Penza

Capital city, administrative, industrial, and cultural centre of Penza oblast (region), western Russian Federation, 310 km/193 mi west of Samara on the Sura River; population (1996 est) 534,000. Manufactured goods produced here include precision instruments (including watches), agricultural machinery, and paper. Penza stands at an important railway junction, with lines running west to Samara, south to Volgograd, and north to Nizhi Novgorod.

Penza was founded in 1663 as a military and administrative centre. The former cultural centre of the black earth belt, it was the capital of the Penza province from 1719. The first stone houses were built in the city during the last decade of the 18th century. From 1801 to 1928 it was the administrative centre of the Penza region. Considerable growth of the city started in the second half of the 19th century with railway lines being laid across the Penza region.

Five institutions for higher education are located in Penza, including the State Technical University (1943; previously named the Politechnics) and the Pedagogical University (1939). One of the oldest dramatic theatres in Russia named after Russian revolutionary, dramatist, and critic Anatoli Lunacharsky is situated in the city. The Penza State Circus (1875) is one of the oldest in the country.

Penza

Oblast (region) of the western Russian Federation, southeast of Moscow; area 43,200 sq km/16,680 sq mi; population (1996 est) 1,562,000 (64% urban). Industries include engineering, food processing, and chemical and textile manufacture; grain, potatoes, sugar beet, sunflowers, and hemp are grown, and cattle and pigs are raised.

The region is situated largely on the western slopes of the Volga uplands, in the wooded steppe belt; 20% of the total area of Penza is covered with oak, birch, and pine forests. There are peat and phosphor deposits. Cities include Penza and Kuznetsk.

Penza formerly belonged to the Kazan Khanate in medieval times, becoming Russian in 1552.