The population (900,550 in 1870) numbered 1,120,700 in 1881. The increase is largely due to immigration, an extensive tract of uncultivated land which formerly belonged to the Bashkirs having recently been purchased by the Government officials and leased to immigrants from the interior of Russia. The inhabitants are mainly Great Russians, Bashkirs (26 per cent.), and Kirghiz (about 5 per cent.). The majority belong to the Greek Church, or are Nonconformists; 27 per cent, are Mohammedans, The chief occupations are agriculture and cattle-breeding. Although only 3 2 per cent, of the area is under crops, grain is both distilled and exported. In 1881 there were in the province 581,000 horses, 441,000 cattle, 880,000 sheep, and 65,000 pigs. Notwithstanding the abundance of iron and copper ore, mining is but little developed. The industrial establishments (distilleries, tanneries, flourmills, &c. ) are few, and their aggregate production in 1879 was only 5,195,000 roubles, employing about 2200 workmen. The export trade in corn, skins, and tallow is of some importance, and the fairs at Orenburg, Troitsk, and Tchelabinsk yield large returns. There are five districts, the chief towns of which are Orenburg (35,600 inhabitants), Orsk (14,350), Tchelabinsk or Tchelaba (9000) Troitsk (8300), and Verkhneuralsk (10,350).

The territory of the Orenburg Cossacks, which extends as a narrow strip up the Ural river, occupies the whole of the government east of the Ural mountains, and joins, by a narrow line of posts, the former line of blockhouses of the Siberian Cossacks, has an area of 35,820 square miles, with a population in 1880 of 290,800 Cossacks and 16,460 peasants; 25,000 were Moslem Bashkirs.

Orenburg, capital of the above government, is situated on the right bank of the Ural river, 933 miles by rail south-east from Moscow. The fortress, which has eleven bastions and a circumference of 6300 yards, has lost its importance since the recent advances of Russia towards the south-east, and is falling into decay. The town, on the other hand, is rapidly increasing, and now includes the former suburbs of Golubinaya and Novaya. The population is 35,600. Orenburg has a military cadet school, two lower military schools, a lyceum, and various primary schools,—one of them for Kirghiz children. The inhabitants are chiefly occupied in agriculture and trade. The manufactures are few, but the trade is steadily increasing; the imports include cotton, silk, furs, wool, cattle, and horses, while cotton and woollen stuffs, cotton yarn, leather, colours, sugar, and grain are exported. Orenburg is connected, by rail with Samara on the Volga and with Moscow.

The government of Orenburg was formerly inhabited by the Kirghiz in the south and the Bashkirs in the north. The latter were brought under the rule of Russia in 1557, and the fort of Ufa was erected a few years later in order to protect them against the raids of the Kirghiz. The frequent risings of the Bashkirs and the continuous attacks of the Kirghiz led the Russian Government in the 18th century to erect a line of forts and blockhouses on the Ural and Sakmara rivers, which was afterwards extended south-westwards towards the Caspian, and eastwards towards Omsk. The central point of these military lines was the fort of Orenburg, originally founded at the confluence of the Or with the Ural (now Orsk), and afterwards removed (in 1740) 120 miles lower doλvn the Ural river to its present site. In 1773 it was besieged by Pugatchoff, the leader of the great revolt of the peasantry, supported by the Bashkirs. The government of Orenburg was created in 1774, embracing a wide territory which reached to the Volga, to the Caspian, and to Perm, the limits to the eastward being undefined. In 1865 this was divided into two governments,—Ufa in the north and Orenburg in the south. The steppe of the Kirghiz, which extends south of the Ural river towards the Caspian and the Sea of Aral, continued under the jurisdiction of the governor-general of Orenburg. Recently the steppe of the Orenburg Kirghiz has been incorporated with the newly-created provinces of Turgay and Uralsk; and the territory of the Orenburg Cossacks, formerly independent, has been brought within the government of Orenburg, and subdivided into districts.