Astrakhan Oblast

Astrakhan Oblast (Russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, romanized: Astrakhanskaya oblastʹ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,010,073.

Astrakhan's southern border is the Caspian Sea, eastern is Kazakhstan (Atyrau Region and West Kazakhstan Region), northern is Volgograd Oblast, and western is Kalmykia.

It is within the Russian Southern Federal District.

Since the Middle Ages, the territory has been ruled by Khazars, Cumania, the Mongol-Tatar Golden Horde, the Tatar Astrakhan Khanate, and Russia.

Astrakhan region is the homeland of the Buzhans, one of several Slavic tribes from which modern Russians evolved; they lived in Southern Russia and inhabited the area around the Buzan river.

In the 16th century, Indians began moving to the region, bringing Indian influence.

From August - December 1942, the German invaders reached the border of Astrakhansky Oblast, crossing into the region: the Abwehr from 1942 to 1943, Nazi Army stragglers 1941–44.^{[citation needed]} Buzan oblast was created on 27 December 1943, on parts of the territories of the abolished Kalmyk ASSR and Astrakhan Okrug of Stalingrad Oblast.

From 8 October 1980 to 27 October 1984, and under the leadership of Nikolai Baibakov, the USSR held fifteen deep underground nuclear tests for Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy at the site Vega in the Ryn Desert in the east of the oblast less than 50 km from downtown Astrakhan to create reservoirs for natural gas storage. Because of the detonation depth (975 to 1,100 meters) and relatively low yield (3.2 to 13.5 kilotons), no radiation was released to the environment. These blasts had lower yields than the Project Sapphire blasts, which were 40 km south-southwest of Orenburg, to reduce any possible seismic destruction to nearby towns in the Volga delta including Astrakhan. At that time, the natural gas fields near Astrakhan, which are at a depth of 3900 to 4,100 meters, could contain as much as 6 trillion cubic meters, which is an amount similar to Urengoy. In 2017, the Astrakhanskoye field, which is an area of 100 km by 40 km in the middle of the Astrakhan arch and is 60 km northeast of Astrakhan, is the ninth largest in Russia and the largest in European Russia with an estimated gas in place of 102 trillion cubic feet (2.9 trillion cubic metres). The deposit is operated by Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom. The field produces large amounts of sulfur, too.