Самарская область: история и современность

First level administrative division of Russia

Samara Oblast (Сама́рская о́бласть, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast. As of the 2021 Census, the population of the oblast was 3,172,925. The oblast borders Tatarstan in the north, Orenburg Oblast in the east, Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan Province) in the south, Saratov Oblast in the southwest and Ulyanovsk Oblast in the west. It is located in 3 natural landscape zones: the forest zone (coniferous and broad leaved forests), the basis of which is pine oak forests, pine forests and broad leaved forests with the participation of oak and maple. Spruce occasionally joins them. Areas of the southern taiga are found on the coast of the region. The forest steppe zone occupies the central regions of the region and is represented by a combination of areas of broad leaved forests, most often oak and meadow steppes. Red deer, roe deer, elk, and sometimes bears are found in these forests. The south of the region is occupied by steppes consisting of typchak and sagebrush.

The Samara region contains a remarkable succession of archaeological cultures from 7000 BC to 4000 BC. These sites have revealed Europe's earliest pottery (Elshanka culture), the world's oldest horse burial and signs of horse worship (the Syezzheye cemetery of Samara culture) and the earliest kurgans associated with Proto Indo Europeans (e. g., Krivoluchye assigned to Khvalynsk culture). The Russian Empire established the Samara Governorate as a guberniya in the area in 1851. It was administered from the city of Samara. During the Revolution of 1905, a rebellion took place in November that year at the village of Novaya Tsarevshchina (now Volzhsky) and spread to the village of Stary Buyan, leading to the formation of the short lived separatist state, the Stary Buyan Republic, within the governorate. There was little local opposition to the new state, and after the failure of local police to end the rebellion, it was successfully suppressed by a punitive expedition of Cossacks and gendarmes led by the vice governor of the governorate in Samara. After the decree of Tsar Nicholas II on religious tolerance the Old Believers were forced to pay taxes in favour to the Orthodox Church that they believed to be heretical. The then Ministry of Interior forbade Samara's public officials to prosecute in this practice, which was contrary to the spirit of the decree. Under Soviet rule most of the governorate's territory was transformed into the Middle Volga Oblast, which was established on May 14, 1928, and a year later on October 20, 1929, it was again transformed into Middle Volga Krai. On January 27, 1935, Samara and the Middle Volga Krai were renamed Kuybyshev and Kuybyshev Krai, respectively, in honor of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev. On April 21, 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the decision of the presidium of the parliament to rename the region, amending Art. 71 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978, which entered into force on May 16, 1992. On 1 August 1997 Samara Oblast signed a power sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement would be abolished on 22 February 2002. Tolyatti is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center of a federal subject.

The current 7th convocation was elected in September 2021 until 2026. All 50 deputies were elected from parties: 36 from United Russia, 10 from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 2 from A Just Russia For Truth, 1 from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, 1 from New People. Gennady Kotelnikov (United Russia) was elected chairman of the Duma. Andrey Kislov (United Russia) was elected as the representative of the Samara provincial Duma in the Federation Council until 2026.

Since September 2017, the position of Governor of Samara Oblast has been held by Dmitry Azarov. On 25 September 2017, he was appointed acting governor by President Putin after the early resignation of Nikolay Merkushkin, and on 9 September 2018, he was elected by the United Russia party in early elections. Farit Mukhametshin has been appointed representative in the Federation Council of the Government of the Samara Region until 2023.

The region is located in the southeastern part of the European territory of Russia, in the middle reaches of the Volga, on both sides of it. This is the fifth largest region of the Volga region — it occupies an area of 53.6 thousand km2, which is 0.31% of the territory of Russia. The region stretches from north to south for 335 km, and from west to east for 315 km. The southernmost point of the region lies on the border with Kazakhstan (51°47' s. w. and 50°47' v. d.), the northernmost point is on the border with the Republic of Tatarstan (54°41's. w. and 51°23' v. d.). The westernmost point lies on the border with the Ulyanovsk region (53°22' s. w. and 47°55' v. d.), and the extreme eastern one is on the border with the Orenburg region (54°20's. w. and 52°35' v. d.). Due to the proximity of the West Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan, part of the Bolshechnigovsky district has the status of a border territory.