Население Астрахани (английский язык - 8 класс)

Astrakhan. Population.

The population of Astrakhan Region is over one million people .The distribution of the population is rather uneven. The most densely populated districts are Ikryaninski and Privolzhski. Rural population which lives in different types of inhabited parts makes 32% of the whole number .

The population of Astrakhan is multinational (consist of many nationalities). Over 100 representatives of different nationalities and ethnic groups live in Astrakhan region: the most numerous groups are the Russians (72%) , the Kazakhs (12,75%) , the Tatars (7,2%), the Ukrainians (1,9%) , Kalmucks (1%).

The Tatars have lived here for a long time. The Tatars consist of different ethnic groups: kazan, crimean, siberian, polish-lithuanian, astrakhan. They differ from each other by language and by appearance.

At the beginning of the 17th century new nomads appeared on the Low Volga. They were the Kalmucks. From the 19th century the Kazakhs formed the new ethnic group on the Lower Volga Region. The Kalmucks and the Kazakhs breed cattle: horses, sheep, camels.

Adam Oleari, the secretary and the counsellor of the Holstein embassies visited Astrakhan in 1636 and wrote that not only the Russians but the Persians, Indians, the Tatars, the Armenians lived in Astrakhan and they were busy with trade.

Many people in our region are busy with agriculture and trade. Shipbuilding, gas extraction are important industries.

New words:

distribution - распределение

uneven - неровный

ethnic - этнический

just - именно

Lithuanian -литовец

nomad - кочевник

breed - разводить

embassy -посольство

extraction - добыча