Sovetsk (), formerly Kukarka (; ), is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of Sovetsky District in

Kirov Oblast Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population ...

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 ...

. Population: Molotov house Kukarka

Etymology

The origins of the name "Kukarka" are uncertain. It may derive from Mari words ''kü'' (stone) and ''karman'' (fortress) or from ''kugyrak'' (great). Attempts have been made to trace it to either Udmurt (''kar'' "town") or Turkic (''kukar'' "burned-away forest"). It is not related to the

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 ...

word "" (''kukharka'', "female cook").

History

In the 12th century, it was a capital of the local principality of Chumbylat, a renowned Mari leader and warrior. Kukarka was occupied in 1594 by

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 ...

during colonization of Mari land. Later it was a ''

sloboda A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for 'freedom' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'.

'' in

Vyatka Governorate Vyatka Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR from 1796 to 1929, with its capital in Vyatka (now Kirov, Kirov Oblast, Kirov). The ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. It was granted

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 ...

status in 1918. Town status was granted to it in 1937, at which time its name was changed by the Soviet government into ''Sovetsk'' (lit. Sovietsk).Е. М. Поспелов. "Географические названия мира". Москва: Русские словари, 1998, p. 389.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Sovetsk serves as the

of Sovetsky District.Law #203-ZO As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Sovetsky District as the

Town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Sovetsk. As a municipal division, the Town of Sovetsk is incorporated within Sovetsky Municipal District as Sovetskoye Urban Settlement.Law #284-ZO

Notable people

Sovetsk is the birthplace of

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

*Mojgorod.ru
Entry on Sovetsk
{{Use mdy dates, date=December 2012 Cities and towns in Kirov Oblast Yaransky Uyezd