Russian Empire
Which country did Orenburg belong to from Mar 1916 to Mar 1917?
Orenburg Orenburg ( ) is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast , Russia . It lies on the Ural River , southeast of Moscow . Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhstan . Population : 548,331 ( 2010 Census ) ; 549,361 ( 2002 Census ) ; Geography . The city is in the basin of the middle current of the River Ural ( near its confluence with the River Sakmara ) . The highest point of the city is . The origins of the citys name . Several historians have tried to explain the origins of the citys name . It was traditionally accepted that the word orenburg means a fortress on the River Or . In all probability , the word combination orenburg was proposed by I . K . Kirillov , who was the founder of the city . In 1734 , in accordance with his project , a package of governmental documents was worked out . This was the starting point for Orenburg as a fortress city near the meeting of the Or and Ural rivers . On 7 June 1734 , A Privilege for Orenburg ( tsars edict ) was ordered by Empress Anna Ivanovna . While a construction site of the main fortress changed many times ( down the River Ural ) , the name Orenburg has not changed since its founding in 1743 . Between 1938 and 1957 , the city was referred to as Chkalov , named after the famous Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov , although he was not born in and never lived in Orenburg , and never visited Orenburg . In 1954 , Chkalovs 5-meter bronze sculpture was erected on the occasion of his 50th birth anniversary ; this was installed on a 7-meter pedestal in the Boulevard ( on the riverside promenade of the city , commonly named Belovka ) . Orenburg was unofficially called the Asian capital of Russia . History . In 1734 , the Russian Empire began expanding its control and influence in Asia starting from the construction of the fortress city called Orenburg on its eastern border ( in Southern Ural ) . For this purpose , a settlement was founded here in 1735 - at the place where the Or and the Ural rivers join . The initial site was chosen for settlement during the expedition of I.K . Kirilov , who initiated developmental activities in the region . He argued that the city was necessary ...for opening up transit routes to Bukhara , Badakhshan , Bulk , and to India , making it possible to receive wealth from there — gold , lapis lazuli , and garnet . After his death , a new administrator of the Orenburg expedition , Vasily Tatishchev , was appointed . He did not consider this place to be convenient for construction of the city , because it was constantly flooded by the spring high waters . This encouraged to launch in 1739 preparations for building a new town with the old name downstream the river Ural ( Yaik ) on the mountain Krasnaya ( Red ) . The old settlement was named the Orsk fortress ( now the city of Orsk ) . On 6 August 1741 , the new town was founded . However , its construction did not start . The location on the mountain Krasnaya — treeless , rocky and remote from the river — was also inappropriate for building the town . A new administrator of the Orenburg expedition , Ivan Neplyuyev , was appointed . On 19 ( 30 ) April 1743 , Orenburg was founded for a third time , on the compound that was once the Berda fortress , from the Krasnogorsk mountain area . In the summer of 1742 , Neplyuev personally chose a new place surrounded by forests and crop fields , where the Yaik and the Sakmara rivers meet . Now it is the historical centre of the city . The city built upon the mountain Krasnaya was named Krasnogorsk . Orenburg , therefore , was successfully established by Ivan Neplyuyev in its present location approximately west down the Ural from Orsk in 1743 . This third Orenburg has functioned as an important military outpost on the border with the nomadic Kazakhs . It became the centre of the Orenburg Cossacks . Orenburg played a major role in Pugachevs Rebellion ( 1773–1774 ) , the largest peasant revolt in Russian history . At the time , it was the capital of a vast district and the seat of the governor . Yemelyan Pugachev besieged the city and its fortress from nearby Berda from October 1773 - March 26 , 1774 . The defense was organized by Governor of Orenburg lieutenant-general . General defeated Pugachev at Berda , and later again at ( north of Orenburg ) . Most of the city was left in ruins , and thousands of inhabitants had died in the siege . Government forces crushed revolt towards the end of 1774 by General Michelsohn at Tsaritsyn . Further reprisals against rebel areas were carried out by General Peter Panin . Alexander Pushkin visited Orenburg in 1833 during a research trip for his books The History of Pugachev and his famous novel The Captains Daughter . He met his friend Vladimir Dal here , who would later write the first serious dictionary of the Russian language . Orenburg was the base for General Perovskys expeditions against the Khanate of Khiva in the 1830s through 1850s . After the incorporation of Central Asia into the Russian Empire , Orenburg became a trading station and , since the completion of the Trans-Aral Railway , a prominent railway junction en route to the new Central Asian possessions and to Siberia . Orenburg functioned as the capital of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( in present-day Kazakhstan ) within Russia from 1920–1925 . When that republic was renamed Kazak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1925 , Orenburg joined Russia and Kyzylorda became the new capital . Almaty became the capital in 1929 after the construction of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway . Kazak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was promoted to the union republic status as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic Kazakh SSR in 1936 . Orenburg remained in Russia . From 1938 to 1957 , the city bore the name Chkalov ( ) ( after the prominent test pilot Valery Chkalov ) . The citys distance from the German invasion during World War II led many Soviet enterprises to flee there , helping to spur the citys economic growth . Administrative and municipal status . Orenburg is the administrative center of the oblast and , within the framework of administrative divisions , it also serves as the administrative centre of Orenburgsky District , even though it is not a part of it . As an administrative division , it is , together with ten rural localities , incorporated separately as the City of Orenburg—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts . As a municipal division , the City of Orenburg is incorporated as Orenburg Urban Okrug . Economy . Orenburg is a home to several large companies or their subsidiaries : Orenburggazprom , the subsidiary of Gazprom ; Orenburgneft , the subsidiary of TNK-BP oil company ; Orenburgenergy , one of the biggest energy generating companies in Russia . Transportation . Orenburg has been a major railway centre ever since the Samara-Zlatoust and Orenburg-Tashkent railroads were completed , respectively in 1876 and 1905 . Orenburgs main airport is the Orenburg Tsentralny Airport , located about east of the city , on the Orsk destination , and used to be the headquarters of now defunct Orenair . City public transport includes bus , trolleybus and also marshrutkas ( fixed-route cabs ) . Military . There is an airbase located southwest of the city . Climate . Orenburg has a relatively dry humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfa ) with quite long and hot summers and long and cold winters . April and October are transition months , with the rest of the months being either summer or winter . Education and culture . Orenburg is a regional centre of education and has a number of cultural institutions and museums . Education . - Orenburg State University - Orenburg State Medical Academy . Established in 1944 as Chkalov State Medical Institute . It was renamed to Orenburg State Medical Institute in 1957 ( at that time Orenburg city regained its original name after being named Chkalov from 1937 till 1957 ) . It gained the status of academy in 1994 . Currently there are eight faculties : Medicine , Pediatric , Stomatology ( Dentistry ) , Pharmacy , Clinical Psychology , Nursing , Public Health ( Медико-профилактический ) , and Continuing Education . - Orenburg State Agrarian University . Established in 1930 as Orenburg Agricultural Institute . It was transformed to Orenburg State Agricultural Academy in 1992 . Since 1995 named as Orenburg State Agrarian University . There are 8 faculties and four institutes . - Orenburg State Pedagogical University . Established in 1919 as Institute of Public Education . Renamed to Pedagogical Institute in 1930 . Transformed to Pedagogical University in 1996 . There are 10 faculties and four research institutes . - Orenburg Branch of Kutafin Moscow State Law University - Orenburg Branch of Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas - Physics and Mathematics Lyceum Museums . - Orenburg Regional Museum of History and Natural Science - Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts - Museum of Orenburg History - Memorial Apartment of Yuri and Valentina Gagarin - Memorial Apartment of Leopold and Mstislav Rostropovich - Memorial Apartment of T.G . Shevchenko - Orenburg City Memorial House Theatres . - Orenburg Maxim Gorky State Drama Theater - Orenburg State Regional Music Theater - Orenburg State Tatar Drama Theater - Orenburg State Regional Puppet Theater - Orenburg Municipal Puppet Theater Pierrot - Orenburg Municipal Chamber Choir - Orenburg State Academic Russian Folk Choir Tourism . Mountain and river tourism are developed in the region . There are a number of fast mountain rivers and rocks in pleated spurs of the southern edge of the Urals range , popular with tourists . The city is known for its location between Europe and Asia . The Ural River marks the border of Asia and Europe , and there is a bridge which connects the two sides . The city is famous for its down Orenburg shawls . The thinnest lacy design , knitted by hand shawls and cobweb-like kerchiefs ( pautinkas ) , is not only warm , but also is used for decorative purposes . Architecture . - See also A famous boulevard on the embankment of the Ural River is one of the most notable places in Orenburg . Orenburg TV Tower is a guyed mast of unusual design . It is a tall mast equipped with six crossbars running from the mast structure to the guys . Sports . - FC Orenburg , the local football team founded in 1970 , reached the Russian Premier League for the first time during the 2016-17 season . - Lokomotiv has played in the highest division of the Russian Bandy League . Now they play in the second highest division , Russian Bandy Supreme League . Their home arena has a capacity of 5000 . - Nadezhda Orenburg is a womens basketball club competing in the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League and playing in the Orenburzhe Sports Hall . - Fakel Gazproma is a table tennis club with , among other players , the three time European champion Uładzimir Samsonaŭ . National events . In October 2015 , the Russian Rink Bandy Cup was to be organised . Honors . The asteroid 27709 Orenburg was named after the city on June 1 , 2007 . Notable people . - Ivan Krylov ( 1769–1844 ) , writer - Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky ( 1794—1857 ) , statesman - Vladimir Dal ( 1801–1872 ) , lexicographer - Yevgraf Fyodorov ( 1853–1919 ) , mathematician , crystallographer , and mineralogist - Paul Nazaroff ( 1890–1942 ) , geologist and writer - Joseph Kessel ( 1898–1979 ) , journalist and novelist - Georgy Malenkov ( 1902–1988 ) , Communist Party leader - Musa Cälil ( 1906–1944 ) , poet - Alexander Schmorell ( 1917–1943 ) , a member of the anti-Nazi group White Rose - Aleksander Burba ( 1918–1984 ) , industry leader and educator - Leo Pevzner ( born 1975 ) , Russian-American writer , Boris Yeltsins widows nephew . - Mstislav Rostropovich ( 1927–2007 ) , cellist - Yuri Gagarin ( 1934–1968 ) , cosmonaut - Denis Istomin ( born 1986 ) , tennis player - Alexander Alexandrovich Prokhorenko ( 1990-2016 ) , a Senior lieutenant with the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces . He was killed during the Palmyra offensive of the Syrian Civil War . Prokhorenko was identifying targets for Russian airstrikes when he was surrounded by ISIS fighters near Palmyra and ordered an airstrike on his own location Twin towns – sister cities . Orenburg is twinned with : - Aktobe , Kazakhstan - Khujand , Tajikistan - Oral , Kazakhstan - Orlando , United States External links . - Official website of Orenburg - Orenburg State Institute of Management - Photos of Orenburg