Geography of Tatarstan.

The Republic of Tatarstan is located at the centre of the Russian Federation. Tatarstan borders on the Republic of Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Mari-El, Udmurtia and on the regions of Russia: Samara, Ulianovsk, Kirov and Orenburg. Tatarstan has no borders with foreign states.

Its area is more than 67 thousand square kilometres. It is as big as Ireland, Sri-Lanka and Lithuania. The territory of the republic is a plain. It lies in a forest and forest-steppe zone witl small hills on the right bank of the Volga.

The climate is continental with warm, sometimes hot summers and quite cold winters. That is why agriculture is developed in Tatarstan: gardening, pig farming, bee farming, dairy farming and others.

Such wild animals as elks, bears, wolves, foxes, hares, squirrels, badgers, hedgehogs and others live in the woods.

Tatarstan is rich in oil. The most well-known oil fields are Romashkinskoye, Novo-Velkhovskoye, Pervomaiskoye and Bondyuzhskoye. Tatarstan is also rich in brown and black coal, copper, gypsum, dolomites, clays, mineral waters and medical muds.

The republic has huge water resources. The Volga river system is of great importance to Russia and Tatarstan. The Volga, the Kama, the Vyatka and the Belaya rivers are the foui longest rivers, but there are also a lot of smaller rivers: the Zai, the Myosha, the Cheremshan the Kazanka, etc and a lot of beautiful lakes, such as Lake Kaban, Swan Lake, Blue Lake, Deep Lake and others.

The geographical position of Tatarstan is favourable for the development of industry, trade and other socio-economic fields.