Bashkortostan

The foundation of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet republic was on the 23 of March, 1919 by the document of the formation of Soviet Bashkiria, the first autonomous republic of the Russian Federation. Today it’s the first day of the Bashkir republic birthday. Another birthday on the 12 of June is its independence day.

Bashkortostan is situated in the Southern foothills of the Ural Mountains just in the border between Europe and Asia. It occupies the territory of 143600 square kilometers. There are 20 cities and towns in the republic, which is divided into 54 administrative regions. The capital of Bashkortostan is Ufa, a beautiful city on the river Belaya bank accounting more than one million people.

The population of Bashkortostan is about four million people. It is a multinational republic. Representatives of more than 100 nationalities live and work here: Bashkirs, Tatars, Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Mordovians, Maris and many others.

The nature of Bashkortostan is very beautiful. Boundless steppe here lies near impassable taiga, mountains ranges rise over extensive plains. The Urals are not high in Bashkortostan. The highest Yamantau mount is 1640 meters above the sea. There are about 600 rivers and rivulets and thousand lakes in the republic. The largest, 1420 meters long is the famous Belaya River and its tributaries, The Ufa, the Dyoma, the Sim and others.

Rich deposits of oil, gas, gold, copper, zink, and other ores discovered here made possible a rapid industrial growth of Baskortostan. The main branches of our industry are the extraction and processing of oil, fuel and energetic industries, machine-tool building, production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, coal mining. Oil extraction has led to the development of refining and chemical industries.

Bashkortostan is also an important agricultural region of Russia, one of the major suppliers to the state of grain, potatoes, flax, milk, meat and other products. As to the total value of agricultural production, the republic takes 6^th place in the federation and the first place in the Ural region.

The rapid growth of industry and agriculture in the republic requires a great number of qualified specialists. They are trained at higher and technical schools. The Ufa State Petroleum Technical University is one of the leading institutions of the oil and gas industry in Russia. There are 29 research and development and project development institutions, in addition to the 26 industrial institutions already operating in Bashkortostan.

Now a few words about Ufa, the capital of our republic. The network of navigable rivers, railway lines, highways, air routes, and oil and gas pipelines leads to Ufa. The busy life in the big city is a good indication of the republic’s prosperity.

Ufa was founded in 1574. In 1573 the Bashkirs asked Moscow to erect a fortress to defend land from the devastating raids of the Siberian nomads. In 1574 Ufa was founded as a small fortress by a detachment of Russian streltsi (archers).

In 1588 Ufa was granted a town status and became Bashkiria’s administrative center.

Today Ufa is an industrial, agrarian, scientific and cultural center with the population over 1 million people. About 40% of the republic’s industrial capacity is concentrated in Ufa.

UFA

The city where I live and study now is Ufa. It is a large cultural, scientific and commercial industrialized centre of Bashkortostan. About 40% of the republic’s industrial capacity is concentrated in Ufa. Being the capital of a multicultural and multinational republic, the city counts its population in figures of more than a million people and with such a great number of citizens the variety of ages and interests differs greatly.

Ufa represents a bright mixture of lifestyles, religions and cultures. And it’s right saying that – just look at, for example, architectural buildings: old ones neighbour with those new possessing trendy and stylish forms. The same you can observe on the busy circulation of the city life: clothes people wear, especially young, food they prefer to eat, places they choose to visit, the way they spend their time, languages they speak.

You may call Ufa the young city and you may not – the date of foundation refers to the year of 1574 when a fortress was erected to defend Bashkir people and their land from the devastating raids of the Siberian nomads. Not long ago we celebrated Ufa’s 430-year anniversary.

People of many nationalities live in Ufa; many of them come from other regions and foreign countries with the aim to work and study. It’s not surprising because Ufa numbers seven leading universities, numerous colleges, technical schools and other educational and scientific institutions and organisations. One of the most famous and prestigious is Ufa state petroleum technological university graduating specialists in oil and gas industry. Bashkir state university, Medical university, Aviation technical university, Teacher’s training university, Agricultural university and others provide specialists on a wide range of spheres.

You can also call Ufa the city of contrasts. Take a look at the city architecture and you will understand what I mean. Banks, shopping centres, complexes are built in original and modern fashions: glass doors and walls, slant and unusually shaped roofs, etc. They are huge, glisten in the sun and sometimes remind an iceberg or a block of ice that has unexpectedly appeared right in the middle of the street. At the same time very close you can find one- or two- storied old houses made of brick and wood.

Some buildings have oriental motives in their architecture, for example, the shopping and entertainment centre “Gostiny Dvor”, where you can shop, dine, play in casino or just walk along the hall. The fascinating mosque “La-La Tulpan” represents itself to be authentic and unique thanks to its construction design: bright-red pointed roofs with two minarets can be seen at a far distance.

Ufa has still been growing intensive: new edifices, apartment houses are being erected. Without mentioning theatres, museums, cinemas, multiplexes (e.g. “Mir”, “Iskra”, “Pobeda”, “Avrora”), sport and fitness centres: (“Biatlon”, “Orange fitness”), popular among different age groups, many other cultural and entertainment complexes, restaurants, bistros and night clubs: (e.g. “Ogni-Ufy”, “Tinkoff”, “Vesiely Rodger”, “Prospect”, “Pravda”, “Dinamic”), etc. have been built for the last several years.

Thus, the changes in the sphere of interests of people lead to the change of their way of life and culture perception. (It doesn’t mean of course, that people forget about their traditions: for example, the tradition when during a wedding the groom and the bride visit monuments, squares and parks is permanently observed.)