Cheboksary

About Cheboksary

Cheboksary is the capital city of Chuvashia, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River.

The city is located in the Volga Upland region and stands on the shore of the Cheboksary Reservoir. Its area is 250.9 square kilometers (96.9 sq mi). The satellite city of Novocheboksarsk is located about 6 kilometers (3+1⁄2 mi) east of Cheboksary.

Cheboksary was first mentioned in written sources in 1469, but according to archaeological excavations, the area had been populated much earlier. The site hosted a Bulgarian city of Veda Suvar, which appeared after Mongols defeated major Volga Bulgarian cities in the 13th century. During Khanate period the town is believed by some to have had a Turkic (probably, Tatar) name Çabaqsar and that the current Russian and English names originate from it. However, in maps by European travelers it was marked as Cibocar (Pizzigano, 1367), Veda-Suar (Fra Mauro, 1459). Shupashkar, the Chuvash name literally means the "fortress of the Chuvash".

In 1555, the Russians built a fortress and established a settlement here. In 1625, there were 458 soldiers quartered in Cheboksary, and in 1646 there were 661 males living in the settlement. At the...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.