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111-698: Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha, making it one of the oldest towns in Belarus. The town was named after the river, which was originally also named Rsha, probably from a Baltic root * rus 'slowly flowing.' In 1320, Orsha became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Between 1398–1407, the Orsha castle was built. On 8 September 1514 the famous Battle of Orsha occurred, between allied Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Kingdom of Poland and Muscovite army. The Muscovites suffered significant defeat; however,

222-507: A Balto-Slavic family by most scholars. This family is considered to have developed from a common ancestor, Proto-Balto-Slavic . Later on, several lexical, phonological and morphological dialectisms developed, separating the various Balto-Slavic languages from each other. Although it is generally agreed that the Slavic languages developed from a single more-or-less unified dialect ( Proto-Slavic ) that split off from common Balto-Slavic, there

333-508: A clash, and seizing on the government's offer to negotiate with its representatives and grant it radio and air time, the SKB suspended the general strike that evening. The bandy club Start has produced players for the Belarus national bandy team . Orsha became an important transportation center after the construction of a Dnieper River port. The coming of railway lines in the second half of

444-415: A daily newspaper. In the 1830s, general Alexander Bashilov planned the first regular grid of city streets north from Petrovsky Palace. Khodynka field south of the highway was used for military training. Smolensky Rail station (forerunner of Belorussky Rail Terminal ) was inaugurated in 1870. Sokolniki Park , in the 18th century the home of the tsar's falconers well outside Moscow, became contiguous with

555-514: A fraction of the area that they formerly covered. The Russian geneticist Oleg Balanovsky speculated that there is a predominance of the assimilated pre-Slavic substrate in the genetics of East and West Slavic populations, according to him the common genetic structure which contrasts East Slavs and Balts from other populations may suggest that the pre-Slavic substrate of the East Slavs consists most significantly of Baltic-speakers, which predated

666-564: A northwards direction. Parpola, in the same article, supposed the existence of a Baltic substratum for Finnic, in Estonia and coastal Finland. In the same vein, Kallio argues for the existence of a lost "North Baltic language" that would account for loanwords during the evolution of the Finnic branch. The Baltic languages are of particular interest to linguists because they retain many archaic features, which are thought to have been present in

777-511: A proposal for all local workers to block the railway junction, strategically located on the line linking Moscow and Leningrad to Eastern and Western Europe. This was quickly endorsed by votes to "lie down on the rails" at a citywide meeting at the railway station. On the 25th, the Belarusian authorities concentrated the republic's KGB and riot police forces on Orsha, but were resisted by the strikers who sent fuel trains primed to explode down

888-591: A prosperous city that would eclipse its parent principality of Vladimir by the 1320s. On the right bank of the Moskva River, at a distance of eight kilometres (5 mi) from the Kremlin, by 1282 Daniel founded the first monastery with the wooden church of St. Daniel-Stylite, which is now the Danilov Monastery. Daniel died in 1303, aged 42. Before his death, he became a monk and, according to his will,

999-511: A record 411 hours in July 2014, 79% of possible sunshine. December 2017 was the darkest month in Moscow since records began, with only six minutes of sunlight. Temperatures in the centre of Moscow are often significantly higher than in the outskirts and nearby suburbs, especially in winter. For example, if the average January temperature in the north-east of Moscow is −6.2 °C (20.8 °F), in

1110-448: A symptom of disorderly lifestyles of lower-class Russians recently arrived from the farms. Elites called for improved sanitation, which became part of Catherine's plans for increasing control over social life. National political and military successes from 1812 through 1855 calmed the critics and validated efforts to produce a more enlightened and stable society. There was less discussion about the poor conditions of public health. However, in

1221-499: A week or two at a time. In the winter, average temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C (14 °F), though almost every winter there are periods of warmth with day temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F), and periods of cooling with night temperatures falling below −20 °C (−4 °F). These periods usually last about a week or two. The growing season in Moscow normally lasts for 156 days usually around 1 May to 5 October. The highest temperature ever recorded

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1332-538: Is 19.7 °C (67.5 °F). The lowest ever recorded temperature was −42.1 °C (−43.8 °F) in January 1940. Snow, which is present for about five months a year, often begins to fall mid-October, while snow cover lies in late November and melts at the end of March. On average, Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine per year, varying from a low of 8% in December to 52% from May to August. This large annual variation

1443-668: Is a surname, most common in Russia, Bulgaria , Ukraine and North Macedonia . Additionally, there are similarly named places in Poland like Mozgawa . According to a Finno-Ugric hypothesis, the Merya and Muroma people, who were among the pre-Slavic tribes which inhabited the area, called the river Mustajoki "Black river", and the name of the river derives from this term. Other theories, having little or no scientific basis, are rejected by linguists. The original Old Russian form of

1554-472: Is about −7.0 °C (19.4 °F). At the end of January–February it is often colder, with frosts reaching −30.0 °C (−22.0 °F) a few nights per year (2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013). The last decade was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations of Moscow. Temperature changes in the city are depicted in the table below: Moscow is one of the few cities with paleontological monuments of world significance on its territory. One of them

1665-485: Is due to convective cloud formation. In the winter, moist air from the Atlantic condenses in the cold continental interior, resulting in very overcast conditions. However, this same continental influence results in considerably sunnier summers than oceanic cities of similar latitude such as Edinburgh . Between 2004 and 2010, the average was between 1800 and 2000 hours with a tendency to more sunshine in summer months, up to

1776-401: Is found in hydronyms (names of bodies of water) that are characteristically Baltic. The use of hydronyms is generally accepted to determine the extent of a culture's influence, but not the date of such influence. The eventual expansion of the use of Slavic languages in the south and east, and Germanic languages in the west, reduced the geographic distribution of Baltic languages to

1887-437: Is global, not regional. During the summer, extreme heat is often observed in the city (2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 , 2011, 2021 ). Along with a southern part of Central Russia , after recent years of hot summer seasons, the climate of the city gets hot-summer classification trends. Winter also became significantly milder: for example, the average January temperature in the early 1900s was −12.0 °C (10.4 °F), while now it

1998-537: Is home to Russian companies in different industries and is served by a comprehensive transit network, which includes four international airports , ten railway terminals, a tram system , a monorail system , and the Moscow Metro , which is the busiest metro system in Europe and one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world. The city has over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, making it one of

2109-548: Is more disagreement about the relationship between the Baltic languages. The traditional view is that the Balto-Slavic languages split into two branches, Baltic and Slavic, with each branch developing as a single common language (Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic) for some time afterwards. Proto-Baltic is then thought to have split into East Baltic and West Baltic branches. However, more recent scholarship has suggested that there

2220-643: Is one of twelve Hero Cities . The demonym for a Moscow resident is rendered as Muscovite in English. The site of modern-day Moscow has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Among the earliest finds are relics of the Lyalovo culture , which experts assign to the Neolithic period. They confirm that the first inhabitants of the area were hunters and gatherers. Around 950 AD, two Slavic tribes, Vyatichi and Krivichi , settled here. The Vyatichi may have formed

2331-616: Is that the Baltic peoples resisted Christianization longer than any other Europeans, which delayed the introduction of writing and isolated their languages from outside influence. With the establishment of a German state in Prussia, and the mass influx of Germanic (and to a lesser degree Slavic-speaking) settlers, the Prussians began to be assimilated, and by the end of the 17th century, the Prussian language had become extinct. After

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2442-760: Is the Gorodnya River with its tributaries, on the banks of which outcrops of the Quaternary and older Cretaceous periods are located. Fossils of the bivalve mollusk Inoceramus kleinii and tubular passages of burrowing animals, described in 2017 as a new ichnospecies Skolithos gorodnensis , were discovered in the Coniacian deposits near the stream bed of the Bolshaya Glinka River. Ichnogenera Diplocraterion , Planolites , Skolithos and possibly Ophiomorpha were found in

2553-640: The 1980 Summer Olympics and one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup . The city contains several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is known for its display of Russian architecture , particularly in areas such as the Red Square and buildings such as the Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin , the latter of which is the seat of power of the Government of Russia . Moscow

2664-581: The Albian deposits. Paleolithic flint tools were discovered in the Quaternary deposits of the Bolshaya Glinka stream bed. In 1878, paleontologist Hermann Trautschold discovered the left flipper of an ichthyosaur near the village of Mnevniki, which later became part of Moscow. In 2014, the animal was named Undorosaurus trautscholdi , after its discoverer. Trautschold determined the age of

2775-767: The Baltic Sea in Europe . Together with the Slavic languages , they form the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European family. Scholars usually regard them as a single subgroup divided into two branches: West Baltic (containing only extinct languages ) and East Baltic (containing at least two living languages , Lithuanian , Latvian , and by some counts including Latgalian and Samogitian as separate languages rather than dialects of those two). The range of

2886-576: The Mogilyov Gubernia . Under Russian rule, it was stripped of its Magdeburg Rights in 1776 and went into cultural and economic decline. The population dropped sharply to just about 2,000 inhabitants. The city symbol in 1781 was changed to one which included the symbol of the Russian empire and five arrows. In 1812, the city was badly burned during Napoleon's invasion . At the time of Orsha had been taken under control of French troops, there

2997-772: The Moja Ulitsa (in English: My Street ) urban redevelopment program or the Residency renovation one. By its territorial expansion on 1 July 2012, southwest into the Moscow Oblast the area of the capital more than doubled, going from 1,091 to 2,511 square kilometers (421 to 970 sq mi), resulting in Moscow becoming the largest city on the European continent by area; it also gained an additional population of 233,000 people. The annexed territory

3108-533: The Moskva and Neglinnaya and be filled with water from Neglinnaya. Known as the Alevizov moat and with a length of 541 metres (1,775 feet), width of 36 metres (118 feet), and depth of 9.5 to 13 metres (31–43 feet) was lined with limestone and, in 1533, fenced on both sides with low, four-metre-thick (13-foot) cogged-brick walls. In the 16th and 17th centuries, three circular defenses were built: Kitay-gorod ,

3219-567: The Partitions of Poland , most of the Baltic lands were under the rule of the Russian Empire , where the native languages or alphabets were sometimes prohibited from being written down or used publicly in a Russification effort (see Lithuanian press ban for the ban in force from 1864 to 1904). Speakers of modern Baltic languages are generally concentrated within the borders of Lithuania and Latvia , and in emigrant communities in

3330-700: The Proto-Slavic and Proto-Baltic languages coexisted for a long time after their formation – between the 2nd millennium BC and circa the 5th century BC – the Proto-Slavic language was a continuum of the Proto-Baltic dialects, more rather, the Proto-Slavic language should have been localized in the peripheral circle of Proto-Baltic dialects. Finally, a minority of scholars argue that Baltic descended directly from Proto-Indo-European, without an intermediate common Balto-Slavic stage. They argue that

3441-537: The Republic of Crimea . The areas operate in what is referred to in international standards as Moscow Standard Time (MSK, МСК ) , which is 3 hours ahead of UTC , or UTC+3 . Daylight saving time is no longer observed. According to the geographical longitude the average solar noon in Moscow occurs at 12:30. Moscow has a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ) with long, cold (although average by Russian standards) winters usually lasting from mid-November to

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3552-653: The United States , Canada , Australia and the countries within the former borders of the Soviet Union . Historically the languages were spoken over a larger area: west to the mouth of the Vistula river in present-day Poland , at least as far east as the Dniepr river in present-day Belarus , perhaps even to Moscow , and perhaps as far south as Kyiv . Key evidence of Baltic language presence in these regions

3663-547: The Volga , show several dozen loanwords from one or more Baltic languages. These may have been mediated by contacts with the Eastern Balts along the river Oka . In regards to the same geographical location, Asko Parpola , in a 2013 article, suggested that the Baltic presence in this area, dated to c.  200 –600 CE, is due to an "elite superstratum". However, linguist Petri Kallio  [ nn ] argued that

3774-677: The Wehrmacht and 650,000-1,280,000 for the Red Army. During the postwar years, there was a housing crisis, solved by the invention of high-rise apartments . There are over 11,000 of these standardised and prefabricated apartment blocks, housing most of Moscow's population, making it by far the city with the most high-rise buildings. Apartments were built and partly furnished in the factory, before being raised and stacked into tall columns. The popular Soviet-era comic film Irony of Fate parodies this construction method. The city of Zelenograd

3885-597: The substrate of Romanian , and "some Baltic forms". Moscow Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia . The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia , with a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over 21.5 million residents in its metropolitan area . The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), while

3996-573: The "White-Walled". The city's limits as marked by the ramparts, are now marked by the Garden Ring . Three square gates existed on the east side of the Kremlin wall, which in the 17th century, were known as Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky (after the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Saviour and St. Nicholas that hung over them). The last two were directly opposite the Red Square, while

4107-418: The 15th century, but it was developed into a prestigious area during the 18th century. It was destroyed in the fire of 1812 and was rebuilt completely in the early 19th century. Moscow State University was established in 1755. Its main building was reconstructed after the 1812 fire by Domenico Giliardi . The Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper appeared from 1756, originally in weekly intervals, and from 1859 as

4218-432: The 1990s to 2000s, its population rising from below nine to above ten million. Mason and Nigmatullina argue that Soviet-era urban-growth controls produced controlled and sustainable metropolitan development, typified by the greenbelt built in 1935. Since then, however, there has been a dramatic growth of low-density suburban sprawl, created by heavy demand for single-family dwellings as opposed to crowded apartments. In 1995–97

4329-547: The 571st Aircraft Repair Plant (ARP) located at Orsha Airfield ( Balbasovo Air Base ). Accordingly, the 571st ARP repairs Mi-8-17 HIP, Mi-24-35 HIND, as well as the Tu-134 CRUSTY and possibly the IL-76 CANDID. The report goes on to mention recent investment agreements with Ukraine where private firms planned on providing $ 12 million to finance facility upgrades during the 2012-2016 period. Press reporting stated that

4440-541: The Baltic Aesti tribe was mentioned by ancient historians such as Tacitus as early as 98 CE, the first attestation of a Baltic language was c. 1369, in a Basel epigram of two lines written in Old Prussian. Lithuanian was first attested in a printed book, which is a Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas published in 1547. Latvian appeared in a printed Catechism in 1585. One reason for the late attestation

4551-558: The East Baltic linguistic influence once possibly reached as far as the Ural Mountains , but this hypothesis has been questioned. Old Prussian , a Western Baltic language that became extinct in the 18th century, had possibly conserved the greatest number of properties from Proto-Baltic . Although related, Lithuanian, Latvian, and particularly Old Prussian have lexicons that differ substantially from one another and so

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4662-727: The General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941, 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions, and 4 engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. Between October 1941 and January 1942, the German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city, then driven off in the Battle of Moscow . Many factories were evacuated, together with much of

4773-609: The Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basil's Cathedral. The Russian famine of 1601–03 killed perhaps 100,000 in Moscow. Between 1610 and 1612, troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, as its ruler Sigismund III tried to take the Russian throne. In 1612, Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian cities led by prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin rose against

4884-529: The MKAD ring road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo became the first Moscow Metro station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD. The Third Ring Road , intermediate between the early 19th-century Garden Ring and the Soviet-era outer ring road, was completed in 2004. The greenbelt is becoming more and more fragmented, and satellite cities are appearing at

4995-545: The Mongols under Batu Khan burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants. The timber fort na Moskvě "on the Moscow River" was inherited by Daniel , the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky , in the 1260s. Daniel was still a child at the time, and the big fort was governed by tiuns (deputies), appointed by Daniel's paternal uncle, Yaroslav of Tver . Daniel came of age in the 1270s and became involved in

5106-811: The Polish occupants, besieged the Kremlin, and expelled them . In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty . The 17th century saw several risings, such as the liberation of Moscow from the Polish–Lithuanian invaders (1612), the Salt Riot (1648), the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682 . During the first half of the 17th century,

5217-402: The Slavs in the cultures of the Eurasian steppe according to archaeological references he cites. Though Estonia is geopolitically included among the Baltic states due to its location, Estonian is a Finnic language of the Uralic language family and is not related to the Baltic languages, which are Indo-European . The Mordvinic languages , spoken mainly along western tributaries of

5328-413: The Soviet Union since March 1. On April 3, the day after the central government had imposed consumer price increases, workers at several Minsk factories walked out raising the miners' demand for wages indexed to inflation. Virtually the entire labor force of that city followed on the 4th, joined soon thereafter by strikes across the Belarusian SSR. Mass demonstrations voted for additional demands (including

5439-457: The Tokharian and the Hittite were also distant. " Of about 200 reconstructed Thracian words by Duridanov most cognates (138) appear in the Baltic languages, mostly in Lithuanian, followed by Germanic (61), Indo-Aryan (41), Greek (36), Bulgarian (23), Latin (10) and Albanian (8). The cognates of the reconstructed Dacian words in his publication are found mostly in the Baltic languages, followed by Albanian. Parallels have enabled linguists, using

5550-491: The US and other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by conservative communists opposed to the liberal reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev . When the USSR was dissolved in 1991, Moscow remained the capital of the Russian Federation . Since then, a market economy has emerged, producing an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles. The city continued to grow during

5661-404: The Volga-Oka is a secondary Baltic-speaking area, expanding from East Baltic, due to a large number of Baltic loanwords in Finnic and Saami . Finnish scholars also indicate that Latvian had extensive contacts with Livonian , and, to a lesser extent, to Estonian and South Estonian . Therefore, this contact accounts for the number of Finnic hydronyms in Lithuania and Latvia that increase in

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5772-438: The White City and the Earthen City. However, in 1547, fires destroyed much of the town, and in 1571 the Crimean Tatars captured Moscow , burning everything except the Kremlin. The annals record that only 30,000 of 200,000 inhabitants survived. The Crimean Tatars attacked again in 1591, but were held back by new walls, built between 1584 and 1591 by a craftsman named Fyodor Kon . In 1592, an outer earth rampart with 50 towers

5883-448: The actual 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II, Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City . The Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) was opened in 1961. It had four lanes running 109 kilometres (68 miles) along the city borders. The MKAD marked the administrative boundaries of the city until the 1980s, when outlying suburbs beyond the ring road were incorporated. In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games , which were boycotted by

5994-507: The ancient " Novgorod Chronicle " and made it a propaganda vehicle for his regime. The original Moscow Kremlin was built in the 14th century. It was reconstructed by Ivan, who in the 1480s invited architects from Renaissance Italy , such as Petrus Antonius Solarius , who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince. The Kremlin walls as they now appear are those designed by Solarius, completed in 1495. The Kremlin's Great Bell Tower

6105-399: The capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow . When the Tsardom of Russia was proclaimed, Moscow remained the political and economic center for most of its history. Under the reign of Peter the Great , the Russian capital was moved to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg in 1712, decreasing Moscow's influence. Following the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Russian SFSR ,

6216-499: The capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918, where it later became the political center of the Soviet Union . In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union , Moscow remained the capital city of the newly established Russian Federation. The northernmost and coldest megacity in the world, Moscow is governed as a federal city , where it serves as the political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe . As an alpha world city , Moscow has one of

6327-441: The city and −30 °C (−22 °F) in the suburbs to above 5 °C (41 °F) in the winter, and from 10 to 35 °C (50 to 95 °F) in the summer. Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July, and August are around a comfortable 20 to 26 °C (68 to 79 °F), but during heat waves (which can occur between May and September), daytime high temperatures often exceed 30 °C (86 °F), sometimes for

6438-449: The city. The plague epidemics ravaged Moscow in 1570–1571, 1592 and 1654–1656. The plague killed upwards of 80% of the people in 1654–55. Fires burned out much of the wooden city in 1626 and 1648. In 1712 Peter the Great moved his government to the newly built Saint Petersburg on the Baltic coast. After losing the status as capital, the population at first decreased, from 200,000 in the 17th century to 130,000 in 1750. But after 1750,

6549-418: The close relationship between Baltic and Slavic languages and, from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution – the terms 'Baltic' and 'Slavic' are relevant only from the point of view of the present time, meaning diachronic changes , and the oldest stage of the language development could be called both Baltic and Slavic; this concept does not contradict the traditional thesis that

6660-447: The course of the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) . These new outskirts became known as the Meshchanskaya sloboda , after Ruthenian meshchane "town people". The term meshchane acquired pejorative connotations in 18th-century Russia and today means "petty bourgeois" or "narrow-minded philistine". The entire city of the late 17th century are contained within what is today Moscow's Central Administrative Okrug . Numerous disasters befell

6771-464: The destruction during the French occupation, a Commission for the Construction of the City of Moscow was established. It launched a great program of rebuilding, including a partial replanning of the centre. Among many buildings constructed, or reconstructed, was the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury , the Moscow University , the Moscow Manege (Riding School), and the Bolshoi Theatre . The Arbat Street had been in existence since at least

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6882-434: The dissolution of the Union and Belarusian governments and the end of the Communist Party's privileges) and elected delegates from each enterprise to citywide strike committees, which in turn sent representatives to a central Belarusian Strike Committee (SKB). On April 23, the SKB resumed the general strike after the deadline for its demands to be met had passed. The next morning, Gorbachev , Yeltsin , and leaders of eight of

6993-401: The early stages of the Proto-Indo-European language . However, linguists have had a hard time establishing the precise relationship of the Baltic languages to other languages in the Indo-European family. Several of the extinct Baltic languages have a limited or nonexistent written record, their existence being known only from the records of ancient historians and personal or place names. All of

7104-400: The end of March, and warm summers. More extreme continental climates at the same latitude – such as parts of Eastern Canada or Siberia – have much colder winters than Moscow, suggesting that there is still significant moderation from the Atlantic Ocean despite the fact that Moscow is far from the sea. Weather can fluctuate widely, with temperatures ranging from −25 °C (−13 °F) in

7215-429: The end of the 1920s. A new anti-religious campaign, launched in 1929, coincided with the collectivization of peasants; the destruction of churches in the cities peaked around 1932. In 1937 letters were written to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to rename Moscow to "Stalindar" or "Stalinodar". Stalin rejected this suggestion. During World War II, the Soviet State Committee of Defence and

7326-431: The expanding city in the later 19th century and was developed into a public municipal park in 1878. The suburban Savyolovsky Rail Terminal was built in 1902. In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor , was officially introduced, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. When Catherine II came to power in 1762, the city's filth and the smell of sewage were depicted by observers as

7437-441: The formation of the Soviet Union, it was transferred to the Byelorussian SSR in 1924. The population before World War II was about 37,000. The city was occupied by Germany on 16 July 1941. The occupiers founded several concentration camps in the city, where an estimated 19,000 people were killed. Orsha was one of the centers of the Belarusian strikes in April 1991. Hundreds of thousands of coal miners had been on strike across

7548-411: The fringe. Summer dachas are being converted into year-round residences, and with the proliferation of automobiles there is heavy traffic congestion. Multiple old churches and other examples of architectural heritage that had been demolished during the Stalin era have been restored, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour . In 2010s Moscow's Administration has launched some long duration projects like

7659-546: The government, and from 20 October the city was declared to be in a siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On 1 May 1944, a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" was instituted. German and Soviet casualties during the battle have been debated, as sources provide different estimates. Total casualties between 30 September 1941, and 7 January 1942, are estimated to be between 248,000 and 400,000 for

7770-646: The greenest cities in the world. The city's name is thought to be derived from the Moskva River . Theories of the origin of the name of the river have been proposed. The most linguistically well-grounded and widely accepted is from the Proto-Balto-Slavic root * mŭzg -/ muzg - from the Proto-Indo-European * meu - "wet", so the name Moskva might signify a river at a wetland or marsh. Its cognates include Russian : музга , muzga "pool, puddle", Lithuanian : mazgoti and Latvian : mazgāt "to wash", Sanskrit : májjati "to drown", Latin : mergō "to dip, immerse". In many Slavic countries Moskov

7881-415: The investors planned on building a modern warehouse terminal as well as office buildings for customs services, banking, and a leasing company. Orsha is twinned with: Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of

7992-414: The languages are not mutually intelligible . Relatively low mutual interaction for neighbouring languages historically led to gradual erosion of mutual intelligibility, and development of their respective linguistic innovations that did not exist in shared Proto-Baltic . The substantial number of false friends and various uses and sources of loanwords from their surrounding languages are considered to be

8103-433: The languages in the Baltic group (including the living ones) were first written down relatively late in their probable existence as distinct languages. These two factors combined with others have obscured the history of the Baltic languages, leading to a number of theories regarding their position in the Indo-European family. The Baltic languages show a close relationship with the Slavic languages, and are grouped with them in

8214-674: The languages of the Baltic family and the following extinct languages: The Baltic classification of Dacian and Thracian has been proposed by the Lithuanian scientist Jonas Basanavičius , who insisted this is the most important work of his life and listed 600 identical words of Balts and Thracians . His theory included Phrygian in the related group, but this did not find support and was disapproved among other authors, such as Ivan Duridanov , whose own analysis found Phrygian completely lacking parallels in either Thracian or Baltic languages. The Bulgarian linguist Ivan Duridanov, who improved

8325-427: The latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва , Moskva , which is a result of morphological generalization with the numerous Slavic ā -stem nouns . The form Moskovĭ has left traces in other languages, including English: Moscow ; German : Moskau ; French : Moscou ; Portuguese : Moscou, Moscovo ; and Spanish : Moscú . Moscow has acquired epithets , such as The Third Rome . Moscow

8436-417: The leading Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 metres (512 feet). Teplostan Upland is the city's highest point at 255 metres (837 feet). The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD ) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.8 km (32.2 mi). Moscow serves as the reference point for the time zone used in most of European Russia , Belarus and

8547-475: The major reasons for poor mutual intelligibility today. Within Indo-European, the Baltic languages are generally classified as forming a single family with two branches: Eastern and Western Baltic. But these two branches are sometimes classified as independent branches of Balto-Slavic itself. It is believed that the Baltic languages are among the most conservative of the currently remaining Indo-European languages, despite their late attestation . Although

8658-463: The majority of Moscow's indigenous population. The first known reference to Moscow was in 1147, as a meeting place of Yuri Dolgorukiy and Sviatoslav Olgovich . At the time it was a minor town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. In 1156, Dolgorukiy fortified the town by creating a wooden wall; this structure became the Kremlin. In the course of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' ,

8769-530: The many similarities and shared innovations between Baltic and Slavic are caused by several millennia of contact between the groups, rather than a shared heritage. The Baltic-speaking peoples likely encompassed an area in eastern Europe much larger than their modern range. As in the case of the Celtic languages of Western Europe, they were reduced by invasion, extermination and assimilation . Studies in comparative linguistics point to genetic relationship between

8880-523: The medieval Muscovy state). He began fighting the Tatars, enlarged the territory of Muscovy, and enriched his capital city. By 1500 it had a population of 100,000 and was one of the largest cities in the world. He conquered the far larger principality of Novgorod to the north, which had been allied to the hostile Lithuanians. Thus he enlarged the territory sevenfold, from 430,000 to 2,800,000 square kilometres (170,000 to 1,080,000 square miles). He took control of

8991-508: The moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns – "raskats". The Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto . The road connecting Moscow with St. Petersburg, now the M10 highway , was completed in 1746, its Moscow end following the old Tver road, which had existed since the 16th century. It became known as Peterburskoye Schosse after it

9102-598: The most extensive list of toponyms, in his first publication claimed that Thracian is genetically linked to the Baltic languages and in the next one he made the following classification: "The Thracian language formed a close group with the Baltic, the Dacian and the " Pelasgian " languages. More distant were its relations with the other Indo-European languages, and especially with Greek, the Italic and Celtic languages, which exhibit only isolated phonetic similarities with Thracian;

9213-594: The most powerful cities in Russia. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo . Afterward, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control, and Moscow became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia , and parts of many other lands. In 1462 Ivan III became Grand Prince of Moscow (then part of

9324-472: The name is reconstructed as * Москы , * Mosky , hence it was one of a few Slavic ū -stem nouns . As with other nouns of that declension, it had been undergoing a morphological transformation at the early stage of the development of the language, as a result, the first written references in the 12th century were Московь , Moskovĭ ( accusative case ), Москви , Moskvi ( locative case ), Москвe/Москвѣ , Moskve/Moskvě ( genitive case ). From

9435-567: The nineteenth century greatly contributed to the city growth: Today, Orsha is a major railway node where the Minsk–Moscow crosses the northern Vitebsk line, which branches south to Mogilev and Krychaw . All trains from Moscow and Saint-Petersburg bound for Western Europe pass through Orsha. The city is also a junction of the important motorways: The M1 (E30) Moscow-Brest and the M8/M20 ( E95 ) Saint Petersburg - Odessa. OSGOEINT reported on

9546-467: The other Soviet republics published a joint declaration in the papers agreeing to democratic elections for the Soviet parliament and the presidency, a new union treaty that would "radically increase the role of the union republics," and measures to soften the impact of the price increase, but also the introduction of a "special work regime" in many industries. In response, the Orsha strike committee issued

9657-424: The population doubled from 100,000 to 200,000, and it expanded beyond its ramparts in the latter part of the century. In the middle of the 17th century, 20% of Moscow suburb's inhabitants were from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , being driven from their homeland by Muscovite invaders. By 1682, there were 692 households established north of the ramparts, by Ukrainians and Belarusians abducted from their hometowns in

9768-539: The population grew tenfold over the remaining duration of the Russian Empire, reaching 1.8 million by 1915. The 1770–1772 Russian plague killed up to 100,000 people in Moscow. By 1700, the building of cobbled roads had begun. In 1730, permanent street lights were introduced, and by 1867 many streets had a gaslight. In 1883, near the Prechistinskiye Gates, arc lamps were installed. In 1741 Moscow

9879-495: The power struggles of the principality with lasting success, siding with his brother Dmitry in his bid for the rule of Novgorod . From 1283 he acted as the ruler of an independent principality alongside Dmitry, who became Grand Duke of Vladimir . Daniel has been credited with founding the first Moscow monasteries, dedicated to the Lord's Epiphany and to Saint Daniel. Daniel ruled Moscow as Grand Duke until 1303 and established it as

9990-590: The sediments from which the specimen was taken to be Kimmeridgian , but, according to more recent studies, they were formed in the Tithonian age of the Jurassic period. Albian foraminifera and ammonites also known from the Moscow deposits. Fossils of various organisms are on display in Moscow museums, including the Orlov Museum of Paleontology and Vernadsky State Geological Museum . According to

10101-593: The sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers, making Moscow the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal . By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan . While the Khan of the Golden Horde initially attempted to limit Moscow's influence, when the growth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of

10212-452: The study of Duridanov. According to him the most important impression make the geographic cognates of Baltic and Thracian "the similarity of these parallels stretching frequently on the main element and the suffix simultaneously, which makes a strong impression". Romanian linguist Sorin Paliga , analysing and criticizing Harvey Mayer's study, did admit "great likeness" between Thracian,

10323-439: The suburbs it is about −8.3 °C (17.1 °F). The temperature difference between the centre of Moscow and nearby areas of Moscow Oblast can sometimes be more than 10 °C (18 °F) on frosty winter nights. Recent changes in Moscow's regional climate, since it is in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, are often cited by climate scientists as evidence of global warming , though by definition, climate change

10434-454: The techniques of comparative linguistics , to decipher the meanings of several Dacian and Thracian placenames with, they claim, a high degree of probability. Of 74 Dacian placenames attested in primary sources and considered by Duridanov, a total of 62 have Baltic cognates, most of which were rated "certain" by Duridanov. For a big number of 300 Thracian geographic names most parallels were found between Thracian and Baltic geographic names in

10545-457: The tracks. Gorbachev mobilized the nearby military forces in Pskov with instructions to restore order over the railway; however many officers declared their refusal to comply, and brigade commander Gennady Sidorov professed a "lack of understanding" of the mission. Meanwhile, workers in other cities throughout Belarus held rallies threatening to retaliate if a drop of blood was shed in Orsha. Fearing

10656-436: The urban area covers 5,891 square kilometers (2,275 sq mi), and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 sq mi). Moscow is among the world's largest cities , being the most populous city in its entirety in Europe, the largest urban and metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent. First documented in 1147, Moscow grew to serve as

10767-474: The victorious Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not fully avail its victory. In 1555, Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł founded a Calvinist (Protestant) order in Orsha, one of the first in the Belarusian lands. From the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Orsha was a notable religious centre, with dozens of Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic churches and orders. The town was also home to a large Jewish population. Orsha

10878-615: The wake of Russia's failures in the Crimean War in 1855–56, confidence in the ability of the state to maintain order in the slums eroded, and demands for improved public health put it back on the agenda. In 1903 the Moskvoretskaya water supply was completed. In November 1917, upon learning of the uprising in Petrograd , Moscow's Bolsheviks began their uprising . On 2 November (15), 1917, after heavy fighting, Soviet power

10989-401: The world's largest urban economies . The city is one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations and is one of Europe's most visited cities . Moscow has the sixth-highest number of billionaires of any city. The Moscow International Business Center is one of the largest financial centers in the world and features the majority of Europe's tallest skyscrapers . Moscow was the host city of

11100-462: Was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F) at the VVC weather station and 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) in the center of Moscow and Domodedovo airport on 29 July 2010, during the unusual 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves . Record high and average temperatures were recorded for January, March, April, May, June, July, August, November, and December in 2007–2022. The average July temperature from 1991 to 2020

11211-525: Was a French writer Marie-Henri Beyle (also known under the pen name Stendhal ) in a rank of intendant . According to the census of 1897, on a total population of 13,161, about 7,000 are Jews. During the First World War , the city was occupied by German forces in February–October 1918. From 2 February 1919, Orsha became a part of Homyel region (Vitebsk region, 1920) of Soviet Russia . After

11322-522: Was built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600. A trading settlement, or posad , grew up to the east of the Kremlin, in the area known as Zaradye . In the time of Ivan III, the Red Square , originally named the Hollow Field appeared. In 1508–1516, the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Novy) arranged for the construction of a moat in front of the eastern wall, which would connect

11433-507: Was built in 1958 at 37 kilometres (23 miles) from the city centre to the north-west, along with the Leningradskoye Shosse , and incorporated as one of Moscow's administrative okrugs . Moscow State University moved to its campus on Sparrow Hills in 1953. In 1959 Nikita Khrushchev launched his anti-religious campaign . Of Moscow's fifty churches operating in 1959, thirty were closed and six demolished. On 8 May 1965, due to

11544-473: Was buried in the cemetery of the St. Daniel Monastery. Moscow was stable and prosperous for many years and attracted refugees from across Russia. The Rurikids maintained large landholdings by practicing primogeniture , whereby all land was passed to the eldest sons. By 1304, Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir . Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become

11655-516: Was erected around the city, including an area on the right bank of the Moscow River. As an outermost line of defense, a chain of strongly fortified monasteries was established beyond the ramparts to the south and east, principally the Novodevichy Convent and Donskoy , Danilov , Simonov , Novospasskiy , and Andronikov monasteries, most of which now house museums. From its ramparts, the city became poetically known as Bielokamennaya ,

11766-421: Was established in Moscow. Vladimir Lenin , fearing invasion, moved the capital back to Moscow on 12 March 1918. The Kremlin once again became the seat of power, political centre of the new state. With the change in values imposed by communist ideology , the tradition of preserving cultural heritage was broken. Independent preservation societies, even those that defended only secular landmarks, were disbanded by

11877-666: Was granted Magdeburg Rights in 1620. In 1630, Spiridon Sobol opened the first printing house at the Kuciejna monastery, which became a well-known centre of Cyrillic-alphabet publishing. The town was damaged during the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) , which was a disaster for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the First Polish partition the city was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1772, and became part of

11988-450: Was no unified Proto-Baltic stage, but that Proto-Balto-Slavic split directly into three groups: Slavic, East Baltic and West Baltic. Under this view, the Baltic family is paraphyletic , and consists of all Balto-Slavic languages that are not Slavic. In the 1960s Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict

12099-580: Was officially named Новая Москва (New Moscow). Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River , which flows for just over 500 km (311 mi) through the East European Plain in central Russia, not far from the natural border of the forest and forest- steppe zone. 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits. The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where

12210-613: Was paved in the 1780s. Petrovsky Palace was built in 1776–1780 by Matvey Kazakov . Between 1781 and 1804 the Mytischinskiy water pipe (the first in Russia) was built. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Moscovites were evacuated. The Moscow fire was principally the effect of Russian sabotage. Napoleon's Grande Armée was forced to retreat and nearly annihilated by the devastating Russian winter. In 1813, following

12321-634: Was surrounded by a barricade 40 kilometres (25 mi) long, the Kamer-Kollezhskiy barrier, with 16 gates at which customs tolls were collected. Its line is traced today by several streets called val ("ramparts"). In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances. From this gate, wooden and stone bridges stretched across

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