Kazan
Kazan is the largest city and capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an area of, with a population of over 1.3 million residents, and up to nearly 2 million residents in the greater metropolitan area. Kazan is the fifth-largest city in Russia, being the most populous city on the Volga and within the Volga Federal District.
Historically, Kazan was the capital of the Khanate of Kazan, and was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, at which point the city became a part of the Tsardom of Russia. The city was seized during Pugachev's Rebellion, but was later rebuilt during the reign of Catherine the Great. In the following centuries, Kazan grew to become a major industrial, cultural and religious centre of Russia. In 1920, after the Russian SFSR became a part of the Soviet Union, Kazan became the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazan remained the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Kazan is renowned for its vibrant mix of Tatar and Russian cultures. In 2023, 4 million tourists visited Kazan, and Kazan Kremlin, a World Heritage Site, recorded more than 4.5 million visits. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to refer to itself as the "Third Capital of Russia". In 2009, Kazan was chosen as the "sports capital of Russia". Kazan hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Kazan hosted the BRICS Games from 12 to 23 June 2024. Athletes competed in 27 sports.
Etymology
An older mention of the name of Kazan is associated with a pot that was drowned in the river, as evidenced by the text:Kazan Tatars got their name from the main city of Kazan - and it is so called from the Tatar word Kazan, the cauldron, which was omitted by the servant of the founder of this city, Khan Altyn Bek, not on purpose, when he scooped water for his master to wash, in the river now called Kazanka. In other respects, according to their own legends, they were not of a special tribe, but descended from the fighters who remained here on the settlement of different generations and from foreigners attracted to Kazan, but especially Nogai Tatars, who all through their union into a single society formed a special people.The earliest chronicle mention of the first Kazan is contained in the Rogozhsky Chronicle under 1391 in the description of the campaign of the ushkuiniks who plundered and burned Žuketau and Kazan. It stood empty for 40 years. New Kazan was founded at its mouth on the Hill. This message is repeated in the Simeon Chronicle and the Moscow Code of 1479. New Kazan was founded in 1438 as the capital of the Kazan Khanate by Ulu-Mukhamed. Sources say that Kazan was founded by Perekop refugees from Crimea
— Carl Wilhelm Müller. "Description of all the peoples living in the Russian state,.." Part Two. About the peoples of the Tatar tribe. S-P, 1776, Translated from German.
— Johann Gottlieb Georgi. Description of all the peoples living in the Russian state : their everyday rituals, customs, clothes, dwellings, exercises, amusements, faiths and other memorabilia. Part 2 : About the peoples of the Tatar tribe and other undecided origin of the Northern Siberian. - 1799.page 8
Translate: The Kazan, former Tatar, Kingdom received its name from its capital city, and it from the name of the river Kazanka, flowing around it with its winding bed. Kazan was built by Perekop refugees from Taurida, during the reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich in Muscovy. Vasily III Ivanovich forced it to take Tsars for itself, from it. And then, when it began to rebel, he squeezed it with threats of a dangerous war, but did not subdue it. But in 7061, or in 1552, his son, Ivan IV the Terrible, took Kazan, after a six-month siege, along with it and Cheremis, forced them to submit to the rule of Moscow. However, as a reward for the insult, he subjugated to it and to himself the neighboring Chuvash Bulgaria, which he could not stand for its frequent rebellions, so that this country, not accustomed to obedience, would learn to bear foreign rule, and he decorated Kazan by establishing in it the Metropolitanate and the seat of the Chief Metropolitan. — Journey to Muscovy of Baron Augustin Meyerberg and Horace Wilhelm Calvucci, ambassadors of the August Roman Emperor Leopold to the Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich in 1661, described by Baron Mayerberg himself.
History
Middle Ages
According to the official version adopted today, the city was founded more than 1,000 years ago. The estimated date of the urban settlement on the site of Kazan is 1004–1005 AD. The reason for this dating was found during excavations in the Kazan Kremlin – a Czech coin, dated by the Board of St. Wenceslaus and the earliest Czech coin, the remains of masonry and wooden city fence, handicrafts and utensils, as well as other artifacts with less obvious dating. According to official statements, experts from 20 cities of Russia and 22 countries of the world were involved in the study of findings related to the age of Kazan.Kazan was a border post between Volga Bulgaria and two Finno-Ugric peoples—the Mari and Udmurt. Another question is where the citadel was built originally. Archaeological explorations have produced evidence of urban settlement in three parts of the modern city: in the Kremlin; in Bişbalta at the site of the modern Zilantaw monastery; and near the Kaban lake. The oldest of these seems to be the Kremlin.
In 1438, the Bulgar fortress Kazan was captured by the ousted Golden Horde Khan Ulugh Muhammad, who killed the local Prince Swan and moved the fortress to a modern place. The city became the capital of the Khanate of Kazan. The city Bazaar, Taş Ayaq has become the most important shopping center in the region, especially for furniture. Handicraft production also flourished, as the city gained a reputation for its leather and gold products, as well as the wealth of its palaces and mosques.
Kazan had trade relations with Moscow, Crimea, Turkey, and other regions.
Russian Tsardom period
As a result of the siege of Kazan in 1552, Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquered the city. During the subsequent governorship of Alexander Gorbaty-Shuysky, most of the Kazan's Tatar residents were forcibly Christianized or deported, and mosques and palaces were ruined. The surviving Tatar population was moved to a place away from the city and this place was forcibly settled by Russian farmers and soldiers. Tatars in the Russian service were settled in the Tatar Bistäse settlement near the city's wall. Later Tatar merchants and handicraft masters also settled there. During this period, Kazan was largely destroyed as a result of several great fires. After one of them in 1579, the icon Our Lady of Kazan was discovered in the city.In the early 17th century, at the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia, the Tsardom of Kazan declared independence under the leadership of voyvoda Nikanor Shulgin with the help of the Russian population, but this independence was suppressed by Kuzma Minin in 1612.
Russian Empire period
In 1708, the Tsardom of Kazan was abolished, and Kazan became the seat of Kazan Governorate. After Peter the Great's visit, the city became a center of shipbuilding for the Caspian fleet. The major Russian poet Gavrila Derzhavin was born in Kazan in 1743, the son of a poor country squire of Tatar ancestry though himself having a thoroughly Russian identity.Before the building of modern dams, low-lying areas were regularly flooded in April and May. Kazan suffered major fires in 1595, 1672, 1694, 1742, 1749, 1757, 1774, 1815, and 1842.
Kazan was largely destroyed in 1774 as a result of Pugachev's rebellion, an uprising by border troops and peasants led by the Don Cossack ataman Yemelyan Pugachev, but the city, formerly largely of timber construction, was soon afterwards rebuilt, using stone and according to a grid pattern plan, during the reign of Catherine the Great. Catherine also decreed that mosques could again be built in Kazan, the first being Marjani Mosque.
At the beginning of the 19th century Kazan State University and printing press were founded by Alexander I. It became an important center for Oriental Studies in Russia. The Qur'an was first printed in Kazan in 1801. Kazan became an industrial center and peasants migrated there to join its industrial workforce. In 1875, a horse tramway appeared; 1899 saw the installation of a tramway. After the Russian Revolution of 1905, Tatars were allowed to revive Kazan as a Tatar cultural center. The first Tatar theater and the first Tatar newspaper appeared.
Soviet period
In 1917, Kazan became one of the revolution centers. In 1918, Kazan was the capital of the Idel-Ural State, which was suppressed by the Bolshevik government. In the Kazan Operation of August 1918, it was briefly occupied by Czechoslovak Legions. In 1920, Kazan became the center of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. After the Treaty of Rapallo until 1933, the German and the Russian army together operated the Kama tank school in Kazan.Those who died in prison or were executed were buried in the Arkhangelskoe cemetery. In 1998 an elaborate memorial complex was created in their memory.
During World War II, many industrial plants and factories to the west were relocated in Kazan, making the city a center of the military industry, producing tanks and planes. After the war Kazan consolidated as an industrial and scientific center. In 1979, the city's population reached one million.
Modern period
In the late 1980s and in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazan again became the center of Tatar culture and identity, and separatist tendencies intensified. With the return of capitalism, Kazan became one of the most important centers of the Russian Federation. The city went from 10th to 8th position in population ranking of Russian cities. In the early 2000s, the city earned the right to host both the 2013 Summer Universiade and 2018 FIFA World Cup.Millennium of Kazan
Since 2000, the city has been undergoing a total renovation. The historical center including the Kremlin was rebuilt, however a large number of the city's historical districts were completely demolished in the renovation. Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005, after a city-organized historical commission settled on 1005 as the official year of the city's founding. During the millennium celebrations, one of the largest mosque in Russia, Qolsharif, was dedicated in the Kazan Kremlin, the holiest copy of Our Lady of Kazan was returned to the city, the Millennium Bridge was inaugurated that year, and the Kazan Metro began operation. The government of the Russian Federation released the Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan".
In 2010, for the preparations to the 2013 Universiade, Kazan began even more renovation by modernizing its airport, fixing the streets, enhancing public transport, and adopting Russian, English, and Tatar languages in all transportation, large stores, and shopping centers.
In 2021, a teenager killed nine people in a school mass shooting and bombing.
In December 2024, Russian leader Vladimir Putin threatened to bring more "destruction" to Ukraine in retaliation for a Ukrainian drone attack on Kazan during the Russo-Ukrainian War.