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Bashkortostan

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Republic of Bashkortostan
Республика Башкортостан (Russian)
Republic
Other transcription(s)
 • BashkirБашҡортостан Республикаһы
 • RomanizationBaşqortostan Respublikahı
Flag of Republic of Bashkortostan
Flag
Coat of arms of Republic of Bashkortostan
Coat of arms
Anthem: State Anthem of the Republic of Bashkortostan[1]
Location of Republic of Bashkortostan
Map
Interactive map of Republic of Bashkortostan
Republic of Bashkortostan is located in European Russia
Republic of Bashkortostan
Republic of Bashkortostan
Location within European Russia
Coordinates: 54°43′00″N 55°56′30″E / 54.71667°N 55.94167°E / 54.71667; 55.94167
CountryRussia
Federal districtVolga
Economic regionUral
CapitalUfa[2]
Government
 • BodyState Assembly-Kurultay[3]
 • Head[3]Radiy Khabirov[4]
 • Prime MinisterAndrei Nazarov
 • Members of the State Duma
List of Deputies
 • SenatorsLilia Gumerova
Oleg Golov
Area
[5]
 • Total
142,947 km2 (55,192 sq mi)
Population
 (2021 Census)[6]
 • Total
Increase 4,091,423
 • Estimate 
(2018)[7]
4,063,293
 • Rank7th
 • Density28.62/km2 (74.1/sq mi)
 • Urban
59.1%
 • Rural
40.9%
GDP (nominal, 2024)
[8]
 • Total₽3 trillion (US$40.71 billion)
 • Per capita₽739,699 (US$10,043.44)
Time zoneUTC+5 (MSK+2 Edit this on Wikidata)
ISO 3166 codeRU-BA
License plates02, 102, 702
OKTMO ID80000000
Official languagesRussian; Bashkir[9][10]
Websitebashkortostan.ru

Bashkortostan,[a] officially the Republic of Bashkortostan,[b] sometimes also called Bashkiria,[c] is a republic of Russia between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. The republic borders Perm Krai to the north, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the northeast, Chelyabinsk Oblast to the east, Orenburg Oblast to the south, Tatarstan to the west and Udmurtia to the northwest. It covers 143,600 square kilometres (55,400 square miles). It is the seventh-most populous federal subject in Russia and the most populous republic.[14] As of 2025, it has a population of 4,046,094.[15] Its capital and largest city is Ufa.

Bashkortostan was established on 28 November [O.S. 15 November] 1917.[16][17][18] On 20 March 1919, it was transformed into the Bashkir ASSR,[19] the first autonomous republic in the Russian SFSR.[20][21][22] On 11 October 1990, it adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty. In the Constitution of Bashkortostan and Constitution of Russia, Bashkortostan is defined as a state.[23][24]

Name

[edit]

The name Bashkortostan derives from the name of the Bashkir ethnic group, and is literally translated as "land of the Bashkirs".[25] While the endonym having various theories on its meaning, the most prominent being a combination of Turkic words baş, meaning 'head', 'chief', 'main', 'principal' and qurt meaning 'wolf' (one of the animals regarded as sacred to Turkic peoples);[26][27] the suffix -stan is Persian, commonly used for many Eurasian territorial names.

The Russian name Bashkiriya first appeared at the end of the 16th century. Originally, it appeared in the forms Bashkir land, Bashkir, Bashkirda and Bashkir horde.

History

[edit]

Early history

[edit]

The first settlements in the territory of modern Bashkortostan date from the early Paleolithic period, but the Bronze Age spurred an upsurge in the population of this territory.[28] When people of the 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.

In the 10th century, Al-Balkhi wrote about Bashkirs as a people, divided into two groups, one of which inhabited the Southern Urals, while the other lived near the Danube River, close to the boundaries of Byzantium. His contemporary Ibn-Ruste described the Bashkirs as "an independent people, occupying territories on both sides of the Ural mountain ridge between Volga, Kama, Tobol and upstream of Yaik River".

After the early-feudal Mongolian state had broken down in the 14th century, the territory of modern Bashkortostan became divided between the Kazan, the Siberia Khanates and the Nogai Horde. The tribes that lived there were headed by bi (tribal heads).

Within the Russian Tsardom and Empire

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After Kazan fell to Ivan the Terrible in 1554–1555, representatives of western and northwestern Bashkir tribes approached the Tsar with a request to voluntarily join Muscovy.[citation needed] The Bashkir rebellion of 1662–1664 and the Bashkir rebellion of 1704–1711 were primarily caused by the Russian government's violations of the terms and conditions previously agreed between the Bashkirs and the Russian authorities. Bashkirs were also largely involved in the Pugachev Rebellion (their leader Salawat Yulayev, currently considered a national hero of the Bashkirs, was one of Pugachev's closest aides).

The monument for the national hero of Bashkortostan, Salawat Yulayev, who led a rebellion against the Russian Empire.

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 Russian Muslims was established, 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 1865—another step toward territorial identification.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917

[edit]

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 were the All-Bashkir Qoroltays (conventions), which required a decision on the need to create a national federal republic within Russia. As a result, on 28 November 1917, the Bashkir Regional (Central) Shuro (Council) proclaimed the establishment of territorial and national autonomy in areas of Orenburg, Perm, Samara, and Ufa provinces with a predominantly Bashkir population.

In December 1917, delegates to the All-Bashkir (constituent) Congress, representing the interests of the population edge of all nationalities, voted unanimously for the resolution (Farman #2) of the Bashkir regional Shuro for the proclamation of national-territorial autonomy (of the Republic) Bashkurdistan. The congress formed the government of Bashkurdistan, the Pre-parliament—Kese-Qoroltay and other bodies of power and administration, and decisions were made on how to proceed.

In March 1919, based on the agreements of the Russian Government, the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. During the Soviet period, Bashkiria was granted broad autonomous rights, the first among other Russian regions. The administrative structure of the Bashkir ASSR was based on principles similar to those of other autonomous republics of Russia.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

[edit]

On 11 October 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic adopted the declaration on state sovereignty of the Bashkir ASSR.[29] On 25 February 1992, the Bashkir ASSR was renamed the Republic of Bashkortostan.[30]

On 31 March 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 3 August 1994,[31] 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, granting the republic autonomy. This agreement was unilaterally[by whom?] abolished on 7 July 2005.[32]

Geography

[edit]

Bashkortostan contains part of the southern Urals and the adjacent plains.

Rivers

[edit]
Nugush River

There are over 13,000 rivers in the republic.[citation needed] Many rivers are part of the deep-water transportation system of European Russia; they provide access to ports of the Baltic and Black seas.

Major rivers include:

Lakes

[edit]
Lake Asylykül

There are 2,700 lakes and reservoirs in the republic.

Mountains

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Iremel Mount

The Republic contains part of the southern Urals, which stretch from the northern to the southern border. It includes a number of mountain ranges.

The highest mountains include:

Natural resources

[edit]
Bashneft oil pumps
Quarry near Sibay

Major resources are oil reserves, natural gas, coal, ferrous metal ores, manganese, chromite, and more. Bashkortostan is a major source of materials used in non-ferrous metallurgy. The republic has considerablee deposits of lignite with a high degree of bitumen.

Over one-third of the territory of Bashkortostan, or 62,000 square kilometres (24,000 sq mi), is wooded. The following types of trees dominate: birch, conifers, lime, oak, and maple. Bashkortostan forests have special sanctuaries and national parks. They cover more than 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi).

The Asselian Age at the start of the Permian period of geological time is named after the Assel River in Bashkortostan.[33]

The ski resort "Abzakovo" in Abzelilovsky District. October 2009.
Morning fog in Ishimbaysky District

Administrative divisions

[edit]

As of 2013, Republic of Bashkortostan is divided into 54 districts, 21 cities or towns, 2 urban type settlements and 827 selsoviets.[34]

Politics

[edit]
Building of the Government of the Republic also known as Bashkir White House

The head of the government of the Republic of Bashkortostan is called the Head (before 1 January 2015 the title was "President"[35]). According to the Constitution, the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan guarantees rights and liberties to the country's people and citizens, protects the economic and political interests of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and secures legitimacy, law, and order within its territory.

Since 11 October 2018, the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan has been Radiy Khabirov. He was first appointed as acting head by Russian president Vladimir Putin. In 2019 he was elected after winning 82% of the vote in the 2019 Bashkir head election. He was re-elected in the 2024 Bashkir head election. Before his current role, Radiy Khabirov was the Head of Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast. His predecessor was Rustem Khamitov, the leader after 19 July 2010. He resigned on 11 October 2018 ahead of the election because he decided to not run for reelection.[36]

The Republic's parliament is the State Assembly—Kurultai, popularly elected every five years. The one-chamber State Assembly has 110 deputies.

Bashkortostan's leader Radiy Khabirov with Russian president Vladimir Putin, 26 August 2019

The Republic's Constitution was adopted on 24 December 1993. Article 1 of the Constitution stipulates that Bashkortostan is a sovereign state within Russia, it has state power beyond the limits of the authority of the Russian Federation and the powers of the Russian Federation concerning the aspect of the 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.[citation needed]

The relations of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Russian Federation are based on the articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Federative Treaty (with amendments) and 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 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 the European Charter of 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 guaranteed within the republic's territory.[citation needed]

The Republic of Bashkortostan resolves all issues of administrative-territorial structure on its own. The list of districts and towns, 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".

The state has strong economic and cultural ties with its western neighbour, the Republic of Tatarstan.[37][38][39]

Economy

[edit]
Tyupkildy wind park
Sunflower field in Ishimbaysky District. Bashkortostan has a developed agriculture

Bashkortostan is one of the Russian Federation's most developed regions in terms of its cross-regional output, the volume of industrial production, agricultural production, and investment in fixed assets.

The region's largest companies include Bashneft, Ufa Engine Industrial Association (part of United Engine Corporation), Peton Holding, Bashkhim, Ufaorgsintez, Beloretsk Iron and Steel Works.[40]

The extraction of crude oil in Bashkiria began in 1932. with major deposits first discovered in 1943. During the Great Patriotic War, 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, while also providing the country with weaponry, fuel, and foodstuffs. After the war, several industries developed further in Bashkiria, such as mining (Bakr-Tay and Blyavinsky copper mines), machine-building and oil-refining. Bashkiria's industry became a base for the further economic growth of all European outlying territories of Russia.

Bashkortostan has a diverse economy, including a large agricultural sector. But the republic's most important industry is chemical processing. Bashkortostan produces more oil than any other region of Russia, about 26 million tons annually, and provides 17% of the country's gasoline and 15% of its diesel fuel.[citation needed] Other important products manufactured in Bashkortostan include alcohols, pesticides, and plastics. In 2026, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, the agricultural grain harvest achieved record levels for a second year but had insufficient local storage, transport, and export options such that a surplus of over 2.5 million tons remained, and had to be covered in plastic and stored in the fields. Transport by road is virtually impossible and the large volume would require 640 trains, unprofitable in the current restricted export market due to the war.[41]

Bashkortostan's gross regional product (GRP) in 2016 was 1.34 trillion rubles,[42] making the republic the subject with the ninth-highest GRP in Russia. The state had a positive trade balance, with $13.7 billion exported and $1.2 billion imported in 2013.[43] As much as 82.9% of enterprises in Bashkortostan are profitable,[44] higher than the nationwide average of 68.42%. Bashkortostan has been recognized as the region with the lowest economic risk.[45][46]

Bashkortostan is among the leaders in real estate development,[47] developed electric power industry[48] and tourism.[49]

Ufa was ranked by Forbes as among the best cities for business in Russia in 2013.[50]

Structure of GRP

[edit]

GRP structure of Bashkortostan for 2013.[51]

Sector%
Manufacturing36.2
Wholesale and retail trade16.7
Transport and communications7.3
Real estate transactions7
Construction6.9
Agriculture6.5
Education4.1
Healthcare and social services4.1
State management and social insurance3.8
Mining2.8
Production of electricity, gas, water2.4
Hotels and restaurants1.1
Other1.1