VOTYAK REPUBLIC, an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, within the Russian S.F.S.R., originally part of the former Vyatka province. Area 30,355 sq.km.; pop. (1926), 756, 109. It is surrounded by the Tatar A.S.S.R., and by the provinces of Sverdlovsk and Kirov, and lies between and 3o' N. and 51 ° 3o' and 15' E. Geographically it includes a part of the Ural foothills forming the watershed between the Vyatka and Kama and the tributaries of the Chepsa. The soils are not very productive, consisting mainly of sands and clays and grey forest soils, and 43% of the area is forest covered, while there are vast swamps and marshes. The prevailing trees are the fir (76%) and the pine (12%) ; birch, ash, elm, maple and oak occur in small areas in the south. The climate is extreme, winter is long and severe and summer brief and hot ; the rainfall is adequate in the north, but diminishes markedly in the south.
Agriculture is the chief occupation, but is of an extensive character; the three-field and even earlier systems are- still in use. Rye and oats are the chief crop, and flax and potato culti vation increased markedly between 1925 and 1927. The famine and epidemics of 1921-22 markedly diminished the population and lessened the stamina of the survivors.
In spite of the abundance and good quality of the timber, it is not yet satisfactorily exploited, partly because of deficient transport and distance from markets and partly because of lack of skilled workers. The rivers are unfavourable for navigation and there is no steamer communication, but on many streams it is possible to float timber after the spring thaws; in summer they become very shallow. Mineral wealth includes the iron of the north-east region, slate, copper, quartz sand, chalk and red clay. Peat is abundant and has great future importance in view of the development of peat fuel as a source of electrical energy. The Varziachinsk district has been a health resort since 1888; its cura tive mud and sulphur springs are noted. Agriculture is insufficient to support the peasants, who supplement their income by a variety of petty trades.
Many products of these home industries are used locally, but others are sent to the fair at Nizhniy-Novgorod, where they form about 9.8% of the turnover of peasant traders.
Factory industry is little developed except at Izhevsk (q.v.), the administrative centre, where there are steel works and ammu nition factories and where other metal goods, including hunting guns, are produced. In the north-east there is much iron-smelt ing, and glass, pottery and vegetable oils are produced in the province. There are four saw-mills, and two more are under construction (1928), as is a rosin-turpentine factory.
The Perm-Vyatka railway goes through the north of the area and the Kazan-Sverdlovsk, with a branch from Izhevsk to Vot kinsk (Uralsk Area), through the south. Roads are poor and are not being constructed, owing to lack of capital. The literacy rate is very low, 18% for the whole province and 14% among the Votyaks. The terrible famine conditions of 1921-22 resulted in the closing of schools. Education is at present provided for 3o-4o% only of children of school age.
The region was inhabited by Finnish tribes when Slav pene tration and colonization began in the 12th century. For some time it was under the overlordship of Novgorod, but in the 15th century passed under that of Moscow. Though colonization went on continuously, the forest and marsh and the poor soil conditions did not prove attractive to Russian settlers and the Finnish tribes preserved their language and customs. The Votyaks (Otyaks), who call themselves Ot, Ut or Ud, and who are called Ar by the Tatars, may possibly be akin to the Ars of the Yenisei. They form 52.3% of the population and are of middle stature, with light-coloured eyes and fair, often red, hair, and Finnish skull and facial characters. Their dialect is akin to that of the Permyaks. They are mainly agricultural, factory and town popu lations being Russian, the latter forming 43.3% of the population.