Mari El

Bolshaya Kokshaga River

The Republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along and mostly to the north of the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is in the west of the Republic, contrasted by hillier landscapes in the east where the highest point of the Republic (at 278 metres (912 ft)[13]) is located. The Republic borders with Kirov Oblast in the north and east, the Republic of Tatarstan in the southeast and south, the Chuvash Republic in the south, and with Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in the west and north.

There are 476 rivers in the Republic, with the Volga and its tributaries being the major water arteries. Most rivers are considered to be minor—10–50 m (33–164 ft) wide and 0.5–1.4 m (1 ft 8 in – 4 ft 7 in) deep—and usually freeze between mid-November and mid-April. There are over 700 lakes and ponds; many located in the swampy areas and have areas of less than 1 km² (0.39 sq mi) and depths of 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in). Lake Yalchik, occupying 150 hectares (370 acres), is the largest by area, while Lake Tabashinskoye is the deepest. Swamps cover large areas—10–70 km² (3.9–27.0 sq mi) and up to 100 km² (39 sq mi)—and usually freeze in December. While swamps tend to be shallow, with an average depth of 0.5–1.5 m (1 ft 8 in – 4 ft 11 in), they are impassable in fall and spring due to flooding.

Climate is moderately continental, with moderately cold and snowy winters and warm and often rainy summers. The average temperatures range from 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) in summer to −18 – −20 °C (0 – −4 °F) in winter. November is the windiest month of the year. Annual precipitation varies from 450 to 500 mm (18 to 20 in).

There are virtually no natural resources of industrial significance in the Republic. Other resources include peat, mineral waters, and limestone. About 50% of the Republic's territory is forested, although the level of forestation varies significantly from one district to another.

Map of the Mari El Republic.

Ancient Mari tribes were known since the 5th century, though archaeologists suspect that the Mari culture is much older in its roots. Later their area was a tributary of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde. In the 1440s it was incorporated into the Khanate of Kazan and was occupied by the Tsardom of Russia (governed by Ivan the Terrible) after the fall of Kazan in 1552.

After the Russian Revolution, under the Bolshevik regime, the Mari Autonomous Oblast was established on 4 November 1920. It was re-organized into the Mari ASSR on 5 December 1936, at the same time as the enactment of the 1936 Soviet Constitution. In its present form, the Mari El Republic was formed on 22 December 1990. On 21 May 1998, Mari El alongside Amur, Ivanovo, Kostroma, and Voronezh Oblast signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy.[14] This agreement was abolished on 31 December 2001.[15]

The name of the republic is based on the ethnic self-designation of its indigenous population – Марий, "Mari" (from мари, "man, husband"), and эл, "country, land".[16]

Building of the Government of Mari El.

The head of government in the Mari El Republic is the Head (formerly President). As of 2017, the Head was Alexander Yevstifeyev, who was appointed in April 2017.[17]

The government of Mari El has been pursuing Russification in recent years, with the former head of the republic, Leonid Markelov, ordering many Mari language newspapers to close. Many ethnic Mari activists live in fear of violence. The Mari activist and chief editor Vladimir Kozlov was badly beaten after he criticized Markelov's government. Other Mari leaders have been subject to violence, legal persecution, and intimidation.[18]

The Mari people's native religion, based on the worship of the forces of nature, has encountered hostility as well. Vitaly Tanakov was charged with inciting religious, national, social, and linguistic hatred after publishing the book The Priest Speaks.[19]

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), in an exhaustive 2006 report Russian Federation: The Human Rights Situation of the Mari Minority of the Republic of Mari El, found widespread evidence of political and cultural persecution of Mari people, and of "a broader trend of repression of dissidents in the republic".[20]

Population: 696,459 (2010 Census);[12] 727,979 (2002 Census);[21] 749,386 (1989 Census).[22]

Ethnic groups

Main article: Mari people

The Hill Mari, who primarily live in the Gornomariyskiy, Kilemarsky & Yurino Districts of the republic.

Though the Mari people have lived in the area for millennia, they did not have a designated territory before the Russian Revolution of 1917. According to the 2021 Census, only 58.2% of the Mari within Russia live in the Mari El Republic, while 20.1% live in the Republic of Bashkortostan (consisting of the Eastern Mari, who fled to Bashkorostan to escape religious persecution). During the last Soviet Census (1989), 4% of the Mari of the Soviet Union lived outside of Russia.

Since World War II, more ethnic Russians and Tatars have moved into the area. According to the 2021 Census,[24] Russians make up 52.5% of the republic's population (up from 47.4% in 2010), while the ethnic Mari make up 40.1% (down from 43.9%). Other groups include Tatars (4.8%), Chuvash (0.6%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.

Ethnic group	1926 Census		1939 Census		1959 Census		1970 Census		1979 Census		1989 Census		2002 Census		2010 Census[12]		2021 Census[24]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Mari	247,979	51.4%	273,332	47.2%	279,450	43.1%	299,179	43.7%	306,627	43.5%	324,349	43.3%	312,178	42.9%	290,863	43.9%	246,560	40.1%
Russians	210,016	43.6%	266,951	46.1%	309,514	47.8%	320,825	46.9%	334,561	47.5%	355,973	47.5%	345,513	47.5%	313,947	47.4%	322,932	52.5%
Tatars	20,219	4.2%	27,149	4.7%	38,821	6.0%	40,279	5.9%	40,917	5.8%	43,850	5.9%	43,377	6.0%	38,357	5.8%	29,317	4.8%
Chuvash	2,184	0.5%	5,504	0.9%	9,065	1.4%	9,032	1.3%	8,087	1.1%	8,993	1.2%	7,418	1.0%	6,025	0.9%	3,656	0.6%
Others	1,703	0.4%	6,674	1.2%	10,830	1.7%	15,433	2.3%	14,015	2.0%	16,167	2.2%	19,943	2.7%	13,138	2.0%	12,494	2.0%
1 62,138 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[25]

Religion

Religion in Mari El as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)[26][27]
Russian Orthodoxy			47.8%
Other Orthodox			1.2%
Old Believers			1%
Other Christians			4.8%
Islam			6%
Rodnovery, Mari Native Religion and other native faiths			5.6%
Spiritual but not religious			24.8%
Atheism and irreligion			5.8%
Other and undeclared			3%

Orthodox church in Yoshkar-Ola

The religions with the most adherents in the republic are Russian Orthodoxy, the Mari native religion, the Old Believers, and Islam. The traditional Mari religion (Chimari yula) is still practised today by many Mari people and is the main religion of the Mari of Bashkortostan; also practised is a syncretism with Christianity. The Czars took drastic measures to force Christianity on the Mari, going so far as blowing up a holy mountain, and the persecution of the religion went on under the Soviet Union.

During the 1990s the religion was officially recognized by the State and began to revive. The Mari gather at around 520 holy groves where they offer animal and vegetable sacrifices, there are about 20 festivals yearly. Although traditional religion is one of Mari El's three officially recognized religions (along with Orthodoxy and Islam) Mari religious practises have come under increasing pressure, according to human rights groups.[28]

Symbol used by adherents of the Mari Native Religion.

According to a 2012 survey,[26] 47.8% of the population of Mari El adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 6–15% adheres to the Mari native religion, 6% adheres to Islam, 4% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% are Old Believers and 1% are Orthodox Christian believers without church affiliation or members of other Orthodox churches. In addition, 25% of the population is "spiritual but not religious", 6% is atheist and 4.2% follows other religions or did not answer the question.[26]

The most developed industries are machine construction, metalworking, timber, woodworking, and food industries. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Yoshkar-Ola, as well as in the towns of Kozmodemyansk, Volzhsk, and Zvenigovo.

The largest companies in the region include Mariysky Oil Refinery (revenues of $502.2 million in 2017), Mari Pulp and Paper Mill ($137.12 million), Shelanger Chemical Plant "Siver" ($14.52 million), Marbiopharm ($14.02 million).[32]

Mari people in Yoshkar-Ola

There are many museums located throughout the territory of the republic. The largest ones include the National Museum, the Museum of History, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Yoshkar-Ola; the Museum of Arts and History, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, and the Merchant Life Museum in Kozmodemyansk; and the Sheremetyev Castle Museum-reserve in Yurino. There are also museums dedicated to the poet Nikolay Mukhin and the composer Ivan Klyuchnikov-Palantay in Yoshkar-Ola and the house-museum of writer Sergei Chavayn in Chavaynur.

The National Art Museum of the Mari El Republic

Five theaters are located in Yoshkar-Ola with performances in both the Russian and Mari languages.

• Valentin Kolumb, poet
• Shabdar Osyp, author
• Andrei Eshpai, composer, pianist

• Mari National Rebirth Party "Ushem"

• 24 июня 1995 г. «Конституция Республики Марий Эл», в ред. Закона №21-З от 31 июля 2014 г. «О поправке 59 к Конституции Республики Марий Эл». Вступил в силу 7 июля 1995 г. (за исключением отдельных положений). Опубликован: "Марийская правда", 7 июля 1995 г. (June 24, 1995 Constitution of the Mari El Republic, as amended by the Law #21-Z of July 31, 2014 On Amendment 59 to the Constitution of the Mari El Republic. Effective as of July 7, 1995 (with the exception of several clauses).).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mari El.

• (in Russian) Old Official website of the Mari El Republic
• (in Russian) Official website of the Mari El Republic Archived April 8, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
• (in Russian) Industry in the Mari El Republic
• Mari El Republic nature views and sceneries
• A short Meadow Mari-English dictionary
• (in Russian) Meadow Mari-Russian-Japanese dictionary
• (in Russian) About nature in Mari EL republic
• Kimberli Mäkäräinen's Meadow Mari Grammar
• (in Russian) Map of Mari El

• Daniel Kalder. Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-tourist