NIJNI-NOVGOROD (Lower Novgorod), a famous commercial and manufacturing t. in the e. of great Russia, capital of the government of the same name, is situated at the confluence of the Oka with the Volga, 715 m. e.s.e. of St. Petersburg. The fortified portion of the town occupies a hill overlooking the Volga, and is surrounded with a wall. It contains the kreml or citadel, 2 cathedrals, and the palaces of the governors. The manufactures of Nijni-Novgorod include cloth, leather, steel goods, wax candles, tobacco, beer, pottery, etc., and ship-building. The trade of the town is of great com mercial importance, especially during the great annual fair which brings buyers and sellers from all climes between Germany and China. For the convenience of those frequenting the fairs, an enormous market-hall has been built, and sixty blocks of build ings for booths, containing 2,530 apartments separated by fireproof walls. The numer ous churches of the citizens are supplemented by a mosque and an Armenian church for the visitors. There are three annual fairs, two of them of minor account. The third,
at the end of July and continuing into September, is by far the greatest in the world. The normal population (44,190 in 1871) is then increased to near 350,000; and the value of the goods sold at the great fair of 1874 was about £24,000,000. Nijni-Nov gorod, which is favorably situated for purposes of commerce, carries on a brisk trade during the whole season of navigation.
Nijni-Novgorod, founded in 1221, was devastated on several occasions by the Tartars; and in 1612, when it was on the point of falling a prey to Poland, Minim the famous butcher of Nijni-Novgorod,., collected an armed _force ,here, which, under prince Pojar .sky, drove the invaders from the capital. See ,Noscow. The proiperity of this town dates from the year 1817, when the great fair was removed to Nijni-Novgorod Makarief, on account of the destructive tire which broke out in the latter place.