Bashkirs are an ancient people living in the south of the Urals for at least 12 centuries. Their story is extremely interesting, and it is surprising that, despite being surrounded by strong neighbors, the Bashkirs have preserved their uniqueness and traditions until now, although, of course, ethnic assimilation is doing its job. The population of Bashkiria for 2016 is about 4 million people. Not all residents of the region are native speakers of the language and ancient culture, but the spirit of the ethnic group is preserved here.
Geographical position
Bashkortostan is located on the border of Europe and Asia. The territory of the republic is just over 143 thousand square meters. km and covers part of the East European Plain, the mountain system of the Southern Urals and the Urals. The capital of the region - Ufa - is the largest population center of the republic, the remaining cities of Bashkiria are much inferior to it in terms of population and size of the territory.
The relief of Bashkortostan is extremely diverse. The highest point in the region is the Zigalga Range (1427 m). Plains and hills are well suited for farming, so the population of Bashkiria has long been engaged in cattle breeding and crop production. The republic is rich in water resources; basins of such rivers as the Volga, Ural and Ob are located here. 12 thousand rivers of various sizes flow through the territory of Bashkiria, 2700 lakes, mainly of spring origin, are located here. Also, 440 artificial reservoirs have been created here.
The region has large mineral reserves. So, there were discovered deposits of oil, gold, iron ore, copper, natural gas, zinc. Bashkiria is located in the temperate zone, on its territory there are many mixed forests, forest-steppes and steppes. Three large reserves and several nature reserves have been identified here. Bashkortostan borders with such constituent entities of the Federation as the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg regions, with Udmurtia and Tatarstan.
History of the Bashkir people
The first people on the territory of modern Bashkiria lived 50–40 thousand years ago. Archaeologists have found traces of ancient sites in the cave of Imanai. In the era of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes of hunters and gatherers lived here, they explored local territories, tamed animals, left drawings on the walls of caves. The genes of these first settlers became the basis for the formation of the Bashkir nationality.
The first mention of the Bashkirs can be read in the works of Arab geographers. They say that in the 9-11th centuries, a people named “Bashkort” lived on both sides of the Ural Mountains. In the 10-12th centuries, the Bashkirs were part of the state Volga Bulgaria. From the beginning of the 13th century, they fiercely fought with the Mongols who wanted to seize their lands. As a result, a partnership agreement was concluded, and during the 13-14 centuries, the Bashkir people became part of the Golden Horde on special conditions. The Bashkirs were not a tribute people. They maintained their own social structure and were at the kagan in military service. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Bashkirs were part of the Kazan and Siberian Hordes.
In the 16th century, strong pressure began on the independence of the Bashkirs from the Russian Empire. In the 1550s, Ivan the Terrible called on the people to voluntarily join the state. Negotiations took place for a long time, and in 1556 an agreement was concluded on the entry of the Bashkirs into the Russian kingdom on special conditions. The people retained their rights to religion, administration, and the army, but paid a tax to the Russian Tsar, for which they received help in repelling external aggression.
Until the 17th century, the terms of the contract were respected, but with the advent of the Romanovs, creeps began to sovereign the Bashkirs. This led to a series of rebellions of the 17-18th centuries. The people suffered huge losses in the struggle for their rights and independence, but they were able to defend their autonomy within the Russian Empire, although nevertheless they had to make certain concessions.
In the 18-19th centuries, Bashkiria was repeatedly subjected to administrative reform, but on the whole retained the right to reside within historical boundaries. The population of Bashkiria throughout its history has been excellent warriors. Bashkirs actively participated in all the battles that Russia waged: in the war of 1812, the First and Second World Wars. The losses of the people were great, but the victories are glorious. Among the Bashkirs there are many real hero warriors.
During the 1917 coup, Bashkiria was first on the side of the resistance of the Red Army, the Bashkir army was created, which defended the idea of independence of this people. However, for a number of reasons, in 1919 the Bashkir government passed under the control of the Soviet government. In the framework of the Soviet Union, Bashkiria wanted to form a union republic. But Stalin said that Tatarstan and Bashkortostan cannot be union republics, since they are Russian enclaves, so the Bashkir Autonomous Republic was created.
In Soviet times, the region had to endure the difficulties and processes characteristic of the entire USSR. Collectivization and industrialization took place here. During the war years, many industrial and other enterprises were evacuated to Bashkiria, which formed the basis of post-war industrialization and restoration. During the years of perestroika, in 1992, the Republic of Bashkortostan was proclaimed with its Constitution. Today, Bashkiria is actively engaged in the revival of national identity and primordial traditions.
The total population of Bashkiria. Dynamics of indicators
The first census of Bashkiria was carried out in 1926, when 2 million 665 thousand people lived on the territory of the republic. Later, estimates of the region's population were carried out at different intervals, and only from the end of the 20th century such data began to be collected annually.
Until the beginning of the 21st century, the dynamics of numbers was positive. The largest increase in the number of inhabitants occurred at the beginning of the 50s. In other periods, the region steadily increased on average by 100 thousand people. A slight slowdown in growth was recorded in the early 90s.
And only since 2001, the negative dynamics of the population was revealed. Every year, the number of inhabitants was reduced by several thousand people. By the end of the 2000s, the situation improved slightly, but in 2010 the number of residents began to decrease again.
Today, the population in Bashkiria (2016) has stabilized, with a population of 4 million 41 thousand people. So far, demographic and economic indicators do not allow us to expect an improvement in the situation. But the leadership of Bashkortostan sets as its top priority the reduction of mortality and the birth rate in the region, which should positively affect the number of its inhabitants.
Administrative division of Bashkortostan
Starting from the middle of the 16th century, Bashkiria as a part of the Russian Empire was united around Ufa. First it was the Ufa district, then the Ufa province and the Ufa province. In Soviet times, the region experienced several territorial-administrative reforms, associated either with enlargement or fragmentation into districts. In 2009, the current division of Bashkortostan into territorial units was adopted. According to the republican legislation, 54 districts, 21 cities are allocated in the region, 8 of them are of republican subordination, 4532 rural settlements. Today, the population of the cities of Bashkiria is gradually growing mainly due to internal migration.
Population distribution
Russia is predominantly an agrarian country, about 51% of the number of Russians live in rural settlements. If we estimate the population of the cities of Bashkiria (2016), we can see that about 48% of the population lives in them, i.e., 1.9 million people out of a total of 4 million. That is, the region fits into the all-Russian trend. The list of cities in Bashkiria by population is as follows: the largest settlement is Ufa (1 million 112 thousand people), the remaining settlements are much smaller in size, the five leaders also include Sterlitamak (279 thousand people), Salavat (154 thousand), Neftekamsk (137 thousand) and October (114 thousand). Other cities are among the small, their number does not exceed 70 thousand people.
Age and sex composition of the population of Bashkiria
The all-Russian indicator of the ratio of women to men is approximately 1.1. Moreover, at an early age the number of boys exceeds the number of girls, but with age the picture changes to the opposite. Considering the population of Bashkortostan, one can see that this trend remains here. On average, for every thousand men, there are 1, 139 women.
The age distribution of the population in the Republic of Bashkiria is as follows: under the working age - 750 thousand people, over the working age - 830 thousand people, working age - 2.4 million people. Thus, about 1000 people of working age account for about 600 people of young and old age. On average, this corresponds to all-Russian trends. The age and sex model of Bashkiria allows us to classify the region as an aging type, which indicates a future complication of the demographic and economic situation in the region.
National composition of the population
Since 1926, the national composition of the residents of the Bashkir Republic has been monitored. During this time, the following trends were identified: the number of the Russian population is gradually decreasing, from 39.95% to 35.1%. And the number of Bashkirs is increasing, from 23.48% to 29%. And the ethnic Bashkir population of Bashkiria for 2016 is 1.2 million people. The remaining national groups are represented by such numbers: Tatars - 24%, Chuvash - 2.6%, Mari - 2.5%. Other nationalities are represented by groups of less than 1% of the total population.
The region has a big problem in preserving small nations. Thus, the population of Kryashen over the past 100 years has grown, Mishars are on the verge of extinction, and the teppars have completely disappeared. Therefore, the leadership of the region is trying to create special conditions for the preservation of the remaining small sub-ethnic groups.
Language and religion
In national regions there is always the problem of preserving religion and language, and Bashkiria is no exception. Religion is an important part of national identity. For the Bashkirs, the original faith is Sunni Islam. In Soviet times, religion was under an unwritten ban, although the intrafamily order was often still built according to Muslim traditions. In post-perestroika times, a revival of religious customs begins in Bashkiria. Over 20 years, more than 1000 mosques were opened in the region (in Soviet times there were only 15), about 200 Orthodox churches and several religious institutions of other faiths. Nevertheless, Islam remains the dominant religion in the region; about 70% of all the churches of the republic belong to this religion.
Language is an important part of national identity. In Soviet times, there was no special language policy in Bashkiria. Therefore, part of the population began to lose their native language. Since 1989, special work has been carried out in the republic to revive the national language. Education was introduced at the school in the native language (Bashkir, Tatar). Today 95% of the population speak Russian, 27% speak Bashkir, 35% speak Tatar.
The economy of the region
Bashkortostan is one of the most economically stable regions of Russia. The subsoil of Bashkiria is rich in minerals, so the republic occupies the 9th place in the country in oil production and the 1st in its processing. The economy of the region is well diversified and therefore well overcomes the difficulties of crisis times. Several industries provide stability for the development of the republic, these are:
- The petrochemical industry, represented by large plants: Bashneft, Sterlitamak petrochemical plant, Bashkir soda company;
- engineering and metallurgy, including the Trolleybus Plant, Neftemash, Kumertau airline, the enterprise for the production of all-terrain vehicles "Vityaz", Neftekamsk Automobile Plant;
- energy industry;
- manufacturing industry.
Of great importance for the economy of the region is agriculture, Bashkir peasants are successfully engaged in animal husbandry and plant growing.
The region has well-developed trade and services, which are negatively affected by the decline in household income (2016) in Bashkiria, but the situation in the republic is much better than in subsidized areas of the country.
Employment
In general, the population of Bashkiria is in better economic conditions than the inhabitants of many other regions. However, in 2016 unemployment was recorded here, over half a year the indicator grew by 11% compared to last year. Also, there is a decrease in trade and consumption of services, a decrease in salaries and real incomes of the population. All this leads to another round of unemployment. First of all, young specialists and university graduates without work experience fall under attack. This leads to the fact that the outflow of youth and qualified employees from the region begins.
Region Infrastructure
For any region, social infrastructure is important, which allows residents to experience the satisfaction of living in a particular place. The population of Bashkiria for 2016 highly appreciates the living conditions in their region. In Bashkortostan, a lot of effort and money is invested in the repair and construction of roads, bridges, and healthcare facilities. The republic is developing transport and tourism infrastructure. However, of course, there are problems, in particular, with the provision of the population with educational and cultural institutions. The region has obvious environmental difficulties; numerous industrial enterprises negatively affect the cleanliness of water and air in the area of large cities. However, urban infrastructure is much better developed than rural, which leads to the outflow of the rural population to cities.
