MOSCOW (Russian Moskva), a province of the Russian S.F.S.R., surrounded by those of Smolensk, Tver, Vladimir, Rya zan, Tula and Kaluga, area 44,98o sq.km.; pop. (1926) 4,534,133. The province is of peculiar interest as the cradle of the "Great Russian" nation which rose after the decay of Kiev. It consists largely of the inter-riverine ("Mesopotamia" in Russian "mezhdu rechie") district between the upper Oka and the upper Volga, with the Moskva river flowing through its core to join the Oka. To the west of the province there was a convenient portage be tween the Moskva and the upper Volga, on which was situated the fiercely disputed Novgorod trading colony of Volok-Lamsk, through which the railway from Moscow to Rhzev now passes.
The region was always densely forested, and even to-day forest occupies 42.7% of the province. The climate is continental, the rivers are frozen for 153 to i6o days, average January temperature 14° F, July 66.5°, snow lies thickly in the winter, and the average precipitation is 21.0 in. per annum, the prevailing winds being southerly and south-westerly.
The province consists of undulating ground (500-850 ft.) with broad valleys carved out by the rivers. In the Tertiary period it was already continental, but was partly submerged by the Cre taceous sea. There are no Triassic or Permian deposits, and the Jurassic is represented by its upper formations only. Upper Carboniferous deposits of deep sea origin rest upon the Devonian, discovered in an artesian well at Moscow at a depth of 1,508 feet. The pendulum anomaly, mentioned by Kaspar Gottfried Schweitzer (1816-73), appears in a zone 10 m. wide and extending for about 95 m. from west to east, and is positive (+ 0.6") to the north of Moscow and negative ( —2.7") to the south, Industries.—Coal, of low calorific value, is mined; and in early times the forest and this coal provided fuel for the industries which sprang up around the market at Moscow, where the first fur-preparing and cloth factories were established. The making of textiles began first in the peasants' huts, and even to-day peasant textile industries are widespread in the province and flourish in spite of the great development of the factory textile industry.
In early times a heavy metal industry existed in the district, but with the development of the Ural mining and metal industry it died down in view of the poor fuel supply. In 1876-80, the coalfields to the south of Moscow province provided 15.7% of the coal raised in Russia, but with the introduction of cheap trans port on the Oka and Volga for the Don coal and Baku naphtha, the Moscow textile industry ceased to rely on local fuel and the production in 1911-15 was .7 of the Russian total. After the out break of war in 1914, an impetus was again given to the use of local coal which provided 700,000 tons in 1916-17.
Since the 1917 revolution efforts have been made to overcome the fuel deficiency of the industrial regions of the province by the provision of electric power. Peat is abundant and an electric plant at Bogorodsk, east of Moscow, works on peat fuel, while the famous Shatura station, opened in 1925-26, working on peat had a power of 92,00o kw. in 1928, which is planned to be in creased to 136,000 kw. in 1929. At Kashira, south of Moscow, a station works on local coal, power in 1928, 34,000 kw., planned to give 78,000 kw. in 1929. Another station works on naphtha and anthracite and the R. E. Klasson electric station had a turbo-generator installed in 1925-26 giving 16,00o kilowatts.
There are intensive textile industries, especially cotton and chintz, with woollens, linens, silk and silk ribbons. Dependent on these are factories producing dyes, spools, reels, machinery for the textile factories, buttons, needles, ready made clothing and knitted garments. A cellulose industry is developing at Dmitrov, and silicate, cement and machinery industries at Podolsk, near which phosphorite is found. Guns and rope are manufactured at Kolomna. Other factories produce glass, bricks, tobacco, con fectionery, alcoholic drinks, leather, galoshes and fur garments. Serpukhov undertakes iron and copper smelting.