History of Chuvashia

The history of Chuvashia spans from the region's earliest attested habitation by

The ancestors of the Chuvash were Turkic Bulgars and Suars (Sabirs) residing in the Northern Caucasus in the 5th to 8th centuries (after having been driven from the Pannonian Basin following the death of their greatest leader, Attila). In the 7th and 8th centuries, a part of the Bulgars left for the Balkans, where, together with local Slavs, they established the state of modern Bulgaria. Another part moved to the Middle Volga Region (see Volga Bulgaria), where the Bulgar population that did not adopt Islam formed part of the ethnic foundation of the Chuvash people.^[1]

During the

Within the Russian Empire, the territory of modern Chuvashia was divided into two administrative districts: the northern part under the Kazan Governorate and the southern part under the Simbirsk Governorate. The border ran roughly from Kurmish to Buinsk.

The Chuvash and Mari joined the

Between 1650 and 1850, the

A number of Russian noble families received large estates in the Chuvash lands as reward for their services to the Tsar. The formerly independent landowning Chuvash peasants became serfs to rich Russian landowners. Russian became the official language. Few attempts were made to provide primary education in the Chuvash language, and all higher education was in Russian.

After Alexander II abolished serfdom, many land-hungry Chuvash peasants moved to other areas in Russia to seek their own land. Between 1860 and 1914, nearly half of the Chuvash population left their home areas. The final wave of migration occurred during the Stolypin agrarian reforms.

Soviet Union

During the 19th and early 20th century, national feelings started to grow among the Chuvash

The Chuvash promised to respect the

In 1918–1919, the Russian Civil War encompassed the area. This ended with victory for the Bolsheviks, who were mainly ethnic Russians, with strong support from Nizhny Novgorod troops. The local Chuvash independence-minded politicians were executed by the Bolsheviks.

To gain support from the local population, Lenin ordered the creation of a Chuvash state within the

The 1930–1931 Communist campaign against the rich kulak peasant class, which resulted in their deportation to Gulag prison camps and the elimination of independent peasant farms, hit the Chuvash ASSR's agricultural production hard. The Great Purge in 1936–1938 dealt a great blow to the Chuvash intelligentsia; many were shot or deported to prison camps. Most of the local Chuvash teachers were shot, making it difficult to teach Chuvash, as the Russian replacements did not know the language. Ethnic Russians kept control of the area, and the Russification of the Chuvash and Mari peoples intensified.

From 1930 to 1940, a shift from mainly agriculture to industry was initiated. By 1940, the Chuvash ASSR produced 35,000,000 kWh of electricity, 848,000 m² raw timber, 369,000 m² sawn timber, 40,000 m cotton cloth, 200,000 pairs of hosiery, 184,000 pairs of leather footwear, and 600 tons of animal fats.

According to an order dated May 28, 1940 by the Central Committee of Communist Party, 20,000

In 1992, it was given its present name.

The Chuvash Republic is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. As a republic, the region has greater sovereignty than other areas of Russia in determining local policies and procedures.

As of 2011, the President of the Republic is Mikhail Ignatyev.^[2]

Literature

• Т.Н. Таймасова, В.В. Степанов, «Краткая история Чувашии и чувашского народа», Чувашское книжное издательство. Чебоксары, 2019.

References