Chelyabinsk Oblast


Chelyabinsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the city of Chelyabinsk.

History

During the Middle Ages, Bashkir tribes inhabited the Southern Urals; they formed part of the Golden Horde, Nogai Horde, and smaller Bashkir unions. The Tsardom of Russia incorporated the area in the late 16th century. However, Russian colonization of the region only began in the 18th century, with the establishment of a system of fortresses and trade posts on the then-Russian border by the in 1734. Many cities of Chelyabinsk Oblast, including the city of Chelyabinsk itself, trace their history back to those forts.
In 1743 the Chelyabinsk fortress became a center of the, a constituent part of the Orenburg Governorate. The period from the 1750s to the 1770s saw the emergence of industrial enterprises in the Southern Urals when the first factory-centered towns like Miass, Kyshtym, and Zlatoust were founded. After the Southern Urals recovered from the Pugachev's Rebellion of 1773–1775, the territory of modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast started to attract more people from the European part of Russia. By the mid-19th century Chelyabinsk was a major trade center in the Urals, and after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1890s, it became an important transport hub that connected Siberia to the rest of the Russian Empire.
In 1919, Chelyabinsk became the regional capital of the newly formed Chelyabinsk Governorate of the Russian SFSR, which combined eastern portions of the Orenburg Governorate with Kurgan of the Tobolsk Governorate. At this time, the population of the new region has already exceeded one million people. In 1923, together with the Perm, and Tyumen governorates, it merged into a single Ural Oblast that lasted only ten years, until 1934. On 17 January 1934, Chelyabinsk Oblast was finally established. Its current boundaries were formed when Kurgan Oblast was detached from it in 1943.

Soviet industrialization

During the 1930s the regional economy and industrial output grew as Chelyabinsk Oblast became a key focus of the First Five-Year Plan. Key factories and enterprises that formed the core of the modern Chelyabinsk economy, including the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, originated at this time. The economy continued to grow after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, as industries evacuated from the western parts of the Soviet Union to the Urals, and to Chelyabinsk Oblast in particular. During the war, Magnitogorsk alone produced one third of all Soviet steel, while the city of Chelyabinsk became the main center of Soviet tank production, earning the nickname "Tankograd".

Nuclear research

Chelyabinsk Oblast has been home to top-secret nuclear research since the 1940s. While there are no nuclear power stations in Chelyabinsk, a number of production reactors were located there starting with the early Cold War. A serious nuclear accident occurred in 1957 at the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, north-west of the city, which led to evacuations and fatalities throughout the oblast, although not in Chelyabinsk city. The province was closed to all foreigners until 1992, with the sole exception of allowing a British medical team in following a two-train rail explosion in the mid-1980s.
Sławomir Grünberg has made the documentary Chelyabinsk: The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet about the unsafe dumping of radioactive waste in the Techa River and in Lake Karachay.

Recent history

On 4 July 1997, Chelyabinsk, alongside Bryansk, Magadan, Saratov, and Vologda signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy. The agreement would be abolished on 2 February 2002.
On 15 February 2013, a 10,000 ton meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere over Russia at about 09:20 YEKT. It passed over the southern Ural region and exploded in a meteor air burst over Chelyabinsk Oblast. About 1,500 people were reported injured, including 311 children. Health officials said 112 people had been hospitalized, mainly from injuries caused by glass from windows shattered by a shock wave; two were reported to be in serious condition. As many as 3,000 buildings in six cities across the region were damaged by the explosion and impacts. The meteor created a dazzling light as it air burst, bright enough to cast shadows during broad daylight in Chelyabinsk.

Geography

Chelyabinsk Oblast is at the eastern end of the slope just under the Southern Urals, and the other part of the territory to the west is on the western slopes of the Southern Urals.
Chelyabinsk Oblast is situated in the Southern Urals, near Kurgan and Sverdlovsk oblast. Most of the Oblast is located to the east of the Ural Mountains, which form the continental boundary between Asia and Europe. This boundary is marked by a stone pillar. In the Sverdlovsk Oblast, north of Chelyabinsk, there is a famous pillar separating the two continents, which has "Europe" written on one side and "Asia" on the other. In Chelyabinsk Oblast, Zlatoust city, Katav-Ivanovsk, Satka, Chelyabinsk, Troitsk, and Miass are in Europe. Magnitogorsk is located on both continents.
The area of Chelyabinsk Oblast is. The total length of its external border is, and the Oblast measures from north to south and from west to east.
The highest point of Chelyabinsk Oblast, reaching above sea level, is located in the Nurgush, a long mountain range rising near lake Zyuratkul.
It also borders the country of Kazakhstan, specifically the Kostanay Region.

Relief

Chelyabinsk Oblast has a very diverse landscape, ranging from lowlands and hilly plains to mountain ranges with peaks exceeding 1,000 m, including Nurgush mountain. The mountainous area has several ski resorts.
The West Siberian Plain is bounded on the west horizontal, which passes through the village of Bagaryak, Kunashak and continues through Chelyabinsk to the south. The lowlands are located in the northeast, and the elevation drops to 130 m in the eastern border region.

Hydrology

Numerous rivers originate within the region, within the basins of the Kama, Tobol, and Ural rivers. The region is home to 348 rivers longer than , 17 of which are over in length. Seven rivers, the Miass, Uy, Ural, Ay, Ufa, Uvelka, and Gumbeyka, pass through the area and are longer than.
Chelyabinsk Oblast is also home to more than 3,748 lakes, mostly located in the north and east and covering a total area of. Many of the lakes in this area, including Lake Turgoyak, Zyuratkul, and Lake Itkul, are famous for their clear waters and attract tourism. Some of the lakes in the eastern foothills have tectonic origins as water accumulated in tectonic failures, resulting in very deep lakes that can reach.

Administrative divisions

'''Administrative and municipal divisions'''

Politics

During the Soviet period, the highest authority in the Oblast was shared between three positions: the First Secretary of the Chelyabinsk CPSU Committee, the Chairman of the Oblast Soviet, and the Chairman of the Oblast Executive Committee. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CPSU lost its monopoly on power.
Today, the Charter of Chelyabinsk Oblast governs the political structure of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk Oblast serves as the province's regional parliament and exercises legislative authority, with the power to pass laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and oversee their implementation and observance. The Oblast Government, led by the Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast, is the highest executive body in the region, and includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day-to-day matters of the province.

Demographics

Population:
Vital statistics for 2024:
  • Births: 28,923
  • Deaths: 46,048
Total fertility rate :

1.45 children per woman
Life expectancy :

Total: 69.16 years
EthnicityPopulationPercentage
Russians2,526,41486.3%
Bashkirs128,0714.4%
Tatars120,2424.1%
Kazakhs29,0571.0%
Ukrainians17,1540.6%
Tajiks12,3080.4%
Other Ethnicities92,7783.2%
Ethnicity not stated505,200–

; Vital statistics for 2008
Source:
District TypeBirthsDeathsNGBRDRNGR
Chelyabinsk OblastObl4493152625-769412.815.0-0.22%
Urban AreasObl3455041787-723712.114.6-0.25%
Rural AreasObl1038110838-45715.916.6-0.07%
ChelyabinskUrb1254014192-165211.513.0-0.15%
Verkhny UfaleyUrb516727-21113.619.1-0.55%
ZlatoustUrb21112658-54711.113.9-0.28%
KarabashUrb227262-3514.516.7-0.22%
KopeyskUrb17372476-73912.517.8-0.53%
KyshtymUrb535695-16012.516.2-0.37%
LokomotivnyUrb117417611.84.10.77%
MagnitogorskUrb52766112-83612.914.9-0.20%
MiassUrb22892559-27013.715.3-0.16%
OzyorskUrb9121312-4009.213.2-0.40%
SnezhinskUrb544586-4210.811.6-0.08%
TryokhgornyUrb4023386411.79.80.19%
TroitskUrb10851269-18413.215.4-0.22%
Ust-KatavUrb318515-19711.318.2-0.69%
ChebarkulUrb550698-14812.716.2-0.35%
YuzhnouralskUrb428602-17411.115.6-0.45%
AgapovskyRur64951313618.514.60.39%
ArgayashskyRur83167116019.715.90.38%
AshinskyRur8311286-45512.619.5-0.69%
BredinskyRur485480515.615.40.02%
VarnenskyRur460453715.915.70.02%
VerkhneuralskyRur575743-16813.617.6-0.40%
YemanzhelinskyRur648923-27512.217.3-0.51%
YetkulskyRur443466-2314.715.5-0.08%
KartalinskyRur702809-10714.116.2-0.21%
KaslinskyRur461758-29712.019.7-0.77%
Katav-IvanovskyRur448709-26112.820.2-0.74%
KizilskyRur4324003216.215.00.12%
KorkinskyRur9001256-35613.819.3-0.55%
KrasnoarmeyskyRur638754-11614.617.3-0.27%
KunashakskyRur521549-2817.618.6-0.10%
KusinskRur420535-11513.917.7-0.38%
NagaybakskyRur334392-5815.017.7-0.27%
NyazepetrovskyRur298433-13514.621.3-0.67%
OktyabrskyRur4193982115.614.80.08%
PlastovskyRur450453-317.217.3-0.01%
SatkinskyRur12301398-16814.216.1-0.19%
SosnovskyRur942933916.015.80.02%
TroitskyRur5295062317.116.30.08%
UvelskyRur508533-2516.116.9-0.08%
UyskyRur385387-214.614.7-0.01%
ChebarkulskyRur494538-4416.618.1-0.15%
ChesmenskyRur311307415.515.30.02%