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Samara
formerly
(1935–91) Kuybyshev, city in western Russia, administrative
center of Samara oblast (region), . It lies along the
Volga River at the latter's confluence with the Samara
River. Founded in 1586 as a fortress protecting the
Volga trade route, it soon became a major focus of trade
and later was made a provincial seat. In 1935 the city
was renamed after Valerian Vladimirovich Kuybyshev (1888–1935),
a prominent Bolshevik. The city's growth was stimulated
during World War II by its distance from the war zone
and the evacuation there of numerous government functions
when Moscow was threatened by German attack; the postwar
development of the Volga-Urals oilfield also helped.
The city reverted to its old name in 1991.
Samara
is now one of the largest industrial cities of Russia
and the center of a network of pipelines, with oil refining
and petrochemicals the major industries, especially
in the satellite town of Novokuybyshevsk. There are
huge engineering factories making a wide range of products,
including petroleum equipment, machinery, ball bearings,
cables, and precision machine tools, and there are many
building-materials and consumer-goods industries. Much
of the city's power comes from a hydroelectric-power
plant completed in 1957 at Zhigulyovsk, a few miles
upstream. A group of industrial and residential suburbs
and satellite towns ring the city. Samara has excellent
communications by ship along the Volga and along rail
lines connecting it to European Russia, Siberia, and
Central Asia. The city has cultural and research establishments
and several institutions of higher education. Pop. (1991
est.) 1,257,300.
Samara oblast (province), western Russia.
It occupies an
area of 20,700 square miles (53,600 square km) in the
middle Volga River area where the river makes a great
loop around the Zhiguli Hills. The hills, heavily forested
and deeply dissected by ravines, rise to 1,214 feet (370
m). The Volga left (east) bank, constituting most of the
oblast, is largely level plain. The natural oak woodlands
and grass steppe of the left bank have been almost entirely
ploughed up since Russians began intensive colonization
of the area in the 18th century. But the oblast's agriculture,
which is dominated by spring wheat, corn (maize), millet,
and sunflowers, suffers severely from recurrent droughts
and insufficient irrigation. Market gardening is important
near Samara, the oblast headquarters, and fruit growing
is important on the Volga right bank. World War II and
the presence of abundant petroleum and natural-gas deposits
in the oblast led to great industrial development, especially
oil refining, petrochemicals, and a broad range of engineering
in the towns along the Volga. A large automobile plant
began production at Tolyattigrad in 1970. A huge hydroelectric
station was built at Zhigulyovsk on the Volga in 1950–57.
Pop. (1991 est.) 3,289,600.
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Samara
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