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Vyatka, Russia (Government)

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Or VIATKA, a government of N.E. Russia, with the government of Vologda on the N., Perm on the E., Ufa and Kazan on the S. and Nizhniy-Novgorod and Kostroma on the W., having an area of S9,100 sq. m. It has on its northern boundary the flat water-parting which separates the basins of the Northern Dvina and the Volga, and its surface is an undulating plateau Boo to 1400 ft. above sea-level, deeply grooved by rivers and assuming a hilly aspect on their banks. The Kama rises in the N.E., and, after making a wide sweep through Perm, flows along its S.E. boundary, while the rest of the government is drained by the Vyatka and its numerous tributaries. Both the Kama and the Vyatka are navigable, as also are several tributaries; the Izh and Votka, which floWY into the Vyatka, have important ironworks on their banks. The only railway is one from Perm to Archangel, through the town of Vyatka; the government is traversed by the great highway to Siberia, and by two other roads by which goods from the south are transported to loading-places on the Vychegda and the Yug to be shipped to Archangel. Lakes are numerous, and vast marshes exist everywhere, especially in the north. The climate is very severe, the average yearly temperature being 36° F. at Vyatka (January, 8.2°; July, 67

0°) and 35° at Slobodsk (January, 3.5°; J uly, 65.3°).

The estimated pop. in 1906 was 3,532,600. The bulk of the inhabitants (78%) are Russians; Votyaks make 12.2 Cheremisses 5%, and Tatars 34%, the remainder being Bashkirs, Teptyars and Permyaks. The Votyaks (Otyaks), a Finnish tribe, call themselves Ot, Ut or Ud, and the Tatars call them Ar, so that they may possibly be akin to the Ars of the Yenisei. They are middle-sized, with fair hair and eyes, often red-haired; and the general structure of the face and skull is Finnish. By their dialect they belong to the same branch as the Permyaks.

The government is divided into eleven districts, the chief towns of which are Vyatka, Elabuga, Glazov, Kotelnich, Malmyzh, Nolinsk, Orlov, Sarapul, Slobodsk, Urzhum and Yaransk. Izhevsk and Votkinsk, or Kamsko-Votkinsk, have important ironworks. Some 55% of the surface is covered with forests, two-thirds of which belong to the crown, and hunting (especially squirrel-hunting) and fishing are of commercial importance. The peasants, who form 89% of the population, own 44% of the whole government, the crown 53% and private persons 2%. The soil is fertile, especially in the valleys of the south. Vyatka is one of the chief grainproducing governments of Russia. The principal crops are rye, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. Flax and hemp are extensively cultivated, and large numbers of cattle are kept, but they are mostly of inferior breed. The government has a race of good ponies that are widely exported. Domestic industries occupy large numbers of the inhabitants. The principal manufacturing establishments are tanneries, distilleries, ironworks, chemical works, glass factories, cotton and steam flour-mills, and hardware, machinery, paper and fur-dressing works. (P. A. K.; J. T. BE.)