).jpg, Chuvashia Hotel File:Evening view of Chuvash Drama Theatre. Cheboksary, Chuvashia, Russia - panoramio (13).jpg, Chuvash Drama Theater File:Cheboksary. Dormition Church P8121972 2200.jpg, Assumption Church File:Moskovskiy rayon, Cheboksary, Chuvashia, Russia - panoramio (42).jpg, Mother Patroness Monument in center of the city File:Cheboksary. Monument of Vasily Chapaev.jpg, Monument of Vasily Chapaev File:Cheboksary Railway Station before reconstruction 2.jpg, Cheboksary railway station before reconstruction File:Чувашский государственный театр кукол (2).jpg, Chuvash State Puppet Theater File:Введенский Собор в Чебоксарах (1).jpg, Vvedensky Cathedral File:P9012058-1.jpg, Old house, architectural monument File:Здание в обороте.jpg, the old house of the merchant Kadomtsev File:Чебоксары, улица Бондарева, 13.jpg, The oldest pharmacy Cheboksary File:Чувашия. Чебоксары. Дом крестьянина.jpg, Peasant's House

Notable people

* Marie Vorobieff (1892-1984), Russian-born painter *

Andriyan Nikolayev Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev ( Chuvash and ; 5 September 1929 – 3 July 2004) was a Soviet cosmonaut. In 1962, aboard Vostok 3, he became the third Soviet cosmonaut to fly into space. Nikolayev was an ethnic Chuvash and because of it con ...

(1929—2004),

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

* Daniil Orain (born 2000), Russian journalist * Yuri Yevlampyev (born 1966), former Russian professional footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Cheboksary is twinned with: *

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

, Turkey *

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

, Hungary *

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

, Belarus *

Rundu Rundu is the capital and the largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River, about above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted ...

, Namibia * Santa Clara, Cuba

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Official website of Cheboksary

Cheboksary Business Directory

{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2012 Cheboksarsky Uyezd Populated places on the Volga