Оренбургский край

The Orenburg province was founded in 1744 and was influential in the implementation of government policy of Russia with Central Asia and India.

V. N. Tatishcev, I. K. Kirillov, P. I. Rychkov, I. I. Neplyuev and V. A. Petrovsky were those famous statesmen of the Petrine era who stood at the foundation of the province. Originally the province united a part of the modern territories of Kazakhstan, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chelyabinsk and Samara regions. In the south the province had a coastline along the Caspian and Aral seas.

A number of factors (the advantageous geographical position, "privileges" granted to the new region, the business activity of enterprising merchants) promoted the development of trade, economic and cultural links with Central Asia and countries of the East. These factors defined the historical role of the Orenburg province as a bridge between East and West civilizations. And even now the region is the Russian borderline on the way to Central Asia. The Orenburg province is one of the largest regions in Russia. It shares borders with Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, the Chelyabinsk and the Samara regions, as well as the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From all the constituent entities of the Russian Federation the Orenburg region has the longest section of the Russian-Kazakh border. It is about 1700 km. The border position of the region determines the orientation and nature of foreign economic relations. Kazakhstan is the main trading partner, which accounts for about 25% of the Orenburg region's total foreign trade.

A considerable part of the region territory is located in Europe, the other part is located in Asia. The Ural is the main river in the region, markings the border between Europe and Asia.

The area of the Orenburg region is 123.7 thousand square kilometers. The region consists of 35 districts and 12 cities and towns (including Abdulino, Buguruslan, Buzuluk, Gai, Kuvandyk, Mednogorsk, Novotroitsk, Orenburg, Orsk, Sol-Iletsk, Sorochinsk, Yasny) and 4 urban-type settlements. The Orenburg Region is part of the Volga Federal District. The system of bodies of state power is established by the Charter (Basic Law) of the Orenburg region. The state authority is exercised by the Legislative Assembly of the Orenburg Region, the head of the administration, the administration of the region, and other government bodies formed in accordance with the Charter of the Region. The Legislative Assembly is the permanent supreme and sole legislative (representative) body of state power in the Orenburg region.  

The Governor of the Orenburg Region is the region's highest-ranking official, who is also the head of the government. The regional government is a permanent collegial body. The structure of the regional executive authorities is determined by the governor. Orenburg (founded in 1743) is an administrative center of the Orenburg region.

The city of Orenburg was founded three times between 1735 and 1743. The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1897) contains the following information: "Initially, Orenburg was founded in 1735 at the confluence of the Ural River with the Or River. It was fortified  for protection against attacks of the nomads. The Bashkirs, however, continued their raids and, finally, they rebelled against the government. Being in an open low-lying area, the city did not inspire rebels with fear. This settlement changed its name in 1739 to Orsk.  At the same time, it was decided to found another Orenburg at a location called Krasnogor, or "Red Hill", 192 km downstream. This attempt also failed due to such reasons as lack of building materials and inappropriate climatic conditions. As a result, a third Orenburg was established by Ivan Neplyuyev, on the compound that was once the Berd fortress (town of Berd), 75 km away from the Krasnogorsk mountain area. As for the city located on the territory of Krasnogor, it changed its name first to "Krasnogorsk fortress" and later to
"Krasnogorsk stanitsa". 

Since then Orenburg was a fortified point guarding Russian lands from the south and soon became the largest trade intermediary between Russia and Central Asia, remaining unchanged until the present time.

Now Orenburg is the leading industrial, scientific and cultural center of the Orenburg region with the population of 524.4 thousand people. On 1 January, 2009 the resident population of the region was 2111.5 thousand people, including: urban - 1211.9 thousand people. - 57.4% (Orsk - 245.0 thousand, Novotroitsk - 101.3 thousand); rural - 899.6 thousand people (42.6%). The population density is 17.1 people/km. Multinational composition of the population is a distinctive feature of the Orenburg region; there are more than 100 nationalities and ethnic groups, each of which has made a great contribution to the development of regional culture. Fundamentals of the spiritual and moral culture of the region are associated with the activities of such outstanding personalities as Pushkin and Derzhavin, Aksakov and Shevchenko, Lev Tolstoy and Krylov, Korolenko and Dahl, whose work has had a huge influence on many generations of Russians. For more than two and a half centuries, the Orenburg region has experienced many events. The Orenburg citizens as well as Russians have bravely overcome all the challenges. By the end of 1925, the regional industrial output had reached the pre-war level (civil war). By 1935, there had already been launched about two thousand collective farms with unprecedented harvest for that time - up to 160 million poods of grain per year (2620 million kg.). Over 400 new plants and factories had appeared in the Orenburg region by 1940. It was the time when the transition to universal primary education had been completed, colleges and technical schools had appeared. It was the time when medical care became free and universal.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Orenburg region became a place which strengthened the country's defense power, manufacturing tanks, military and transport aircrafts, aircraft equipment and other items. About thirty enterprises and thousands of tons of equipment were evacuated in the Orenburg region. During the war, the Orenburg region handed over 124 million poods of grain (2 billion kg) and 6.2 million poods of meat (102 million kg) to the government, the inhabitants of the region collected for the Defense Fund 240 million rubles. Orenburg residents also fought selflessly on the fronts of the war. For the heroic struggle against fascism 235 residents of Orenburg were awarded title of Hero of the Soviet Union, eight of them were awarded twice. After the Great Victory, the industrial region leaders gained their development, among them are: the South Ural and Orenburg machine-building plants, the Mednogorsk Uralelectromotor plant and the Mednogorsk copper-sulfur plant, the Orsko-Khalilovsky metallurgical plant. In 1960 - 1970, on the basis of discovered oil and gas fields, the Orenburgneft and the Orenburg gas complex were created. They are considered the world's largest complexes in the production and processing of hydrogen sulfide-containing gas. This was the period when the Orenburg region was the base of the Soviet Union in gas supplies to European countries via transcontinental gas pipelines "Soyuz".

 The Orenburg region is one of the areas for the development of virgin lands. As a result 1.8 million hectares of virgin lands were risen. The development of virgin and fallow lands has become a bright and unforgettable page in the history of the Orenburg region. For the success in grain production and its delivery to the state, the Orenburg region was twice awarded the Order of Lenin (1956, 1968). In 2009, there was a significant event - the 55th anniversary of the beginning of the development of virgin and fallow lands. The region has made a significant contribution to the development of space explorations. Orenburg is the place where the first cosmonaut of the earth Yuri Gagarin studied, besides the Orenburg region is the fatherland of two other cosmonauts, Romanenko and Manakov.

Today  industrial output of the Orenburg region exceeds 400 billion rubles and  the volume of agricultural output is 56 billion rubles per year. More than 2,500 deposits of 75 types of minerals have been explored in the region. In terms of mineral reserves and production, the Orenburg region is among the top group of Russian regions. The region accounts for about 40% of the production of blast-furnace and steelmaking equipment, almost 30% of the production of press-forging machines, 5% of the production of Russian steel, 4.5% of the production of finished rolled steel, 4% of oil production, more than 3% of natural gas production , over 3% of silk fabrics production of. For the period 2000 - 2008, the annual increase in industrial production was 8%. The transport infrastructure of the region is well developed. There is everything necessary for organizing air service with both the CIS countries and non-CIS countries.

The Orenburg Region has the longest public highways with hard surface among the subjects of the Volga Federal District. It exceeds 13 thousand kilometers. Accounting for 5.5% of the country's farmland, the Orenburg Region is one of Russia's primary grain sources, with an annual harvest of more than 3 million tons of highest-quality grain crops. In 2008, the region took the ninth position for the grain production. Over the past decade, the role of private farms has noticeably grown. In 2008, the share of private farms in total agricultural output was 43.2% (in 1990 - 21.0%).

The economy of the Orenburg is integrated into external economic relation system of the country. The geography of trade contracts of Orenburg enterprises and organizations covers over 80 countries.  Over the past decade, there has been a growth of the foreign trade turnover, in 2008 compared with 2000 it increased up to 3 times and exceeded 6 billion US dollars. The volume of foreign trade turnover per one inhabitant of the region for 2008 amounted to 3 thousand US dollars.

The education system of the region has an extensive network of educational institutions providing preschool, general and vocational education.

The education system of the region has an extensive system of educational establishments providing  pre-school, secondary and vocational training and education.

In early 2009, there were 789 preschool educational institutions, 1351 daytime general education institutions, 114 institutions of primary and secondary vocational education, 25 higher education institutions (including branches) in the region.

There are 7 theaters, 13 museums (including 2 exhibition halls), 3 culture and recreation parks, one philharmonic society, and one circus in the region. The network of cultural and leisure institutions includes 1176 institutions. The region counts 987 public libraries, including 3 regional libraries, a specialized library for the blind. And in the new millennium, the Orenburg region retains good potential and promising opportunities.