KAZAN

kazan, a government of middle russia, surrounded by the governments of vyatka, ufa, samara, simbirsk, nizhniy-novgorod and kostroma. area 24,601 sq. m. it belongs to the basins of the volga and its tributary the kama, and by these streams the government is divided into three regions; the first, to the right of the main river, is traversed by deep ravines sloping to the north-east, towards the volga, and by two ranges of hills, one of which (300 to 500 ft.) skirts the river; the second region, between the left bank of the volga and the left bank of the kama, is an open steppe; and the third, between the left bank of the volga and the right bank of the kama, resembles in its eastern part the first region, and in its western part is covered with forest. marls, limestones and sandstones, of permian or triassic age, are the principal rocks; the jurassic formation appears in a small part of the tetyushi district in the south; and tertiary rocks stretch along the left bank of the volga. mineral springs (iron, sulphur and petroleum) exist in several places. the volga is navigable throughout its course of 200 m. through kazan, as well as the kama (120 m.); and the vyatka, kazanka, rutka, tsivyl, greater kokshaga, ilet, vetluga and mesha, are not without value as waterways. about four hundred small lakes are enumerated within the government; the upper and lower kaban supply the city of kazan with water. the climate is severe, the annual mean temperature being 37.8 deg. f. the rainfall amounts to 16 in. agriculture is the chief occupation, and 82% of the population are peasants. out of 7,672,600 acres of arable land, 4,516,500 are under crops--chiefly rye and oats, with some wheat, barley, buckwheat, lentils, flax, hemp and potatoes. but there generally results great scarcity, and even famine, in bad years. live stock are numerous. forests cover 35% of the total area. bee-keeping is an important industry. factories employ about 10,000 persons and include flour-mills, distilleries, factories for soap, candles and tallow, and tanneries. a great variety of petty trades, especially those connected with wood, are carried on in the villages, partly for export. the fairs are well attended. there is considerable shipping on the volga, kama, vyatka and their tributaries. kazan is divided into twelve districts. the chief town is kazan (q.v.). the district capitals, with their populations in 1897 are: cheboksary (4568), chistopol (20,161), kozmodemyansk (5212), laishev (5439), mamadyzh (4213), spask (2779), sviyazhsk (2363), tetyushi (4754). tsarevokokshaisk (1654), tsivylsk (2337) and yadrin (2467). population (1879), 1,872,437; (1897), 2,190,185, of whom 1,113,555 were women, and 176,396 lived in towns. the estimated population in 1906 was 2,504,400. it consists principally of russians and tatars, with a variety of finno-turkish tribes: chuvashes, cheremisses, mordvinians, votyaks, mescheryaks, and some jews and poles. the russians belong to the orthodox greek church or are nonconformists; the tatars are mussulmans; and the finno-turkish tribes are either pagans or belong officially to the orthodox greek church, the respective proportions being (in 1897): orthodox greek, 69.4% of the whole; nonconformists, 1%; mussulmans, 28.8%. (p. a. k.; j. t. be.) kazan (called by the cheremisses _ozon_), a town of eastern russia, capital of the government of the same name, situated in 55 deg. 48' n. and 49 deg. 26" e., on the river kazanka, 3 m. from the volga, which however reaches the city when it overflows its banks every spring. kazan lies 650 m. e. from moscow by rail and 253 m. e. of nizhniy-novgorod by the volga. pop. (1883), 140,726; (1900), 143,707, all russians except for some 20,000 tatars. the most striking feature of the city is the _kreml_ or citadel, founded in 1437, which crowns a low hill on the n.w. within its wall, capped with five towers, it contains several churches, amongst them the cathedral of the annunciation, founded in 1562 by gury, the first archbishop of kazan, kazan being an archiepiscopal see of the orthodox greek church. other buildings in the kreml are a magnificent monastery, built in 1556; an arsenal; the modern castle in which the governor resides; and the red brick suyumbeka tower, 246 ft. high, which is an object of great veneration to the tatars as the reputed burial-place of one of their saints. a little e. of the kreml is the bogoroditski convent, built in 1579 for the reception of the black virgin of kazan, a miracle-working image transferred to moscow in 1612, and in st petersburg since 1710. kazan is the intellectual capital of eastern russia, and an important seat of oriental scholarship. its university, founded in 1804, is attended by nearly 1000 students. attached to it are an excellent library of 220,000 vols., an astronomical observatory, a botanical garden and various museums. the ecclesiastical academy, founded in 1846, contains the old library of the solovetsk (solovki) monastery, which is of importance for the history of russian religious sects. the city is adorned with bronze statues of tsar alexander ii., set up facing the kreml in 1895, and of the poet g. r. derzhavin (1743-1816); also with a monument commemorating the capture of kazan by ivan the terrible. the central parts of the city consist principally of small one-storeyed houses, surrounded by gardens, and are inhabited chiefly by russians, while some 20,000 tatars dwell in the suburbs. kazan is, further, the intellectual centre of the russian mahommedans, who have here their more important schools and their printing-presses. between the city and the volga is the admiralty suburb, where peter the great had his caspian fleet built for his campaigns against persia. the more important manufactures are leather goods, soap, wax candles, sacred images, cloth, cottons, spirits and bells. a considerable trade is carried on with eastern russia, and with turkestan and persia. previous to the 13th century, the present government of kazan formed part of the territory of the bulgarians, the ruins of whose ancient capital, bolgari or bolgary, lie 60 m. s. of kazan. the city of kazan itself stood, down to the 13th century, 30 m. to the n.e., where traces of it can still be seen. in 1438 ulugh mahommed (or ulu makhmet), khan of the golden horde of the mongols, founded, on the ruins of the bulgarian state, the kingdom of kazan, which in its turn was destroyed by ivan the terrible of russia in 1552 and its territory annexed to russia. in 1774 the city was laid waste by the rebel pugachev. it has suffered repeatedly from fires, especially in 1815 and 1825. the kazan tatars, from having lived so long amongst russians and finnish tribes, have lost a good many of the characteristic features of their tatar (mongol) ancestry, and bear now the stamp of a distinct ethnographic type. they are found also in the neighbouring governments of vyatka, ufa, orenburg, samara, saratov, simbirsk, tambov and nizhniy-novgorod. they are intelligent and enterprising, and are engaged principally in trade. see pineghin's _kazan old and new_ (in russian); velyaminov-zernov's _kasimov tsars_ (3 vols., st petersburg, 1863-1866); zarinsky's _sketches of old kazan_ (kazan, 1877); trofimov's _siege of kazan in_ 1552 (kazan, 1890); firsov's books on the history of the native population (kazan, 1864 and 1869); and shpilevski, on the antiquities of the town and government, in _izvestia i zapiski_ of the kazan university (1877). a bibliography of the oriental books published in the city is printed in _bulletins_ of the st petersburg academy (1867). compare also l. leger's "kazan et les tartares," in _bibl. univ. de geneve_ (1874). (p. a. k.; j. t. be.)