Located in the South Ural Mountains, the Republic of Bashkortostan borders Tatarstan, the Udmurt Republic, and the provinces of Perm, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Orenburg. Its capital is Ufa.

Population

The population of Bashkortostan is is estimated to be over 4 million (2002), of which the Bashkir comprise 20% (800.000). People of nearly 100 different nationalities live in Bashkortostan, including Bashkirs, Russians, Tatars, Chuvash, Mari, Ukrainians, and Germans. The Bashkirs are the indigenous inhabitants of Bashkortostan.


Language

A Turkic language, Bashkir is spoken by one in four residents of Bashkortostan. Beside Turkic tribes, the Bashkir ethnicity includes Mongol and Finno-Ugric-Hungarian elements.Today Bashkir is less widespread than it was in the late 19th century; Russia has become more prevalent in Bashkortostan, and only two thirds of Bashkirs claim Bashkir as their “mother tongue”.

Culture and Religion

The Republic’s Government supports the protection and preservation of the Bashkir culture and traditions. Nomadic Bashkirs once herded cattle and roamed the steppes.
Today the government plays an active role in the protection and propagation of culture and cultural institutions in the Republic.

Taxation and financial assistance ensures the protection of workers in cultural sectors. Bashkortostan houses a National Museum, established in 1993, that has over 50 branches across the region’s cities and districts. A National Library containing 20 departments has 55 branches across the Republic’s cities and districts.

Bashkortostan’s predominant religion is Islam. The region’s capital, Ufa, is the centre of religious education for many Muslims in greater Russia. Recent concern over the spread of Islamic extremism in Russia has resulted in the persecution of Muslims, who are concentrated in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.

Economy

Bashkortostan hosts a variety of fuel and mineral resources; its mineral resources are considered to be sufficiently plentiful to provide raw materials for the fuel and energy complex. The Republic is one of the key petroleum producing areas in greater Russia. Bashkortostan’s dominant export is fuel. Its dominant import is machine equipment.

1/3 of the region is also covered in forests containing numerous plant species, as well as lakes and rivers, which provide Bashkortostan access to the Baltic, Black, and Azov sea basins. With its access to wood, the region has a significant domestic timber industry and caters to external demand for wood. In agricultural production, grain is a chief agricultural product.

As well, the region hosts a number of refineries producing various types of petrol, kerosene, diesel fuel, and black oil. Bashkortostan also specializes in the production of plastics and synthetic rubber, the manufacture of aviation and automobile engines, and wood processing.

Major railways, pipelines and highways cross the territory of the republic linking the European part of the Russian Federation with the Urals and Siberia. The transport system of the Republic of Bashkortostan provides for not only domestic transportations of mass economic freights, but also huge transit freight- and passengers flows in the «West - East» direction, connecting the republic with major centres of Russia and the CIS. There is an international airport in Ufa.

Environment/Environmental Issues

Bashkortostan suffers from a high level of pollution due to the extraction of oil by petrochemical industries. However, the government supports efforts to protect the environment- numerous forest reserves and the “Bashkiriya” national park ensure that the region’s natural state is preserved.


History

The Bashkirs originate from Turkic tribes of Central Asian and South Siberian origin. Originally nomadic cattle-breeders, they emerged as a self-conscious ethnic group as late as the 16th century. With the demise of the Khanate of Khazan in 1552, Bashkortostan was significantly weakened and in 1556, it succumbed to Russian rule.

The capital, Ufa, was originally founded as a Russian fort. Under Muscovite rule, the Bashkirs were subject to taxes and many were also expelled from the region. Exploitation by the Tsarist regime prompted several unsuccessful revolts in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1917, a Bashkir national government was formed; in 1921, the region was made an autonomous Soviet republic as part of the Soviet Republic. In 1990, the republic proclaimed its sovereignty, and in 1991, declared its independence. Although Russia partially recognized the state’s sovereignty, no other government accepted its pronouncements.

In August 1994, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bashkortostan signed an agreement “On the Division of Areas of Jurisdiction and Mutual Delegation of Authority between Government Bodies of the Russian Federation and Government Bodies of the Republic of Bashkortostan”. This treaty, signed by numerous inter-governmental organizations, ensure that land, natural resources, and wealth found in the territory of the Republic are the exclusive property of the Republic of Bashkortostan.


Organizations:
Political Organisations The government of the Republic of Bashkortostan became a member of the UNPO in 1996. The President is the head of state and the republic's highest official- he or she is elected for a four-year term. The current president is Mortaza Ghobaydulla uly Raximev. The parliament is the State Assembly, and is popularly elected every 5 years. The State Assembly has 120 deputies. The Republic's constitution was adopted on December 24, 1993. Other Organizations Bashkortostan houses a number of research institutions including: The Bashkiriya Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Research Institutes of Geology, Biology, and Chemistry.

Statistics:
Population: more than 4 million
Language: Bashkir (Turkic language)
Religion: Islam