Mordovia ( ), officially the Republic of Mordovia, is a republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Saransk. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the republic was 834,755. Ethnic Russians (53.1%) and Mordvins (39.8%) account for the majority of the population.
History
Early history The earliest archaeological signs of modern humans in the area of Mordovia are from the Neolithic era. Mordvins are mentioned in written sources from the 6th century. Later, Mordvins were under the influence of both Volga Bulgaria and the Kievan Rus. Mordvin princes sometimes raided Muroma and Volga Bulgaria and often despoiled each other's holdings.
Mordovia was briefly united under the Principality of Purgaz, led by Erzya prince Purgaz, who fought against the colonisation of the region by Vladimir-Suzdal. The Mordvin tribes were then plunged into a civil war between Purgaz, who was supported by Volga Bulgaria, and Puresh, a Moksha prince backed by Vladimir-Suzdal. The Principality of Purgaz survived the war with Vladimir-Suzdal, which ended in 1232, and was later subjugated to the Golden Horde as the Mukhsha Ulus.
The Golden Horde disintegrated in the 1430s, which resulted in some Mordvins becoming subjects of the Khanate of Kazan, whereas others were incorporated into Muscovy.
Part of the Russian Empire After Ivan IV of Russia annexed the Khanate of Kazan in 1552, the Mordvin lands were subjugated by the Russian monarchy. The Mordvin elite rapidly adopted the Russian language and Russian customs, whereas 1821 saw the publication of the New Testament in Erzya to address the non-elite population. In rural areas, the Mordvin culture was preserved. Russians started to convert Mordvins to Orthodox Christianity in the mid-18th century. Mordvins gave up their own shamanist religion only slowly, however, and many of the shamanist features were preserved as parts of local culture, though the population became nominally Christian. Translations of literature to Mordvinic languages were mostly religious books. In the 18th century, the Latin alphabet was used to write Mordvin, but from the mid-19th century, Cyrillic was used. The region of modern-day Mordovia was mainly organized as a part of Penza Governorate over the late 18th and the 19th centuries.
Part of the Soviet Union
During the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, Mordovia was held by Bolsheviks from the beginning of the war. When the Bolsheviks prevailed in the war, Mordovia became a part of the Russian SFSR. In 1925, the Soviet government founded autonomous districts and village councils in the area of the Mordvins. During the Soviet era, two written languages were developed, one based on the Erzya dialect in 1922 and one on the Moksha dialect in 1923, both using Cyrillic script. The Mordovian Okrug was founded on 16 July 1928, and it was elevated to the status of an autonomous oblast becoming the on 10 January 1930. The autonomous oblast was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 20 December 1934.Republic of Mordovia. Administrative-Territorial Division, p. 4 Several forced labor Gulags were established under the Bolsheviks, such as Temlag.
Part of the Russian Federation When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Mordovian ASSR proclaimed itself the Mordovian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990 and remained a part of the Russian Federation. Mordovia was one of only two republics that did not proclaim sovereignty. On 25 January 1994, it was renamed the Republic of Mordovia.
Geography
The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia. The western part of the republic is situated in the Oka–Don Plain; its eastern and central parts are located in the Volga Upland.
Area: Borders: internal: Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (N), Chuvashia (NE/E), Ulyanovsk Oblast (E/SE), Penza Oblast (S/SW), Ryazan Oblast (W/NW) Highest point: (crossing of the road from Bolshoy Maresev with the roads to Mokshaley, Pyaigiley, and Picheury)
Rivers
There are 114 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include: Alatyr River (Erzya: Rator) Issa River Moksha River Satis River Sivin River Sura River Vad River
Lakes There are approximately five hundred lakes in the republic.
Natural resources Natural resources include peat, mineral waters, and others.
Climate The climate is moderately continental. Average January temperature: Average July temperature: Average annual precipitation: ~
Administrative divisions
Mordovia, Russia Capital: SaranskAs of 2014: Number of districts(районы) 22 Number of cities/towns(города) 7 Number of urban-type settlements(посёлки городского типа) 13 Number of selsovets(сельсоветы) 344As of 2002:Results of the 2002 Russian Population Census—Territory, number of districts, inhabited localities, and rural administrations of the Russian Federation by federal subject Number of rural localities(сельские населённые пункты) 1,313 Number of uninhabited rural localities(сельские населённые пункты без населения) 29
Mordovia is divided into 22 districts called raions. The city of Saransk is administrated separately from the districts as an urban okrug.
Politics
The supreme law is the .
During the Parade of Sovereignties among other former Russian autonomous republics, Mordovia established a presidency in 1991.
In that same year, Vasily Guslyannikov, a physicist by training, was elected in the general election. Guslyannikov had previously been a senior researcher at the Institute of Power Electronics and was the leader of the republican branch of the Democratic Russia political movement.
In 1993, the Supreme Council of Mordovia abolished the post of president, on the basis of which Guslyannikov was removed from his post. Guslyannikov appealed the action of the supreme legislative body of the republic in the Russian Constitutional Court, but the Constitutional Court declared its conformity with the Constitution of Russia.
The head of the government in the Republic of Mordovia is the Head of the Republic. The office is currently held by Artyom Zdunov, who was made acting head on 18 November 2020. His predecessor was Vladimir Volkov who held the office from 2012.
The State Assembly is the legislature of the republic.
The Republic of Mordovia has regional offices of the main political parties: United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, A Just Russia, Yabloko, and Right Cause. In the republic's parliament - the State Assembly of the Republic of Mordovia - deputies from United Russia and the Communist Party are represented. However, other political forces can work publicly, for example, in the Public Chamber of Mordovia.
Judiciary As a republic of Russia, Mordovia has its own supreme court, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mordovia (). Its current headquarters lie in the capital Saransk, on Leo Tolstoy Street, 21.
After the judicial reform of Alexander II, the local judiciaries of the Russian Empire, including in what is now Mordovia, have been mostly operated by the justice of the community: they judged minor and civil cases. During the Soviet era, these would be replaced by the people's courts of different levels."Decree about the Court No. 2" February 15, 1918 During the period of korenizatsiia, much of the Russian-language judiciary in Mordovia was translated to the local language (in this instance the Mordvinic languages) by lawyer Timofey Vasilyev.
Economy The most developed industries are machine construction, chemicals, woodworking, and food industries. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Saransk, as well as in the towns of Kovylkino and Ruzayevka, and in the urban-type settlements of Chamzinka and Komsomolsky.
The largest companies in the region include Unimilk (branch of Danone Russia), Ruzayevsky Chemical Machine-Building Plant, Mordovcement, Saranskkabel.
Demographics The population of Mordovia is .
Settlements
Vital statistics Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service
Average population (x 1000)Live birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate (per 1000)Crude death rate (per 1000)Natural change (per 1000)Fertility rates 1970 1 026 15 423 9 048 6 375 15.0 8.8 6.2 1975 1 003 14 983 9 689 5 294 14.9 9.7 5.3 1980 984 14 320 10 287 4 033 14.6 10.5 4.1 1985 964 15 123 11 152 3 971 15.7 11.6 4.1 1990 963 12 910 11 018 1 892 13.4 11.4 2.0 1,87 1991 961 11 537 11 079 458 12.0 11.5 0.5 1,73 1992 961 10 215 11 574- 1 359 10.6 12.0- 1.4 1,55 1993 959 9 276 13 217- 3 941 9.7 13.8- 4.1 1,42 1994 956 8 916 14 748- 5 832 9.3 15.4- 6.1 1,37 1995 952 8 589 13 460- 4 871 9.0 14.1- 5.1 1,32 1996 946 7 883 13 579- 5 696 8.3 14.4- 6.0 1,22 1997 939 7 493 13 631- 6 138 8.0 14.5- 6.5 1,16 1998 931 7 469 13 116- 5 647 8.0 14.1- 6.1 1,16 1999 923 6 994 14 200- 7 206 7.6 15.4- 7.8 1,09 2000 913 7 148 14 838- 7 690 7.8 16.2- 8.4 1,12 2001 903 7 049 14 200- 7 151 7.8 15.7- 7.9 1,11 2002 891 7 131 14 918- 7 787 8.0 16.7- 8.7 1,12 2003 880 7 433 15 170- 7 737 8.4 17.2- 8.8 1,16 2004 873 7 689 14 768- 7 079 8.8 16.9- 8.1 1,20 2005 865 7 394 14 823- 7 429 8.5 17.1- 8.6 1,14 2006 858 7 367 13 981- 6 614 8.6 16.3- 7.7 1,14 2007 851 7 728 13 320- 5 592 9.1 15.6- 6.6 1,19 2008 846 8 215 13 167- 4 952 9.7 15.6- 5.9 1,28 2009 841 8 103 13 027- 4 924 9.6 15.5- 5.9 1,27 2010 835 7 974 13 106- 5 132 9.5 15.7- 6.1 1,24 2011 830 7 896 12 310- 4 414 9.5 14.8- 5.3 1,25 2012 822 8 180 11 925- 3 745 10.0 14.5- 4.5 1,32 2013 815 8 256 12 095- 3 839 10.1 14.8- 4.7 1,37 2014 811 8 133 11 621- 3 488 10.0 14.3- 4.3 1,37 2015 808 7 864 11 431- 3 567 9.7 14.2- 4.5 1,36 2016 808 7 975 11 367- 3 392 9.9 14.1- 4.2 1,40 2017 806 6 884 10 849- 3 965 8.5 13.5 -5.0 1,26
Ethnic groups
The Mordvin people are a Volga Finnic group speaking two related languages, Moksha and Erzya. The Mordvins identify themselves as separate ethnic groups: the Erzya and Moksha. Only one-third of all Mordvinic languages speakers live in the Republic of Mordovia. During the Soviet period, school textbooks were published in each language.Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, "Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934-1980," American Political Science Review 78 (December 1984): 1019-1039.
According to the 2010 Census, Russians make up 53.4% of the republic's population, while ethnic Erzya and Moksha are 39.8%. Other groups include Tatars (5.2%), Ukrainians (0.6%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population. Ethnicgroup 1939 census 1959 census 1970 census 1979 census 1989 census 2002 census 2010 census1 2021 census Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %Number%% of those who stated ethnicity Russians 719,11760.53 590,55759.04 606,81758.94 591,21259.75 586,14760.83 540,71760.84 443,73753.05 406,061 51.8254.09 Mordvins 405,03134.09 357,97835.79 364,68935.42 338,89834.25 313,42032.53 283,86131.94 333,11239.83 290,75037.11 38.73 Tatars 47,3863.99 38,6363.86 44,9544.37 45,7654.63 47,3284.91 46,2615.21 43,3925.19 39,8555.09 5.31 Ukrainians 7,5860.64 6,5540.66 6,0330.59 5,6220.57 6,4610.67 4,8010.54 4,8010.57 1,4140.18 0.19 Other Ethnicities 8,8840.75 6,4680.65 7,0690.69 8,0120.81 10,1481.05 13,1261.48 11,3611.36 12,6011.61 1.68Ethnicity not stated32,8674.19TOTAL1,188,004100.001,000,193100.001,029,562100.00989,509100.00963,504100.00888,766100.00836,403100.00783,552100%100% 1 3,153 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.
Religion