About the republic of Mordovia

The republic of Mordovia

The Republic of Mordovia is a federal subject of Russia located in the center of the European part of the country, in the Volga Federal District. Saransk is the capital city of the region.

The population of Mordovia is about 780,000 (2021), the area - 26,128 sq. km.

Mordovia history

In the 11th - early 13th centuries, the military-political situation in the western part of the mid-Volga was characterized by the struggle of the Russian principalities and the Volga Bulgaria. Both sides wanted to subdue the Mordovian lands. In 1221, the town of Nizhny Novgorod was founded at the place where the Oka River flows into the Volga.

Nizhny Novgorod became an important center in the fight against the Volga Bulgaria, the Mordovian lands around the town came under the control of Russians. However, further development of the region was interrupted due to the Mongol invasion. The Mordovians were subdued in 1242.

In 1930, the Mordovian autonomous oblast was formed. In 1934, it became the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. At the end of the 1920s - early 1930s, forced labor of prisoners was used extensively in Mordovia economy. At that time, there were 12 forced labor camps in the USSR and 2 of them were located in Mordovia. The prisoners were mostly engaged in work in the logging, sawmills and the construction of railroads.

By the early 1940s, Mordovia became an agricultural and industrial region. It was one of the main producers of ropes in the Volga region. Textile, food processing, timber cutting, and wood working industries were developing rapidly.

During the Second World War, 17 enterprises from Ukraine, Belarus, Bryansk, Kursk, Orel oblasts and other regions of the USSR were evacuated in Mordovia. This was the basis for post-war development of the local industry. About 240 thousand people were drafted into the Soviet army, 131,000 of them were killed or gone missing.

December 25, 1993, the region received its present name - the Republic of Mordovia. In the first half of the 1990s, in connection with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition to a market economy, the level of socio-economic development of the republic significantly decreased. In the second half of the 1990s, the situation stabilized.

In August 2012, Mordovia celebrated the millennium of unity of the Mordovian and Russian peoples.

Mordovia features

The Republic of Mordovia is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain, approximately midway between Moscow and the Volga River, between the rivers of Oka and Sura. It is the closest to Moscow national region. The distance from Moscow to Saransk is about 650 km. Railways and highways passing through its territory connect European Russia with the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia.

The largest cities and towns are Saransk (308,000), Ruzaevka (46,000), Kovylkino (20,300), Komsomol (13,000). The national composition of the population according to the 2010 Census: Russians (53.4%), Mordovians (40%), Tatars (5.2%).

The industry of Mordovia specializes in the production of electrical products (including lighting production, electronic and optical equipment), a wide range of cable products, transport engineering products (railcars), building materials. Mineral resources of Mordovia enable the production of cement, asbestos products, roofing materials, concrete products, building ceramics, and other materials. Agriculture also remains an important branch of the republican economy.