MARII AUTONOMOUS AREA, an administrative unit of the Russian S.F.S.R., created in 192o. Area 23,525 sq. kilo metres. Pop. (1926) 482,519. It is surrounded by the Tatar A.S.S.R., the Chuvash A.S.S.R., and the Provinces of Nizhegorod and Vyatka, and lies between 55° 5o' N. and 57° 20' N. and 39' and 50° 18' E. The surface consists of a plain sloping south to the Volga river, with higher ground in the east forming the watershed between the tributaries of the Volga and the Vyatka. The chief rivers are the Volga, which flows through part of the southrwest, and after passing through the north of the Chuvash A.S.S.R., forms the south-eastern boundary of the Marii region, the Great and Little Kokshag and the Vetluga, tributaries of the Volga. The area lies in the taiga forest zone and 64% of it is covered with coniferous forest, pine and fir predominating. Timber and wooden wares made by the peasants provide the largest source of income, the nearness of the Volga being a great asset for export. A railway was constructed in 1923 from Kazan to Krasnokokshaisk (formerly Tsarevokokshaisk), the adminis trative centre, a small town of 4,265 inhabitants. Kozmode miansk, on the Volga, has 7,655 inhabitants and is a great timber centre with an annual timber fair. Apart from these two, there are no other town centres. The soils are not very favourable for agriculture, consisting mainly of sands, clays and forest earths. The climate is severe and continental, ranging between —14.0° C and 2o° C and the rainfall averages 44o mm. falling mostly in summer. In some years the spring rains fail, as in 1921, and the crops are ruined. In other years, however, in spite of poor methods and implements, sufficient rye and oats are grown in the north to allow of export. Potato and flax cultivation is increasing and there are a few indications that the traditional three-field system is being replaced by more intensive methods. Horses, cows, sheep and pigs are reared, but there is little dairying. The
projected continuation of the railway northwards may encourage dairying and plans are under consideration for establishing in struction centres.
The Marii Area was not a war zone, but it suffered terribly from the 1921 famine and from a disastrous forest fire, and con ditions are by no means stable yet. Chalk is worked in the north and there are extensive peat beds which will prove a valuable asset when transport is provided. There are small glass and flour milling enterprises, and besides making wooden goods, the pea sants make leather, felt, rope, string, pottery and other articles needed for daily use. A factory for the production of resin and turpentine is under construction (1928). Plans for the improve ment of conditions are hampered by the illiteracy of the people, the literacy rate being only 26.2%. Better provision for the pres ent generation is made than in some other areas, but a large proportion of children are receiving no education and medical help is altogether inadequate ; trachoma, itch and other infectious diseases are wide-spread.
The population consisted in 1926 of Marii 51.4%, Russians 43.6%, with some Tatars and Chuvashes. The Marii were called by the Russians Cheremis or Tcheremis. They speak a Finnish dia lect akin to Mordvinian and Permian, but are much more doli chocephalic and it has been suggested that they are connected with the neolithic dolichocephalic population of the shores of Lake Ladoga. They inhabited a region further to the west than into the habitat up to the 11th century, but moved eastward nto the marsh and forest region when Slav colonization began, and were settled in their present home in the 14th century. Moscow annexed the region in the 16th century but the Ma remained separate from the Russian colonists and have retained their language and customs. (See also FINNO-UGRIAN.)