SAMARA

SAMARA, a government of European Russia, bounded on the N. by that of Kasan, E. by Orenburg and the Kirghiezer territory, S. by Astrakhan, and W. by Saratov and Simbirsk; area, 51,588 square miles. It consists of a broad, open, slightly undulating plain, lying between the rivers Volga and Ural,—the former of which bounds the government on the west, and the latter on the east. By these rivers and their affluents, especially those of the Volga, the country is watered. The government was formed by an ukase in December 1850, from portions of those of Orenburg, Saratov, and Simbirsk, in the following proportions:—

Thus, in the statistics given of these governments for 1849, those parts are included which now belong to Samara, as the new government had not then been formed. The great majority of the inhabitants belong to the Greek Church; but there were also, in 1851, 122,113 Mohammedans, 48,583 Protestants, 32,140 Roman Catholics, 3426 pagans, and a few Jews. The government is divided into seven circles, as follows:—