Orenburg

:This article is about city which formerly bore the name Chkalov, for famous Soviet pilot see Valery Chkalov.

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Orenburg (?????????) is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast in the Volga Federal District of Russia. It lies 1478 km south of Moscow, at The city had a population of approximately 548,800 as of the 2002 census.

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The Russian Empire began plans for the construction of an eastern frontier fortress town in the southern Ural region to be named Orenburg in 1734. The colonists originally founded a settlement in 1735 at the confluence of the Ural River with the Or River. The town's name meant "fortress near the Or," as Burg is German for fortress. This settlement changed its name in 1739 to Orsk. An attempt was made to found another Orenburg at a location called Krasnogar, or "Red Hill," in 1741, but this settlement failed. A third Orenburg was successfully established at its present location approximately 250 km down the Ural from Orsk in 1743.

Ural River: The Ural River (Russian: ????, Ur?l , Kazakh: ?????, Zhayyq) flows through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,509 mi (2,428 km). It forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia....

Orenburg Oblast: Orenburg Oblast (????????????? ????????) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (an oblast). It is located in the Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District, and its administrative center is Orenburg....

Volga Federal District: Volga (Privolzhsky) Federal District (, Privolzhsky federalny okrug) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It forms the southeastern part of European Russia. Its population was 31,154,744 (70.4% urban) according to the 2002 Census, living on an area of . Grigory Rapota was appointed the f...