Russia - Saratov Region - RussiaTrek.com

Overview:
Geographical Features: Saratovskaya region is situated in the south-east of the East-European plain. The region borders on Volgogradskaya region in the south, on Voronezhskaya and Tambovskaya regions in the west, on Penzenskaya and Ulyanovskaya regions in the north, on Samarskaya region in the north-east, on Kazakhstan in the south-east and the south.
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Population: 2,739,300

Economy: Industry (1993, %): fuel and power generation complex (TEK): 29, treatment of raw materials: 9.5, machine building: 22.4, chemical industry: 16, light industry 22.

Administrative division: Saratovskaya region is divided into 38 districts, 12 towns of the regional submission, 5 towns of district submission, 34 town settlements, 597 villages. Centre of the region is the town of Saratov.

Brief History:

Saratov was built as a fortress in the end of the 16th century. Advantageous geographic location - in the crossing of the Volga river and highways, connecting the Centre with Povolzhje, the Southern Ural and Kazakhstan - made Saratov one of the main cities of Russia.
Saratovsky region exists since 1934.
By the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries Saratovskaya province was the driest and the least fertile, the most inhabited and the poorest region in Russia.