Samarskai︠a︡ oblastʹ (Russia)

Samara Oblast (Russian: Сама́рская о́бласть, romanized: Samarskaya oblastʹ, [sɐˈmarskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ]) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Samara. From 1935 to 1991, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast. As of the 2021 Census, the population of the oblast was 3,172,925. The oblast borders Tatarstan in the north, Orenburg Oblast in the east, Kazakhstan (West Kazakhstan Province) in the south, Saratov Oblast in the southwest and Ulyanovsk Oblast in the west. It is located in 3 natural landscape zones: the forest zone (coniferous and broad-leaved forests), the basis of which is pine-oak forests, pine forests and broad-leaved forests with the participation of oak and maple. Spruce occasionally joins them. Areas of the southern taiga are found on the coast of the region. The forest-steppe zone occupies the central regions of the region and is represented by a combination of areas of broad-leaved forests, most often oak and meadow steppes. Red deer, roe deer, elk, and sometimes bears are found in these forests. The south of the region is occupied by steppes consisting of typchak and sagebrush.