History 
Bashkortostan map The first settlements in the territory of modern Bashkortostan were set up in the early Paleolithic period; however, it was the Bronze Age which served as a spur to populate this territory. When people of Abashevo culture started settling here, they possessed high skills in manufacturing bronze tools, weapons, and decorations. They were the first to establish permanent settlements in the Southern Urals. Bashkortostan is the territory in the Southern Urals and in Cis-Urals, named under its native people - Bashkirs (bashkort). The Russian (Slavonic) name of the country  Bashkiriya  formed at the end of the XVI century. Originally it was used in the form «Bashkir’», «Bashkirda», «Bashkir horde». The first writing mentions about Bashkir tribes were in compositions of Gerodot (V century B.C.). The ethnonym Bashkirs first became known in the 9th century. Valuable information is contained in works by Sallam Tardzheman (IX cent.) and Ibn-Fadlan (X cent.); Al-Balkhi (X cent.) wrote about Bashkirs as about people, divided into two groups, one of which inhabited the Southern Urals, another one - lived near Danube river , close to the boundaries of Byzantium. His contemporary Ibn-Ruste marked that Bashkirs were «people independent, occupying territories on both sides of the Ural mountain ridge between Volga, Kama, Tobol and upstream of Yaik river». In the XII-XIV centuries the whole territory of Bashkirs was in a staff of the Golden Horde. After the early-feudal Mongolian state had broken down, the territory of modern Bashkortostan was divided between Kazan and Siberia Khanates and Nogai Horde. The tribes that lived there were headed by bi (tribal heads). After Kazan fell to Ivan the Terrible in 1554–1555, representatives of western and north-western Bashkir tribes approached the Tsar with a request to voluntarily join the Muscovy. Starting from the second half of the 16th century, Bashkiria’s territory began taking shape as a part of the Russian state. In 1798 the Spiritual Assembly of Russia Muslims was establishedâ€â€an indication that the tsarist Government recognized the rights of Bashkirs, Tatars, and other Muslim nations to profess Islam and perform religious rituals. Ufa Governorate (guberniya), with a center in Ufa, was formed in 1865â€â€another step towards territorial identification. After the Russian revolution, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) within the Russian SFSR was established in 1919, firstly as Little Bashkortostan, but then all Ufa Governorate was incorporated to the newly established republic. During the Soviet period, Bashkiria was granted broad autonomous rightsâ€â€the first among other Russian regions. The administrative structure of the Bashkir ASSR was based on principals similar to those of other autonomous republics of Russia. The extraction of Bashkir crude oil began in 1932. At the end of 1943, large crude oil deposits (Tuymazy oil-field) were discovered. During the World War II, Bashkiria became one of the major regions of the Soviet Union to accommodate plants and factories evacuated from Western Russia, as well as great masses of people, as well as providing the country with weaponry, fuel, and food-stuffs. After the war, a good number of industries were further developed in Bashkiria such as mining, machine building and, especially, oil-refining. Bashkiria’s industry became a solid basis for further economic growth of all European outlying territories of Russia. On October 11, 1990 the Supreme Soviet of the Republic adopted the Declaration on state sovereignty of the Bashkir ASSR. On February 25, 1992 the Bashkir ASSR was renamed the Republic of Bashkortostan. On March 31, 1992 a Federative Compact "On separation of authorities and powers among federal organs of power of the Russian Federation and the organs of power of the Republic of Bashkortostan" was signed. On August 3, 1994 a Compact "On separation of authorities and mutual delegating of powers among the organs of power of the Russian Federation and the organs of power of the Republic of Bashkortostan" was signed. The head of the government of Bashkortostan is the President, who is appointed by the President of Russia for a four-year term. According to the Constitution, the President of the Republic of Bashkortostan guarantees rights and liberties of a person and a citizen, protects economic and political interests of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and secures legitimacy, law and order on its territory. Rustem Khamitov assumed office as president on 19th July 2010. His predecessor was Murtaza Rakhimov, elected on December 17, 1993. Before the elections, Rakhimov was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republicâ€â€the highest post at that time. Rakhimov was re-elected in December 2003 in a poll condemned by the OSCE for exhibiting "elements of basic fraud." The Republic’s parliament is the State Assemblyâ€â€Kurultai, popularly elected every five years. The one-chamber State Assembly has 120 deputies. The Republic’s Constitution was adopted on December 24, 1993. Article 1 of the Constitution stipulates that Bashkortostan is a sovereign state within Russia, it has all the state power in full volume beyond the limits of authority of the Russian Federation and the powers of the Russian Federation concerning the aspect of joint authority of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The Republic of Bashkortostan is a full-fledged subject of the Russian Federation on equal and agreed bases. The relations of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Russian Federation are at present based on the articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Federative Compact (with amendments), the Agreement on Separation of authorities and powers and mutual delegating of powers among the organs of state power of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The judicial power of the Republic is in the hands of courts: the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, district Courts, and justices of the peace. In full accord with universally recognized principles of international law, articles of European Charter on local self-government and the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Bashkortostan ensures in its Constitution that local self-government is recognized and guarantied on the republic territory. The Republic of Bashkortostan resolves all the issues of its administrative-territorial structure on its own. The list of districts and towns of the republican importance, municipalities as well as the order of establishing, amending and changing borders of municipalities and their names are stipulated by the Republic of Bashkortostan law "On administrative-territorial structure of the Republic of Bashkortostan and territory of municipalities". Bashkortostan – is one of the most developed regions of the Russian Federation. Transition to the market economy from the beginning of 90-s of the ХХ century supposed searching for new ways, providing high efficiency of management. As a result, Bashkortostan managed to save the position in the first ten subjects of Russian Federation on the indicative indexes of social-economic development: the gross regional output, volume of industrial production, agricultural production, investments in the fixed assets. The economy of Bashkortostan, being one of the largest industrial centers of Russia, has the diversified structure and is notable for high concentration of production. It has a large and high-quality agricultural sector. The most important industry is chemical processing. Bashkortostan processes more oil and than any other Russian region, about 26 million tons annually, and it provides 17% of Russia’s gasoline and 15% of diesel. Other important products manufactured in the Republic include alcohols, pesticides and plastics. The Republic’s gross regional product in 2007 was 645 billion rubles (over €18 billion). More than half of Bashkortostan’s industry is based in Ufa, the republic’s capital.
Bashkortostan contains part of the southern Urals and the adjacent plains.
Bashkortostan is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. There are over 13,000 rivers in the republic. Many rivers are parts of deepwater transportation system of European Russia; they provide access to ports of the Baltic and the Black seas. Major rivers include:
There are 2,700 lakes and reservoirs in the republic. Major lakes and reservoirs include:
The republic contains part of the southern Urals, which stretch from the northern to the southern border. The highest mountains include:
The Republic of Bashkortostan is one of the richest territories of Russia in mineral resources with deposits of some 3,000 mineral resources. Bashkortostan is rich in crude oil reserves, and was one of the principal centers of oil extraction in the Soviet Union. Other major resources are natural gas, coal, ferrous metal ores, manganese, chromite, iron ores, non-ferrous metals ores (lead, tungsten), non-metallic ores (rock crystal, fluorite, iceland spar, sulfide pyrites, barite, silicates, silica, asbestos, talcum), deposits of precious and semi-precious stones and natural stones (malachite, jade, granite). The republic has enough mineral resources to provide its power and fuel complex as well as petro-chemical, chemical, agro-industrial complex, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, glass-making and ceramic branches with raw materials. Bashkortostan is one of the major raw materials bases for Russia non-ferrous metallurgy. The republic has good deposits of lignite with a high degree of bitumenosity. This lignite can be used for obtaining a variety of different chemical products like resins, surface-active substances, gummy fertilizers, and other stimulants for plants growth. Mining-chemical raw materials (rock salt, lime, phosphorites, barytes, etc.) are quite substantial, and are utilized in the republic economy. Bashkortostan is also rich in woods. The total territory covered with forests is about 62,000 square kilometers (24,000 sq mi). More than one third of the republic territory is covered with woods. The following types of trees dominate: birch tree, conifers, lime, oak, and maple. The general stock of timber according to some evaluation is 717.9 million m³. Bashkortostan forests have special sanctuaries and national parks. They cover more than 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 sq mi). Bashkortostan is also rich in springs and sources of mineral, medicinal, and drinking water.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Wholesale of ferrous metals and semi- |
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