Bavly

The city of Bavly is situated in the southern foothills of the Ural Mountains. Bavly is located within the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland on the Bavlinka river, a tributary of the Ik river. It is 25 km south of the Yutaza railway station, a part of the Ulyanovsk-Ufa railway connection, and 369 km southeast of Kazan. Through the city of Bavly passes the federal highway  Kazan – Orenburg – Kazakhstan border. The city is the administrative centre of the Bavlinsky district.

The first settlement on the Bavla river appeared in 1626. Later the settlement was merged with several other settlements under the single name of Bavly. The name means “the honey river”.

In the 18th-19th centuries, the inhabitants were divided by class into Bashkir-patrimonials and state peasants. Therefore the main occupations of the peoples were agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade. Until 1917 the only industrial enterprise was the distillery of the landowner Zhdanov. There were also forges, shops, mills, and a sheepskin establishment. The population was over two thousand people.

Since 1930, the Bavlinsky district has become part of the administrative formation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The region was traditionally inhabited by various ethnic groups.

A new stage in the development of the region began with the discovery of an oil field in Bavly in 1946. Since that time, roads, and water supply have appeared, and more objects have been electrified. The development of the oil industry contributed to the active growth of the region’s agriculture. In order to provide the oil workers with everything they needed, roads were laid, new industrial and agro-industrial enterprises were put into operation, and a new infrastructure of the region was formed. New houses, schools, kindergartens, sports and cultural institutions were built in the village. In 1997 the Bavly settlement was granted the status of a city.