Wednesday 23 August 2017

MARI EL - Mari El Republic / Республика Марий Эл

The Mari El Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл, Respublika Mariy El; Meadow Mari: Марий Эл Республик; Hill Mari: Мары Эл Республик) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It is geographically located in the European Russia region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga River, and is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. The Mari El Republic has a population of 696,459 (2010 Census). Yoshkar-Ola is the capital and the largest city of the Republic.  Mari El is one of Russia's ethnic republics, primarily representing the indigenous Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group who have traditionally lived along the Volga River and Kama River. The majority of the Republic's population are ethnic Russians (47.4%) and Mari (43.9%), with minority populations of Tatars and Chuvash. The official languages of Mari El are Russian and the Mari language. Mari El is bordered by Nizhny Novgorod Oblast to the west, Kirov Oblast to the north, Tatarstan to the east, and Chuvashia to the south.

The Republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along and mostly to the north of the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is in the west of the Republic, contrasted by more hilly landscapes in the east where the highest point of the Republic (at 278 meters (912 ft) is located. The Republic borders with Kirov Oblast in the north and east, the Republic of Tatarstan in the southeast and south, the Chuvash Republic in the south, and with Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in the west and north. There are virtually no natural resources of industrial significance in the Republic. Other resources include peat, mineral waters, and limestone. About 50% of the Republic's territory is forested, although the level of forestation varies significantly from one district to another.

After the Russian Revolution, under the Bolshevik regime, the Mari Autonomous Oblast was established on November 4, 1920. It was re-organized into the Mari ASSR on December 5, 1936, at the same time as the enactment of the 1936 Soviet Constitution (a.k.a. the "Stalin Constitution"). In its present form, the Mari El Republic was formed on December 22, 1990. On 21 May 1998 Mari El alongside Amur, Ivanovo, Kostroma, and Voronezh Oblast signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement would be abolished on 31 December 2001.

Though the Mari people have lived in the area for millennia, they did not have a designated territory before the Russian Revolution of 1917. According to the 2002 Census, only 51.7% of the Mari within Russia live in the Mari El Republic, while 17.5% live in the Republic of Bashkortostan. During the last Soviet Census (1989), 4% of the Mari of the Soviet Union lived outside of Russia. Since World War II, more ethnic Russians and Tatars have moved into the area. According to the 2010 Census, Russians make up 47.4% of the republic's population, while the ethnic Mari make up 43.9%. Other groups include Tatars (5.8%), Chuvash (0.9%), Ukrainians (0.6%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.




The covers posted by Alexandra on July 21, 2017 and I received on August 23, 2017.

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