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'Udmurt Republic' (; ) or 'Udmurtia' (Удму́ртия) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). The direct romanization of the Republic's Russian name is ''Udmurtskaya Respublika'' or ''Udmurtiya''; Udmurt name: ''Udmurt Elkun''.

Contents

Geography

Time zone

Rivers

Lakes

Natural resources

Climate

Administrative divisions

Demographics

History

Middle Ages

20th Century

Politics

Economy

Culture

Education

Religion

References

Further reading

External links

Geography

Udmurtia is located in the eastern portion of the Eastern European Plain, between the Kama and Vyatka Rivers.

★ ''Borders'':

★
★ ''internal'': Kirov Oblast (SW/W/NW/N), Perm Krai (NE/E), Republic of Bashkortostan (SE), and Republic of Tatarstan (S/SW)

★
★ ''water'': Votkinsk Reservoir (E)

★ ''Highest point'':

★ ''Maximum N->S distance'':

★ ''Maximum E->W distance'':

Time zone

Udmurtia is located in the Samara Time Zone (SAMT/SAMST). UTC offset is +0400 (SAMT)/+0500 (SAMST).

Rivers

Major rivers include:

★ Cheptsa River

★ Izh River

★ Kama River (navigable)

★ Kilmez River

★ Siva River

Lakes

While there are no large lakes in the Republic, Votkinskoye Reservoir is partially located on its territory.

Natural resources

Udmurtia's natural resources include oil, peat, mineral waters, and more. Oil reserves are estimated to be 820 million tons (as of 2002). Approximately 7–8 million tons are extracted annually. Most of the oil is exported.
Forests cover over 40% of the Republic's territory. Most of the forests are coniferous.

Climate

Udmurtia has moderate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters with a lot of snow.

★ ''Average January temperature'':

★ ''Average July temperature'':

★ ''Average annual precipitation'': 400–600 mm

Administrative divisions

Demographics

★ 'Population': 1,570,316 (2002)

★
★ ''Urban'': 1,094,338 (69.7%)

★
★ ''Rural'': 475,978 (30.3%)

★
★ ''Male'': 725,075 (46.2%)

★
★ ''Female'': 843,241 (53.7%)

★ 'Females per 1000 males': 1,160

★ 'Average age': 35.8 years

★
★ ''Urban'': 35.6 years

★
★ ''Rural'': 36.1 years

★
★ ''Male'': 32.8 years

★
★ ''Female'': 38.4 years

★ 'Number of households': 552,862 (with 1,548,762 people)

★
★ ''Urban'': 395,200 (with 1,084,281 people)

★
★ ''Rural'': 157,662 (with 464,481 people)

★ 'Vital statistics' (2005)

★
★ ''Births'': 17,190 (birth rate 11.1)

★
★ ''Deaths'': 24,006 (death rate 15,5)

★ 'Ethnic groups'
According to the 2002 Census, Russians make up 60.1% of the republic's population, while the ethnic Udmurts only make up 29.3%. Other groups include Tatars (7.0%), Ukrainians (11,527, or 0.7%), Mari (8,985, or 0.6%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the republic's total population. 2,957 people (0.2%) did not indicate their nationalities during the Census.

	census 1926	census 1939	census 1959	census 1970	census 1979	census 1989	census 2002
Udmurts	395,607 (52.3%)	480,014 (39.4%)	475,913 (35.6%)	484,168 (34.2%)	479,702 (32.1%)	496,522 (30.9%)	460,584 (29.3%)
Besermyan	9,200 (1.2%)						2,998 (0.2%)
Russians	327,493 (43.3)	679,294 (55.7%)	758,770 (56.8%)	809,563 (57.1%)	870,270 (58.3%)	945,216 (58.9%)	944,108 (60.1%)
Tatars	19,248 (2.5%)	40,561 (3.3%)	71,930 (5.4%)	87,150 (6.1%)	99,139 (6.6%)	110,490 (6.9%)	109,218 (7.0%)
Others	4,716 (0.6%)	19,481 (1.6%)	30,314 (2.3%)	36,794 (2.6%)	43,061 (2.9%)	53,435 (3.3%)	53,408 (3.4%)

Over two thirds of the world population of Udmurts live in Udmurtia.^[1]

History

Udmurt means literally "Ud-mortal". The Udmurts are first mentioned in written history by Herodotos by the Greek name of "Budins" who lived around the Volga and Kama rivers. The name Budins is a variant of "Vodins" and is derived from place names. The Vodins never formed any state, only a loose league between the Udmurt tribes. The Udmurts lived close to the Scythians and even some Greeks, Gelons, had settled as fur traders among the Udmurts. There were many fortified wooden settlements along the Kama and Vitka (Viatka) rivers inhabited by Udmurts.
By the time of the Roman Empire, the Udmurts had settled in the Volga bend area and they are also mentioned by the Roman historian Strabo who mentions new settlers from east appearing in Bohemia called Zumis and Butonis.
During the time of Turkic - Mongol - Hun invasion of Europe some Udmurt tribes joined the Sarmatians in the great "Folk-Wandering" and settled in the Vistula basin c.100 - 300 AD. They were mentioned by Ptolemy c. 150 AD.

Middle Ages

Udmurts are also mentioned by Arab historians Ibn Fadhlan (921) and Abu-Said al-Balchi (950) as neighbouring people of Idel river Bolgars. In 981 Prince Vladimir of Kiev started a war against the Vjatitsi (which literally means "Udmurts living in the Vitka river valley") tribes. Next year they rebelled again against Kievan Russian rule. Vladimir deported all the most powerful and richest tribal chiefs to southern area held by Kiev Russians. One of these tribal chiefs was Arbegs or Arpek. (The name itself means Ar = Udmurt in Old Tatar language. Finno-Ugrian names did not have soft b during that period. It came later from Russian language. Pek is presumably place name.) From this started the ethnic cleansing of Finno-Urgic tribes in the Oka, Vitka (Viatka) and Kama rivers area. During the 1000 - 1200 the Udmurts rebelled continuously against the Kievan Russian rule. Prince Vladimir Monomak tried to crush the waves of rebellion, but had to fight a hard battle in 1200 against the Udmurt Vjatitsi chief Chodota. The first Orthodox missionary monk from Kiev was murdered. Many Udmurts avoided the Slav expansion and moved away to the Unsa, Vetluga, Suhona and Sheksna river valleys where they later were mixed with Komi-murts.
During the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria of 1237 the Mongols also conquered land where most of the Udmurts lived. They had to pay annual taxes to the Khan of Kazan, who did not otherwise intervene in Udmurt tribal society. The Udmurts joined Tatars in the "Battle of Kulikovo" in 1380 and many thousands of Udmurts perished. The Khan of Kazan sent an army against the Udmurts in 1452 but the Tatars found it very difficult to conquer the Udmurts. Instead Khan of Kazan made an alliance with Udmurts.
In 1466 the Udmurts attacked the Russians in the Vitka river valley. In 1500 Russians called Udmurts "Arjaans". By this time some Udmurt tribes were mixed with Tatars and these people still using Udmurt language, were called Besermaans, in Udmurt Busurmans. The Mordvins called Udmurts "Odo". From this name the Russians derived their second alternative name for Udmurts, Otjans (Otjaki) or Otiny. This derived later to form Votjaki. The Udmurts fought with Tatars against the Muscovite Princes up to 1552 when the Khanate of Kazan was conquered and destroyed by the Russians. The territory of modern Udmurtia was divided after 1552 between the Kazan and Vyatka Governorates (''guberniyas''). In 1553 - 1557 Udmurts rebelled against the Russians. In 1582 a new rebellion took place. The Russians had to make from Moscow an armed venture against the Udmurt rebels. A new revolt started again in 1592 together with Maris. In 1609 Udmurts took part in a rebellion and conquered in 1612 for a short period Kazan together with Tatars. The next uprising took place when Udmurts joined the Stenka Razin rebellion in 1667 - 1671. However, the Russians still considered Udmurts dangerous enough that it was ordered in 1697 not to sell any iron which could be used to arm the Udmurt population. The last large scale uprising took place in 1773 -1774 when Udmurts joined the Emiljan Pugatshev rebellion.

20th Century

The first industrial enterprise in Udmurtia was the state owned Votkinsk Zavod founded as a weapons arsenal on the west bank of the river Kama. In 1917 Udmurts joined the short lived Idel-Volga League which was dissolved in December 1918. Since then a massive Russification took place. On November 4, 1920 Votsk Autonomous Oblast was formed. On January 1, 1932, Votsk Autonomous Oblast was renamed Udmurt Autonomous Oblast, which was then reorganized into the Udmurt ASSR on December 28, 1934. In Stalin's Great Purge of 1937 - 1938 the murder of most of Udmurt's intellectuals had its effects on Udmurt society. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 many industrial factories were evacuated from the Ukraine and western borderlands to Udmurtia, considerably increasing the ethnic Russian population in Udmurtia.
The Udmurt Republic in its present form has existed since September 20, 1990.

Politics

The head of government in Udmurtia is the President, who is elected for a five-year term. As of 2007, the president is Alexander Volkov, who assumed his post on November 3, 2000. Prior to the elections, Volkov was the Chairman of the Republic's Council—the highest post at that time.
The Republic's parliament is the State Council, popularly elected every five years. The State Council has 100 deputies.
The Republic's constitution was aopted on December 7, 1994.

Economy

Udmurtia is an industrialized republic. The most developed industries include machine building, chemical, and oil and gas industries.

Culture

In Udmurtia, there are eight professional theaters, the Philharmonic Society, and more than ten state and numerous public museums which tell about history and culture of Udmurtia and its people, like the Museum of history and culture in Sarapul, or the Tchaikovsky Museum in Votkinsk. One of the oldest arms museums is located in Izhevsk. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union a new, pan-Finno-Ugric cultural movement has evolved called "Ethnofuturism". [1]

Education

The most important facilities of higher education include the Udmurt State University, Izhevsk State Technical University, and Izhevsk State Medical Academy, all located in the capital Izhevsk.

Religion

The majority of the Republic's population is atheist or Russian Orthodox. Shamanism is also practiced.

References

1. NUPI: Centre for Russian Studies Data from the Soviet census of 1989. The table at the bottom states that in "Udmurtiya"(the y is optional), the "% av gruppen"(% of total world population) is "69,46%" which is more or less two thirds.

Further reading

★ Daniel Kalder.''Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-tourist''. Scribner Book Company. ISBN 0-7432-8994-3.

External links

★ Official website of the Udmurt Republic.

★ Official website of the State Council of Udmurtia.

★ Map of Udmurtia.

★ Official website of the Udmurt State University.

★ Official website of the Izhevsk State Medical Academy.

★ Official website of the Izhevsk State Technical University.