MARI EL

'Mari El Republic' (; Mari: Марий Эл Республика) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). The direct romanization of the republic's Russian name is ''Respublika Mariy El'' and Mari name is ''Marii El Respublika''. The republic is also sometimes called 'Mariy El' or 'Marii El' in English.

Contents

Geography

Time zone

Rivers

Lakes

Natural resources

Climate

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Crime

History

Politics

Economy

Transportation

Communication

Culture

Education

Religion

Tourism

Reference

External links

Further reading

Geography

The Republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of the Russian Federation, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic. 57% of the republic's territory is covered by forests.

★ ''Area'': 23,200 km²

★ ''Borders'':

★
★ ''internal'': Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (SW/W/NW/N), Kirov Oblast (N/NE/E), Republic of Tatarstan (SE/S), Chuvash Republic (S)

★ ''Highest point'': 278 m

Time zone

Mari El is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is UTC+3 (MSK)/UTC+4 (MSD).

Rivers

There are 476 rivers in Mari El. Most of them are considered to be minor: 10-50 m wide and .5-1.4 m deep. They usually freeze from mid-November till mid-April. Major rivers include:

★ Bolshaya Kokshaga River

★ Buy River

★ Ilet River

★ Iravka River

★ Kundysh River

★ Lazh River

★ Malaya Kokshaga River

★ Maly Kundysh River

★ Nemda River

★ Rutka River

★ Urzhumka River

★ Vetluga River (navigable)

★ Volga River (navigable)

★ Yushut River

Lakes

There are over 200 lakes in Mari El, most of them with an area less than 1 km² and depth of 1-3 m. Many lakes are located among swamps. Swamps cover large areas (10-70 km², up to 100 km²), and usually freeze in December. Average depth of the swamps is .5-1.5 m (up to 3 m), but they are impassable in fall and spring due to flooding.
Major lakes include:

★ Karas Lake

★ Kichiyer Lake

★ Yalchik Lake

★ Tair Lake

★ Cheboksary Reservoir

Natural resources

There are virtually no natural resources of industrial significance in the republic. Other resources include peat, mineral waters, and limestone.

Climate

Climate is moderately continental. Winters are moderately cold and snowy. Summers are warm and often rainy.

★ ''Average January temperature'': −13°C

★ ''Average July temperature'': +19°C

★ ''Average annual precipitation'': 450–500 mm

Administrative divisions

Demographics

★ 'Population': 727,979 (2002)

★
★ ''Urban'': 459,687 (63.1%)

★
★ ''Rural'': 268,292 (36.9%)

★
★ ''Male'': 338,485 (46.5%)

★
★ ''Female'': 389,494 (53.5%)

★ 'Females per 1000 males': 1,151

★ 'Average age': 36.7 years

★
★ ''Urban'': 36.7 years

★
★ ''Rural'': 36.7 years

★
★ ''Male'': 34.0 years

★
★ ''Female'': 39.0 years

★ 'Number of households': 263,382 (with 717,938 people)

★
★ ''Urban'': 173,246 (with 455,006 people)

★
★ ''Rural'': 90,136 (with 262,932 people)

★ 'Vital statistics' (2005)

★
★ ''Births'': 7,475 (birth rate 10.5)

★
★ ''Deaths'': 12,256 (death rate 17.2)

★ 'Ethnic groups'
The Mari did not have a designated territory before Russian Revolution of 1917. According to the 2002 Census only 51.7% of the Mari within Russia live in Mari El, while 17.5% live in Bashkortostan. During the last Soviet Census (1989) 4% of the Mari of the Soviet Union lived outside of Russia.
According to the 2002 Census, Russians make up 47.5% of the republic's population, while the ethnic Mari make up 42.3%. Other groups include Tatars (6.0%), Chuvash (1.0%), Ukrainians (5,097, or 0.7%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population. 2,911 people (0.4%) did not indicate their nationalities during the Census.

	census 1926	census 1939	census 1959	census 1970	census 1979	census 1989	census 2002
Mari	247,979 (51.4%)	273,332 (47.2%)	279,450 (43.1%)	299,179 (43.7%)	306,627 (43.5%)	324,349 (43.3%)	312,178 (42.9%)
Russians	210,016 (43.6%)	266,951 (46.1%)	309,514 (47.8%)	320,825 (46.9%)	334,561 (47.5%)	355,973 (47.5%)	345,513 (47.5%)
Tatars	20,219 (4.2%)	27,149 (4.7%)	38,821 (6.0%)	40,279 (5.9%)	40,917 (5.8%)	43,850 (5.9%)	43,377 (6.0%)
Chuvash	2,184 (0.5%)	5,504 (0.9%)	9,065 (1.4%)	9,032 (1.3%)	8,087 (1.1%)	8,993 (1.2%)	7,418 (1.0%)
Others	1,703 (0.4%)	6,674 (1.2%)	10,830 (1.7%)	15,433 (2.3%)	14,015 (2.0%)	16,167 (2.2%)	19,943 (2.7%)

Crime

History

Ancient Mari tribes were known since the 5th century. Later their area was a tributary of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde. In the 1440s it was incorporated into the Khanate of Kazan and was occupied by Russia after the fall of Kazan in 1552.
Mari Autonomous Oblast was established on November 4, 1920. It was re-organized into Mari ASSR on December 5, 1936.
In its present form the Mari El Republic was formed on December 22, 1990.

Politics

The head of government in the Mari El Republic is the President. As of 2007, the president is Leonid Igorevich Markelov, who was elected in January of 2001.
The ethnic Mari people are under heavy Russification and Leonid Markelov has ordered many Mari language newspapers to close. Many ethnic Mari activists live under fear of violence. The Mari activist and chief editor Vladimir Kozlov was badly beaten after he published criticism toward Leonid Markelov's politics.
The Marla faith of the Mari people have had some troubles. Vitaly Tanakov was charged with inciting religious, national, social and linguistic hatred after publishing the book ''The Priest Speaks''^[1].

Economy

The most developed industries are machine construction, metal working, timber, woodworking, and food industries. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Yoshkar-Ola, as well as in the towns of Kozmodemyansk, Volzhsk, and Zvenigovo

Transportation

In the republic, there is one airport, fifteen train stations, 53 bus stations, and a river port in Kozmodemyansk (on the Volga River), as well as four other minor river ports.

Communication

Telephony, Internet service, and cable television are provided by Volga Telecom.

Culture

There are eight museums in Mari El. The largest ones include the ''National Museum'', the ''Museum of History'', and the ''Republican Museum of Fine Arts'' in Yoshkar-Ola, and the ''Museum of Arts and History'' in Kozmodemyansk.

Education

The most important facilities of higher education include Mari State Technical University, Mari State University, and Mari State Pedagogical Institute; all located in Yoshkar-Ola.

Religion

The most common confessions include Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Old Believers, and Islam(60%). Traditional Mari religion (''marla'' faith—Christianity with elements of Totemism and Shamanism) is also popular.

Tourism

Mari El is a favourite place of tourists from Tatarstan. There is Marii Chodra national park in the valley of Ilet, with various attractions, such as boating, riding, mushrooming, etc. Marii Chodra is also favourite place of Kazan Tolkienist, where they use to play their battles.

Reference

1. Russia Moves to Ban Religious Rites of Indigenous Finno-Ugric People Mari

External links

★ Official website of the Mari El Republic

★ Map of Mari El

★ Photos and narratives from Mari El

Further reading

★ Daniel Kalder. ''Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-tourist''