Leningrad Oblast

**Leningrad Oblast** (, , ) is a federal subject of Russia. Specifically, it is an oblast. 

It was created on 1 August 1927. It was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly put in their current position. The oblast was named after the city of Leningrad. In 1991, the city  its original name, Saint Petersburg. The oblast keeps the name of Leningrad. The capital and largest city is Gatchina.

The first governor of Leningrad Oblast was Vadim Gustov (in 1996–1998). The current governor, since 2012, is Aleksandr Drozdenko.

The oblast has an area of  and a population of 1,716,868 (2010 Census); up from 1,669,205 recorded in the 2002 Census. Leningrad Oblast is highly industrialized.

## Geography 
### Borders
The oblast is on the historic region of Ingria. It is bordered by Finland (Kymenlaakso and South Karelia) in the northwest and Estonia (Ida-Viru County) in the west. It also borders five federal subjects of Russia: the Republic of Karelia in the northeast, Vologda Oblast in the east, Novgorod Oblast in the south, Pskov Oblast in the southwest, and the federal city of Saint Petersburg in the west.

### Lakes
Leningrad Oblast is around the Gulf of Finland and south of two great freshwater lakes. These are Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The oblast includes the Karelian Isthmus and some islands, including Gogland in the Gulf of Finland and Konevets in Lake Ladoga.
### Neva
Much of the area is in the drainage basin of the Neva. The Neva is the only outflow of Lake Ladoga. Other major rivers in Leningrad Oblast include the Svir, the Vuoksi, the Syas, the Luga, the Narva, and the Volkhov.

## History 
### Early history
The territory of present-day Leningrad Oblast was populated shortly after the end of the Weichselian glaciation. Several medieval trade routes crossed the area. 

In the 12th-15th centuries, the territory was divided between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Novgorod Republic. It was populated by many Baltic Finnic peoples such as Karelians in the northwest, Izhorians and Votians in the west, Vepsians in the east, and Ilmen Slavs in the south. The border moved back and forth across the land during the Russo-Swedish Wars of the 15th-17th centuries.

Most of the present-day territory of Leningrad Oblast was taken by Sweden with the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617. During the Great Northern War (1700-1721) the territory of what is now Leningrad Oblast was conquered by Russia under Peter the Great. He founded Saint Petersburg in 1703, which later became the capital of the Russian Empire.
### 20th century
In 1914, Saint Petersburg was renamed Petrograd. The governorate around the area was renamed the Petrograd Governorate. After the Russian Revolution, the capital was changed to Moscow. In 1919, during the Russian Civil War, the Northwestern White Army advancing from Estonia and led by Nikolai Yudenich tried to capture Petrograd and even managed to reach its southern . However, it  failed and Yudenich retreated.

Leningrad Oblast was created on 1 August 1927. It was created by merging the Cherepovets, Leningrad, Murmansk, Novgorod, and Pskov Governorates. The total area of the oblast was ; more than four times larger than the modern Leningrad Oblast. Administratively, he oblast was divided into nine okrugs (Borovichi, Cherepovets, Leningrad, Lodeynoye Pole, Luga, Murmansk, Novgorod, Pskov, and Velikiye Luki), each of which was divided into districts.

In 1929, Velikiye Luki Okrug was given to the newly formed Western Oblast. Leningrad was separated from Leningrad Oblast in December 1931. In 1935 five southernmost districts were made part of Kalinin Oblast. In 1936 some parts of the territory of Leningrad Suburban District of Leningrad was returned to Leningrad Oblast and divided into Vsevolozhsky District, Krasnoselsky District, Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944). Vologda Oblast was created out of Leningrad Oblast in 1937. Murmansk Oblast was split from Leningrad Oblast in 1938.

On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union waged the Winter War against Finland. With the Moscow Peace Treaty in 1940, the Soviet Union gained some territories, including the Karelian Isthmus. Their Karelian population was quickly evacuated to inner Finland and later replaced with people from other parts of the Soviet Union. A small part of the territory (the municipalities of Kanneljärvi, Koivisto and Rautu) was put into Leningrad Oblast. The rest was given to the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.

## Demographics 
*Population*: 

### Ethnic groups 
According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic composition was:

* Russian 92.7%
* Ukrainian 2%
* Belarusian 1.1%
* Tatar 0.5%
* Armenian 0.4%
* Uzbek 0.4%
* Azerbaijani 0.3%
* Finnish 0.3%
* Romani 0.2%
* Tajik 0.2%
* Moldovan 0.2%
* Veps 0.1%
* others 1.6%

## Twin regions 
*  **Aarhus Municipality**, Denmark
*  **South Chungcheong Province**, South Korea
*  **Kyoto Prefecture**, Japan
*  **Lombardy**, Italy
*  **Lower Silesian Voivodeship**, Poland
*  **Nordland**, Norway

## References 

## Other websites 
* Official website of Leningrad Oblast
*  Official website of Leningrad Oblast
*  Detailed and historical maps