MORDOVIA - Republic of Mordovia / Республика Мордовия

The Republic of Mordovia (Russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, tr. Respublika Mordoviya, Moksha/Erzya: Мордовия Республикась, Mordovija Respublikaś) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Its capital is the city of Saransk. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the republic was 834,755. Ethnic Russians (53.4%) and Mordvins (40.0%) account for the majority of the population. The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia. The western part of the republic is situated in the Oka-Don Plain; its eastern and central parts are located in the Volga Upland. Borders: internal: Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (N), Chuvash Republic (NE/E), Ulyanovsk Oblast (E/SE), Penza Oblast (S/SW), Ryazan Oblast (W/NW). There are 114 rivers and  approximately five hundred lakes in the republic.

When Ivan IV of Russia annexed the Khanate of Kazan in 1552, the Mordvin lands were subjugated to the Russian tsars. The Mordvin elite rapidly adopted Russian language and customs, whereas 1821 saw the publication of the New Testament in Erzya to address the non-elite population. In rural areas, the Mordvin culture was preserved. Russians started to convert Mordvins to Orthodox Christianity in the mid-18th century. Mordvins gave up their own shamanist religion only slowly, however, and many of shamanist features were preserved as parts of local culture, though the population became nominally Christian. Translations of literature to Mordvin languages were mostly religious books. In the 18th century, the Latin alphabet was used in writing Mordvin, but from the mid-19th century, Cyrillic was used.

During the Russian revolution and civil war, Mordovia was held by Bolsheviks from the beginning of the war. When the Bolsheviks prevailed in the war, Mordovia became a part of the Russian SFSR. In 1925, the Soviet government founded autonomous districts and village councils in the area of the Mordvins. During the Soviet era, two written languages were developed, one based on the Erzya dialect in 1922 and one on the Moksha dialect in 1923, both using Cyrillic script. The Mordovian Okrug was founded on July 16, 1928, and it was elevated to the status of an autonomous oblast becoming the Mordovian Autonomous Oblast [ru] on January 10, 1930. The autonomous oblast was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on December 20, 1934. Several forced labor Gulags were established under the Bolsheviks such as Temlag. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Mordovian ASSR proclaimed itself the Republic of Mordovia in 1990 and remained a part of the Russian Federation. The Republic of Mordovia in its present form has existed since January 25, 1994.

The Mordvin people are a Volga Finnic group speaking two related languages, Moksha and Erzya. The Mordvins identify themselves as separate ethnic groups: the Erzya and Moksha. Only one-third of all Mordvinic languages speakers live in the Republic of Mordovia. During the Soviet period, school textbooks were published in each language.

The covers posted by Mikhail on July 26,2017 and I received on 22, August 2017.