Almetyevsky District (; ) is a territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is located in the southeastern central part of the republic and occupies an area of 2,542 square kilometers (about 981 sq mi). According to the 2010 census, the municipality had a population of 197,493 people. The main city Almetyevsk is not included within the administrative structure of the district.
The settlement of Almetyevo first appeared in historical records in the 1730s. From the mid-19th century, Almetyevskaya volost was part of the old Bugulminsky district within the Samara province. The volost changed its status to a district on August 10, 1930.
The Almetyevsky district is one of the largest oil-producing and industrial centers of Tatarstan. The main offices of the oil company Tatneft are located in the district. The city administration plans to create a third special economic zone in the region following the successful examples of Alabuga and Innopolis. The first stage of construction is scheduled for 2024.
Geography and Climate
The Almetyevsky district is located in the south-east of Tatarstan. It shares borders with Sarmanovsky, Zainsky and Nizhnekamsky districts to the north, Novosheshminsky and Cheremshansky districts to the west, Leninogorsky and Bugulminsky districts to the south, and Aznakaevsky district to the east. The district occupies a total land area of 2542.93 km².
The district is located in the northwest of the Bugulma plateau and the elevation of the district ranges from 200 to 300 meters. The regional rivers Kichuy, Stepnoy Zai and Ursalbash along with their tributaries are among the waterways flowing through the district. The region holds reserves of oil, coal and other mineral resources. The regional climate is temperate continental with cool summers and cold winters.
Flag and Coat of Arms
In December 2006, the Council of the Almetyevsky municipal district approved its new heraldic insignia. The visual design of the coat of arms includes a green and red canvas with a golden staircase and a fountain placed in a tulip flower. The golden staircase allegorically depicts an oil rig, and the black fountain emphasizes the significance of the oil industry to the region's economy. The combination of black and gold symbolizes oil as “black gold”. As noted in the official resolution, the color scheme represents the beauty of the local nature and the importance of industry. The green field embodies the geographic peculiarities of the republic’s south-east, while the red stripe symbolizes industrial power. The flag is based on heraldic elements of the coat of arms.
Etymology
The district derives its name from the main city of Almetyevsk. As the geographer Yevgeny Pospelov states, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, there was the Bashkir village of Almetevo on the site of the modern city. In his opinion, the etymology is based on the possessive of the Bashkir name Almet, which was likely an abbreviation for Al-Muhammad ().
History
The southeast of modern Tatarstan bordered the lands of the Nogai Horde and until the 1630s these lands witnessed the migratory movement of nomadic peoples across the steppe. After the Nogai were expelled, the ethnically diverse local population remained small in number and was often subjected to Kalmyk raids. According to historian Aydar Nogmanov, only after the Bashkir uprising of 1704-1711 was suppressed did farmers begin to move to the South-Eastern Trans-Kama region.
In the first half of the 18th century, the modern Almetyevsky district belonged to the Nadyrovskaya volost and was populated mainly by the yasak non-Russian peoples. Although archival records on the founding of Almetyevo have not survived, historians suggest that the first settlement was established in the 1730s. The village was first mentioned in 1735, when the local mullah Almet informed the Russian commander-in-chief about the Bashkir insurrection taking place in the volost. The historian Amirkhanov opined that the local mullah Almet Seitov could be the historical founder of the village. In contrast, the Bashkir historian Anvar Asfandiyarov in his monograph "Auls of Menzelin Bashkirs" argues that 23-year-old Seitov, who had just become a spiritual leader, could not have had such authority in the Aul community. Asfandiyarov points to the pro-government spiritual leader Almet-mulla Karatametov as a more likely figure.