Its three largestcities areIvanovo (the administrative center),Kineshma, andShuya. The principal center of tourism isPlyos. TheVolga River flows through the northern part of the oblast.
Early in its history, the Ivanovo region was a melting pot between different populations like Russians, Europeans, Asians, and others. Various ancient Uralian and ancient Slavic tribes inhabited the area.[13]
Ivanovo Industrial Oblast (Ива́новская промы́шленная о́бласть) was established on October 1, 1929.[14] On March 11, 1936, a part of it became the modern Ivanovo Oblast while the remainder was split off to createYaroslavl Oblast.[11] On 21 May 1998 Ivanovo Oblast alongsideAmur,Kostroma,Voronezh Oblasts, and theMari El Republic signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy.[15] This agreement would be abolished on 26 February 2002.[16]
Ivanovo Oblast shares borders withKostroma Oblast (N),Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (E),Vladimir Oblast (S), andYaroslavl Oblast (W).The climate of Ivanovo Oblast is continental, with long, cold winters, and short, warm summers. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of −12 °C (10 °F) in the west and −13 °C (9 °F) in the east. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of about +18 °C (64 °F). Although larger than several ofRussia's republics, Ivanovo Oblast is the smallestoblast by land area in Russia.
During theSoviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: the first secretary of the Ivanovo CPSU Committee (who in reality had the greatest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU has lost all power, when the head of the oblast administration, and eventually the governor, was appointed/elected alongside an electedregional parliament.
The Charter of Ivanovo Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Ivanovo Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day-to-day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter under theConstitution of Russia.
54,882 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[23]
Christianity is the largest religion in Ivanovo Oblast. According to a 2012 survey,[24] 46.5% of the population of Ivanovo Oblast adheres to theRussian Orthodox Church, 8.4% are Orthodox Christian believers who don't belong to church or are members of non-RussianOrthodox churches, 1.8% areunaffiliated genericChristians, 0.5% of the population are adherents of theSlavic native faith (Rodnovery) movement, and 0.5% areMuslims. In addition, 28.1% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 12.9% isatheist, and 1.3% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.[24]
^Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
^Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
Ивановская областная Дума. Закон №20-ОЗ от 18 февраля 2009 г. «Устав Ивановской области», в ред. Закона №146-ОЗ от 29 декабря 2015 г. «О внесении поправок в Устав Ивановской области». Вступил в силу 1 марта 2009 г. Опубликован: "Ивановская газета", №28(4395), 19 февраля 2009 г. (Ivanovo Oblast Duma. Law #20-OZ of February 18, 2009Charter of Ivanovo Oblast, as amended by the Law #146-OZ of December 29, 2015On Amending the Charter of Ivanovo Oblast. Effective as of March 1, 2009.).
Администрация Ивановской области (Administration of Ivanovo Oblast). "Ивановская область. Административно-территориальное деление по состоянию на 1 января 2001 г." (Ivanovo Oblast. Administrative-Territorial Structure as of January 1, 2001). Иваново, 2001.
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