Encyclopedia
Kazan is the capital city of the
Republic of Tatarstan,
Russia, and one of Russia's largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of
Tatar culture. Kazan lies at the confluence of the
Volga and
Kazanka rivers in central European Russia.
Name
The origin of the name is unclear. The literal translation of Tatar
qazan is
a boiler or
cauldron. Alternately, it may have been derived from
qazgan, Tatar for
dug [ditch].
"Qazan" is originally a name for a special cooking pan, a variant of a wok, but more solid and heavier. It was believed that the city of Kazan is named after this object because of its geographical similarity with a "qazan"-pan; namely the city is situated in a U-shaped lowland.
Another, more romantic legend tells a story of a Tatar princess Söyembikä, who dropped a golden dish in to the river on which the city is located while washing it.
Nevertheless, Chuvash legends refer to Bulgarian prince
Khusan and Chuvashes call this city ????? after the name of this prince.
History
There is a long-running dispute as to whether Kazan was founded by the
Volga Bulgars in the early Middle Ages or by the
Tatars of the
Golden Horde in the mid-fifteenth century, as written records before the latter period are sparse. If there was a Bulgar City on the site, estimates of its foundation range from the early
11th century to the late 13th century . It was a block-post on the border between
Volga Bulgaria and Finnic tribes . Another vexed question is where the citadel was built originally. Archaeological explorations have produced evidence of urban settlement in 3 parts of the modern city: in the
Kremlin, in Bisbalta in the place of modern Zilantaw monastery and near the
Qaban lake. The oldest was the
Kremlin which could be dated back to 11th century.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, Kazan could have shielded a Volga trade route from
Scandinavia to
Iran. It was a trade center, and possibly a major city for Bulgar settlers in the Kazan region, although their capital was at the city of
Bolgar further South.
In the 13th century, re-settlers came to Kazan from
Bolgar and
Bilär, which had been ruined by the
Mongols. Kazan became a center of a duchy, which was a dependency of the Golden Horde. In
1430s Hordian Tatars usurped power in the duchy, which was ruled by Bolghar dynasty before.
After the destruction of the Golden Horde, Kazan became the capital of the powerful
Khanate of Kazan . The city bazaar
Tas Ayaq became the most important trade center in the region, especially for furniture. The citadel and
Bolaq channel were reconstructed, giving the city a strong defensive capacity. The Russians managed to occupy the city briefly several times, but before the 1552 they withdrew.
In 1552,
the city was conquered by
Russia under
Ivan the Terrible and the majority of the population was massacred. During the governorship of Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky, most of the khanates's
Tatar residents were killed, repressed, or forcibly Christianized.
Mosques and palaces were ruined. The surviving Tatar population was moved to a place 50 km away from the city and this place was forcibly settled by Russian farmers and soldiers. Serving to Russia Tatars was settled in the Tatar Bistäse settlement near the city's wall. Later Tatar merchants and handicraft masters also settled there.
Kazan was largely destroyed as a result of several great fires. After one of them in 1579, the icon
Our Lady of Kazan, also called
Theotokos of Kazan, is a holy icon [i] which the Russian Orthodox Church [i] ...
was discovered in the city. During the
Time of Troubles in Russia the independence of the
Kazan Khanate was restored with the help of the Russian population, but this independence was suppressed by
Kuzma Minin in 1612. The history of that period requires further research.
In 1708, the
Khanate of Kazan was abolished, and Kazan became the center of a
guberniya. After
Peter the Great's visit, the city became a shipbuilding base for the Caspian fleet. It was largely destroyed in 1774 as a result of a revolt by border troops and peasants led by the Don Cossack
ataman Yemelyan Pugachev, but was rebuilt soon afterwards, during the reign of
Catherine the Great. Catherine also decreed that mosques could again be built in Kazan. But discrimination against the Tatars continued.
In the beginning of 19th century
Kazan State University and
Printing Press were founded by
Alexander I. The
Qur'an was firstly printed in Kazan in 1801, and it became an important centre for
Oriental Studies in Russia. By the end of the 19th century, Kazan had become an industrial center of the Middle Volga. People from neighboring villages came to the city looking for work. In 1875, a
horse tramway appeared; 1899 saw the installation of a
tramway.
After the
Russian Revolution of 1905, Tatars were allowed to revive Kazan as a Tatar cultural center. The first Tatar theater and the first Tatar newspaper appeared.
In 1918, Kazan was a capital of the
Idel-Ural State, which was suppressed by the
Bolshevist government. Kazan was also the center of an anti-Bolshevik Bolaq artea Republic. In 1919 , Kazan became the center of Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1920s and 1930s, most of the city's mosques and churches were destroyed .
During
World War II, many industrial plants and factories were evacuated to Kazan, and the city subsequently became a center of the
military industry, producing tanks and
planes.
In the late 1980s and in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the
USSR, Kazan again became the center of Tatar culture, and separatist tendencies intensified. Since 2000, the city has been undergoing a total renovation. A single-line metro opened on 27 August 2005. The
Kazan Metro has five stations. But there are plans to extend the line in both directions. Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005, when the largest mosque in Russia,
Qolsharif, was inaugurated in the
kremlin, and the holiest copy of
Our Lady of Kazan was returned to the city. The date of "millennium", however, was fixed rather arbitrarily.
Historical population
- 1550 – 50,000
- 1708 – 40,000
- 1830 – 43,900
- 1839 – 51,600
- 1859 – 60,600
- 1862 – 63,100
- 1883 – 140,000
- 1897 – 130,000
- 1917 – 206,600
- 1926 – 179,000
- 1939 – 398,000
- 1959 – 667,000
- 1979 – 989,000
- 1989 – 1,094,400
- 1997 – 1,076,000
- 2000 – 1,089,500
- 2002 – 1,105,289
Historical naming
- 1103-1220 Öçil [er-CHEEL]
- 1220-1278 Gazan/Qazan
- 1278-1350 Aqbikül [aq-bee-KYUL]
- 1350-1430 Bolgar âl-Cädid/Yaña Bolgar [bol-GHAR al-ja-DEED/ yah-NGAH bol-GHAR] - New Bolgar
- 1430-
"Qazan" was probably also used as an informal name in the period 1278-1430.
See also: Iske Qazan
- Tatar : Qazan;
- : ?????;
- : ????? ;
- , Arab: ???? ;
- Russian: ????´?? [Kazan];
- Arab : Bulgar al-Jadid - New Bolgar;
- German: Kasan, Latin: Casan, French: Kazan
Central Kazan
Kremlin
The main article is Kazan KremlinThe city has a
beautiful citadel , which was declared the
World Heritage Site in 2000. Major monuments in the kremlin are the 5-domed 6-columned Annunciation Cathedral and the mysterious leaning
Soyembika Tower, named after the last queen of Kazan and regarded as the city's most conspicuous landmark.
Also of interest are the towers and walls, erected in the 16th and 17th centuries but later reconstructed; the
Qol-Sarif mosque, which is already rebuilt inside the citadel;
remains of the Saviour Monastery with the Spasskaya Tower; and the
Governor's House , designed by
Konstantin Thon, now the Palace of the
President of
Tatarstan.
Next door, the ornate baroque Sts-Peter-and-Paul's Cathedral on Qawi Nacmi Street and Marcani mosque on Qayum Nasiri Street date back to the 18th century.
Bistä or Posad
Central Kazan is divided into two districts by the
Bolaq canal and Lake
Qaban. The first district , historically Russian, is situated on the hill, the second , historically Tatar, is situated between the Bolaq and the Volga. Mosques, such as
Nurullah,
Soltan,
Apanay,
Äcem,
Märcani,
Iske Tas,
Zäñgär are in the Tatar district. Churches, such as
Blagoveschenskaya,
Varvarinskaya,
Nikol'skaya,
Tikhvinskaya, are mostly in the Russian part of the city. The main city-centre streets are
Bauman,
Kreml,
Dzerjinski,
Tuqay,
Puskin,
Butlerov,
Gorkiy,
Karl Marx and
Märcani.
An old legend says that in 1552, before the Russian invasion, wealthy Tatars hid gold and silver in Lake
Qaban.
Wooden Kazan
In the beginning of 1990s most of Central Kazan was covered by wooden building, usually consisting of two floors. There was a historical environment of Kazan citizens, but not the best place to live in. During the Republican programme "The liquidation of old apartments" most of them , especially in Central Kazan, where the land isn't cheap, were destroyed and their population was moved to new areas at the suburb of the city . Nearly 100,000 citizens resettled by this programme.
Education
The
Kazan State University was founded in 1804 and has had several prominent students, including
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky,
Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
Lenin.
Kazan State Technical University was established in 1932. Today the University is one of the leading institutions in the development of
aircraft and rocket engineering, engine- and instrument-production, computer science and radio engineering.
There are nearly 20 institutes and universities in Kazan, but they are not as prominent and the most of them are commercial institutes.
Administrative system
The main body of legislative authority of the city is the Kazan City Council. Executive power is exercised by Kazan City Administration.
Kazan is divided into seven city districts.
Economy
The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan is Kazan - a large railway, highway and airway knot, the largest port on the Volga River. Kazan is the main economic centre of Tatarstan. 35% of population, employed in economic branches, concentrate in Kazan. 151 large and medium-size companies are situated in the city, including 98 JSC.
Main branches of municipal industry are as follows: automotive, chemical and petrochemical, light and food industries.
In 2002 the gross territorial product of Kazan reached 96,8 billion rubles. It was mainly formed by the industrial production , trade and public catering , transport , building sector , net taxes . Industrial enterprises produced 45 billion rubles worth of products . The wages in industry were 4500 rubles . The average salary as a whole exceeded 4200 rubles . The physical index of industrial production as a whole was 105,3 %. As a preliminary, the industrial income was 6 billion rubles .
48,6% of goods produced in Kazan are sold inside the Republic of Tatarstan, 31% - in the territory of Russia, 20,4% - is exported to the CIS countries and countries of "far abroad".
Export sales of JSC "Kazanorgsintez" form more than 30% of the total volume of enterprise's output. JSC "Kazan Helicopter Plant" exports 92,3% of its output.
JSC "Kazan Optical-mechanical Plant" exports 36,6% of its output.
JSC "Kazanorgsintez" is one of the largest chemical enterprises in Russia. It produces more than a half of the whole polyethylene production of the country. It was included to the RF State List of associations and monopoly enterprises producing polyethylene, polyethylene pipes and details of pipelines. Enterprise is marked by a high management level and firm growth of output volume. Produce quality meets the European standards and is exported to many world countries.
"Kazan Automotive Industrial Enterprise" has more than 60 years experience in aircraft engine production. It has been producing 65% of all engines for civil planes , as well as the engines for bombers and helicopters. Today JSC "KMPO" is one of the defence industry enterprises capable to preserve stable financial-economic position. The production of aircraft engine AI-22, gas-pumping unit GPA-16 "Volga", automatic gas distribution station AGRS "Istok", automatic gearbox for buses has been mastered.
JSC "Kazan Helicopter Plant" is the largest producer of helicopters of
M. L. Mil design. The helicopters
Mi-8 and
Mi-17 have brought high popularity for the enterprise. Their reliability, versatility were highly appreciated. At present moment a light multipurpose helicopter
Ansat production is being mastered.
A new aircraft
Tu-214, produced at the Kazan Aircraft Enterprise n. a. S.P. Gorbunov in March, 2000, got the second class AP-25 certificate, which confirms the full aircraft's adequacy to American and European standards. No other aircraft in Russia has such a certificate. Recently, the Enterprise was said to be mastering a new average main jet aircraft Tupolev Tu-324. Although championed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Tu-324 now appears dead, as Tupolev places any private R&D resources available for civil projects into a study into the proposed Tu-414, a 75-seat jet that borrows many of the Tu-324's design traits.
During the many decades a branch of design and production of medical equipment including scientific, design and production groups has been developed.
A unique enterprise JSC "Kazan Medical-instrumental Plant" has been functioning in Kazan for nearly 70 years. It is a large and the one and the only enterprise in Russia producing more than 300 PCs of medical instruments and equipment practically for all branches of medicine.
Annually the enterprise KPHFO "Tathimfarmpreparat" produces and sells 400 million medicines of more than 130 appellations, including cardiovascular, pain-relieving, anti-fever, counter tuberculosis, ocular and antibiotics. The high quality and low price distinguish products of this company.
PO "Teplocontrol" was awarded "The Arch of European Golden Star" for perfect reputation and quality of its output. Nowadays, with the account of problems of thermal energy calculation, it has mastered production of radiator thermal regulators "Comfort", and started to producing, assembling, delivering and servicing the automatic calculation and regulation units of thermal energy for houses and plants buildings.
JSC "Kazancompressormash" is one of the largest producers of special compressor and freezing equipment. Its output is supplied to large plants and groups of enterprises of metallurgical, gas, oil, chemical and other branches of industry.
Languages
Russian and
Tatar languages are widely spoken in the city. Russian is understood by practically all the population, apart from some older Tatars. Tatar is widely spoken only by Tatars. Native Tatars are also bilingual in Kazan. The offensive term
Mankurt is used for Tatars who do not speak the native language.
Not much English is spoken in the city, but young people tend to understand it.
City ethnic communities
Tatars and Russians
The city's population is mainly composed of Tatars and Russians . Nearly a third of all marriages in city are between Tatars and Russians.
Most official posts are occupied by Tatars, but others by Russians and some minorities which lived in the city before 1990s.
Other communities
Native Tatarstanli
Native Tatastanli nationalities mix with Tatars and Russians.
Native Middle-Volgans
The city's third ethnos is Chuvash , who speak their own language, but also Turkic languages group. They are Russian Orthodox with some pre-Christian elements in their religion. Other native for Middle Volga nation are Maris , Udmurts , Mordvas and Bashkirs . Some of them speak Tatar, some Russian and others their own languages. Bashkirs are Muslims, others, like Chuvash, are Russian Orthodox with some pre-Christian elements in their religion.
Some Mari come to Kazan for seasonal work, mostly woodwork and carpentry. They build summer houses and saunas for local people. Chuvash and Mari come to the city every day from their republics and sell potatoes and mushrooms at bazaars.
Ethnic Germans
Ethnic
Germans came to Kasan from the 18th century. They served in the
Russian Army, or worked in
Kazan State University. Some of them are very famous in Kazan, particularly professor Karl Fuchs. During
World War II some of them were repressed by
Stalin's government.
Today Kazan Germans mostly speak Russian.
Other groups
Assurs
Group of Assurs also live in Kazan. By tradition, they work at shoe repairing. Their community lives a closely guarded life: and they do not mix with other communities.
Immigrants in the Soviet period
During World War II a lot of the Western
Soviet Union populations were evacuated to Kazan, including schools, educational institutes, and plants. Some of that population did not return to their native lands. They are:
Jews,
Ukrainians,
Belarusians,
Poles, and others . They speak Russian, sometimes with Ukrainian accent, and many Jews speak Tatar.
Immigrants in the 1990s
One of the biggest Kazan communities is the
Azeri community. Most of them are unregistered and work illegally. Azeri tradesmen control all the bazaars. They often sell imitation clothes of famous trademarks or fruits. The number of Azeris is very big. Interestingly, Azeri speak both Russian and Tatar well.
Other Caucasians come from
Dagestan,
Georgia,
Armenia and others. They often own cafés or work in construction.
Another big community is the Central Asian community, which includes Uzbeks,
Tajiks,
Roma and
Kyrgyz. Some of the Uzbeks and Tajiks own cafés or fast-food restaurants; sell dried apricots, popular among Kazan citizens. Güli, one of Roma tribes, beg near mosques, at terminals in trams and trains. They give all alms to their barons.
Other Central Asians, such as the majority of Uzbeks and
Tajiks,
Kyrgyz,
Kazakhs work in construction or demolition of old buildings. There are some Afghanians and
Turkmen in the city.
East Asians, such as
Chinese,
Koreans, and
Vietnamese work in the textile industry.
The majority of these people living in Kazan are illegal immigrants. They often don't understand neither Russian nor Tatar, and never mix with them.
Other nationalities are represented by some foreign specialists, foreign companies' representatives, and students at the Kazan universities. Nearly 2000
Turkish specialists work at renovations.
Transport
Kazan is served by the Kazan airport approximately 15 kilometers from the city centre.
Kazan is connected with
Moscow,
Ulyanovsk,
Yoshkar-Ola and
Yekaterinburg by railways and highways. There are highway connections to
Samara,
Orenburg,
Ufa,
Cheboksary, Naberezhnye Chelny , Almetyevsk , Bugulma , and Chistopol .
There are municipal
tramways,
trolleybuses and
buses, and also a lot of private mini-buses, called
marshrutka. There are four bridges connecting banks of Kazanka , and one bridge connecting Kazan with another bank of Volga.
A single-line
Kazan Metro, the north-southeast Central Line, opened on 27 August 2005. The Kazan Metro now has five stations. But there are plans to extend the line in both directions.
Sports
...
- ice hockey team in the
Russian Hockey Super LeagueSee also
Tatar and
Muslim celebrations
External links
