THE MECHANISM OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOLGA DELTA AND ITS GROWTH PROSPECTS

The delta of the Volga River on the Caspian Sea is a highly dynamic form, whose growth has been affected by a combination of physical and human factors. Rapid delta growth in recent years has resulted in a deterioration of both physical and economic conditions (navigation problems, inadequate moisture supply, overgrowing of shallows with vegetation, loss of spawning grounds). Regression analysis yields a number of relationships between the inflow of water and suspended sediments, on the one hand, and delta growth, on the other hand, with a distinction between periods of a lowering of the Caspian Sea level and relative stability. The regression equations are used to project the likely future evolution of the delta. The only combination of conditions that is likely to limit further delta growth by the year 2000 is the stability of the Caspian Sea level and a period of average moisture supply. In all other cases, the delta is likely to continue its undesirable advance.     

The Volga-Baltic Waterway

The article traces the history of waterway connections between the Volga River and the Baltic Sea, describes the reconstruction of the Mariinsk canal system into a new Volga-Baltic deep-water route and analyzes the expected changes in freight traffic and the transport geography of the northwestern part of European Russia.     

The Earliest Evidence for Metal Bridle Parts

Recent discoveries in different parts of the Near East have led the authors to reconsider the early history of metal driving bits. These now seem to go back into the third millennium BC, which is much earlier that the evidence previously indicated. The paper also includes a brief discussion of the links – if these existed at all – with early bridle bits made of organic materials from the southern Urals–Volga area.     

THE FUTURE WATER SUPPLY FOR MOSCOW AND MOSCOW OBLAST

The water requirements of the Moscow region, now estimated at 6 cubic kilometers a year, are expected to increase by a factor of 2.5 to 3 over the long term in connection with higher water use rates for households and municipal uses, industrial expansion and the proposed development of perennial pasture lands for livestock. Over the short term, Moscow's additional needs are to be met from two major sources: (a) additional transfer of water from the Ivan'kovo Reservoir on the Volga River north of Moscow; (b) development of a water-transfer system from the Ugra River (a left tributary of the Oka River), southwest of Moscow. Over the long term, the region's water resources may have to be replenished from Lake Ladoga or from the Volga River's Rybinsk Reservoir, which may by then also be receiving additional water from northern streams.     

Transit Routes in Eastern Europe in the 9th to 11th Centuries

The reports of Arab geographers and numismatic data are combined in a review of the literature on two major transit trade routes in Eastern Europe: the Baltic-Caspian trade route and the route “from the Varangians [Scandinavians] to the Greeks [Byzantium].” Hoards of Arab silver coins, known as dirhems, along major water routes clearly point to the direction of the Baltic-Caspian route along the Volga, and date the earliest use of the route from the late 8th century. Trade along the route involved mainly the Volga Bulgars, Ugro-Finnic and Letto-Lithuanian tribes, but not the Slavs, as had earlier been supposed. The existence of the route from the Baltic to the Black Sea along the Dnieper River (“from the Varangians to the Greeks”) was reported by two 11th-century historians—an unidentified Russian chronicler and Adam of Bremen. The author rebuts recent suggestions that the Dnieper route was not as significant as commonly assumed.     

The Regional Context of Islam in Russia: Diversities along the Volga

A noted investigator of Russia's ethnic and geopolitical affairs presents case studies of six regions (in aggregate home to ca. 5.8 million Muslims, or over one-third of Russia's total) within the Volga and North Caucasus districts in an effort to demonstrate the importance of the regional context in which Russia's Muslims reside. Drawing upon field interviews (through March 2006) and information from local media, the author shows how the milieu in which Islam is practiced diverges markedly across regional boundaries. The diversities are traced to location, history, ethnocultural affiliation, number of adherents, educational resources, and relations between Islamic leaders and government officials. Also analyzed is the role of the two major competing spiritual centers of Islam in Russia, and the sense of regional self-identity. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H70, Z10, Z12. 1figure, 28 references.     

土尔扈特蒙古西迁后的经济状况及其对东归的影响

土尔扈特蒙古西迁至伏尔加河流域后,其经济状况可以概括为:传统游牧经济由盛而衰;以互通有无为基础的对俄贸易往来不断;为俄国军事战役出兵助战获得战利品和报酬成为特殊的收入来源;突袭其他民族和控制贸易路线是增加财富的渠道之一;捕鱼成为相当一部分生活贫困的土尔扈特人赖以维持生计的重要方式。作者认为经济状况恶化是促使土尔扈特蒙古东归的原因之一。     

The Sarmatians: The Creation of Archaeological Evidence

According to the general modern view the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, from the Danube to the Ural valleys, in the period from the third century BC to the mid‐third century AD, were inhabited by Sarmatian tribes using a burial mound rite. Several consecutive waves of Sarmatian peoples came to this territory from the East, conquering the local population. This view is based on the paradigmatic explanatory model, which has its roots in the history of the Russian Empire. However, the archaeological culture of the Volga–Don and Ural steppes, known as the ‘Sarmatian Motherland’, is apparently not related to the Sarmatians of the written sources. In addition, the culture of the northern Black Sea region features various kinds of archaeological monuments (settlements, votive depositions, kurgans, flat necropolises), which are characteristic of different cultural‐economic types. This demonstrates the complexity and diversity of the culture in the region, which could be influenced by many factors: the presence of Greek settlers on the northern shore of the Black Sea, the expansion of the Roman Empire, the pressure of nomadic tribes from the East, the advance of the Celtic–Thracian peoples from the West, changing environmental conditions, etc.     

The Basic Tendencies of Development of the Industrial Complex of the Volga Region

A review of the principal problems of economic development of the Volga region, with special emphasis on the oil, gas, chemical, and power-generating industries.     

The Spring Festival of Akaška / Nunal Celebrated by the Southern Udmurts in the Late 19TH–EARLY 20TH Century

The article describes the traditional spring festival of Aka?ka celebrated by the Southern Udmurts. The content and form of the festival indicate that some elements were borrowed from the Turkic world. While some borrowed elements have their counterparts in the ritual practices of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region and the Urals, the sources of other borrowed elements can be found in the Turko-Mongolian environment of southern Siberia and the Altai.     

Transport Problems of the Volga Region in Connection with Development of its Productive Forces

The Volga region, which owes its economic development in considerable measure to its favorable transport situation, is expected to continue as a major transit region, as fuels and energy [oil, gas, electric power] are transmitted from newly developed Siberian areas to the manufacturing centers of European Russia. Because of the importance of the east-west routes, railroads will continue to play a key role in the regional transport picture, but pipelines and waterways are planned to become more important.     

THE IMPACT OF THE WATER ROUTES OF NOVGOROD AND NORTHEASTERN RUS' ON THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE TRANSVOLGA IN THE 12TH-14TH CENTURIES

On the basis of early chronicles, statutes, and maps, as well as toponyms, the author retraces the river routes and portages used by Novgorodian and Rostov-Suzdalian tribute collectors, traders, and soldiers travelling from the upper reaches of the Volga to the White Sea slope in the 12th-14th centuries. He also indirectly assesses the negative and positive impact of these waterways on the physical environment on the basis of artifacts and logic. (The translation was prepared by James R. Gibson of York University, Toronto).     

清代江南乡村的水利兴替与环境变化——以平湖横桥堰为中心

本文着重考察江南乡村的水利环境与社会变迁,从观察平湖县横桥堰为中心的区域背景入手,解析有清一代与江南的众多水利设施有着相似情况的横桥堰及其周边社会,特别是将环境变化置于自然与社会两方面考察,分析其对水利设施屡次兴复和周期性堙废的深刻影响;详细说明乡村水利与社会各阶层的诸种关系,尤其是以官绅阶层为代表的各类人物,在地方水利事业重建过程中的不同表现,而府、县两级地方行政官员的更替出现与影响,也在此过程中得以清晰地展示,从而建构起一个小地方的水利社会史,真切地感受当时的社会与环境变化,并据此略窥清代中国地方社会的一些重要生活侧面。     

The Middle Volga Economic Region—Outpost of the Chemical Industry

A review of the resource base of the Middle Volga chemical industry, with particular emphasis on petrochemicals, and of some of the development problems. These include incomplete utilization of hydrocarbon gases for chemical production, the absence of a local sulfuric-acid base and inadequate attention given to the development of a fertilizer industry.     

On the Question of Regulating the Level of the Caspian Sea

The author tries to show that the level of the Caspian Sea could be stabilized at relatively low cost at its present low level without further damage to the coastal economy. He denies the need for costly projects designed to increase the inflow into the Caspian or to separate the shallow northern section from the main body of the sea. He maintains that water gained by diverting the northern streams into the Volga basin should be used to irrigate the arid Southeast rather than to replenish the water supply of the Caspian Sea.     

On the Diversion of the Vychegda and Pechora Rivers to the Basin of the Volga

The author of an economic geography of the Komi ASSR (1959) attempts to show that the present plan for the diversion of the Vychegda and Pechora rivers to the Volga basin would have an adverse effect on the economy of the Komi ASSR, particularly by flooding the limited amount of agricultural land available in the northern republic. Fisheries and shipping on the Pechora River would also suffer, in the opinion of the author. He proposes certain changes in the engineering aspects of the project to safeguard the northern economy. The changes would admittedly double the cost of the project.     

Russia and the Islamic World

This article offers a historical retrospective of the interactions between Russia and the Islamic world in all their diversity, beginning from the first trade contacts of Medieval Rus with the Arabs and Persians of the Abbasid era, as well as with the Turkic-speaking residents of Volga Bulgaria. The author concludes that except for the initial sporadic period, the connections between Russian and Muslim worlds have been stable and close throughout all the following periods. Moreover, with time, these two civilizational communities turned into communicating vessels because of the growing number of Muslims within the Russian State and in Russian society. Special attention is paid to Russian-Turkish relations across several centuries. A complete comprehension of the relations between Russia and the Islamic world through an example of the historical retrospective of Russian interactions with the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey helps to provide a full appreciation of the importance of joint efforts to secure a bridge connecting East and West and the oriental civilizations with Russia.     

Some Aspects of the Formation of Urban Settlement Patterns (Illustrated by the Tatar ASSR,Bashkir ASSR,and Kuybyshev Oblast)

Using the example of the Soviet Union's principal oil-producing region between the Middle Volga and the Urals, the authors identify systems of urban settlement and classify urban places in terms of their situation within systems of settlement. The situation of a place within a system is used as a criterion for determining whether future industrial growth of that place should be stimulated or restricted. A related article by one of the authors, F. M. Listengurt, appeared in Soviet Geography, October 1965.     

International cartographic association

The period between the 1959 and 1970 Soviet censuses represents one of stability insofar as demographic processes have not been disturbed by external factors, in contrast to the upheavals during and after the 1939–1945 war. Nevertheless, basic population structures, in particular the varying levels of urbanization, have been modified by internal migration of people from the countryside to the industrial towns. Consequently in European Russia rural areas, while increasing their population in absolute terms, have suffered severe losses in favour of the expanding industrial zones, especially the Ukraine and the lower Volga region. Methods of calculating this change must involve careful scrutiny of the data and also an appreciation of settlement patterns as well as purely demographic features.     

PROBLEMS IN THE SPATIAL REDISTRIBUTION OF STREAMFLOW

A report on a 1974 conference on interbasin transfers from Siberia to Central Asia compares the alternative stream-diversion projects west and east of the Urals and finds that north-south interbasin transfers in the European part of the country have a better chance for early implementation than the diversion from Siberia to Central Asia. The author urges consideration of a unified water-management system within the European part of the Soviet Union that would make it possible to dispatch streamflow from one basin to another much as electric power is transmitted through interconnections between power grids. Such an interconnected water-management system would be based on the premise that runoff volumes tend to be nonconcurrent in the various drainage basins of the Russian plain so that surplus runoff from “donor rivers” (Pechora, Northern Dvina, Onega and the lakes Onega and Ladoga) might be channeled southward to “consumer rivers” (Volga, Don, Dnieper and Ural).