VORONEZH, a government of southern Russia, is bounded by Tamboff on the N., Saratoff and the Don Cossacks on the E., Kharkoff on the S., and Kursk and Orel on the W., and has an area of 25,448 square miles. It occupies the southern slopes of the Middle-Russian plateau, and its average elevation is from 450 to 700 feet above sea-level. The surface is hilly, and broken by ravines in the west (where two ranges of chalk hills separated by a broad valley run north and south), but flat and low to the east of the Don. Devonian sandstones crop out in the north, but farther south these are covered with chalk. Glacial clays with northern erratics spread as far south as Voronezh, and extensive areas are covered with Lacustrine clays and sands. The soil is very fertile, owing to the large prevalence of the black earth; it becomes, however, sandy towards the east. Voronezh lies on the border between the forest and meadow-region of Middle Russia and the southern steppes; the forests rapidly disappear as one advances south, and those which in the time of Peter the Great still covered the upper parts of the tributaries of the Don, and were used for shipbuilding, are now almost entirely destroyed. Less than one-tenth of the entire area is under wood, and both timber and firewood have to be imported....
The Don traverses Voronezh from north to south-east, watering it for more than 400 miles; it is an important channel for the export of corn, tallow, and other raw produce, as well as for the import of wood, floated from the north. Its tributary the Voronezh is also navigated, and another large tributary, the Vorona, flows through the eastern part of the government. Many other small streams flowing into the Don intersect the territory, but the influence of the dry steppes begins to make itself felt; there are no lakes, and marshes persist only in the valleys. The climate is therefore continental, and, although the mean temperature at Voronezh is 42°∙7 F., that of January is as low as 8° ∙3 and that of July as high as 74° ∙2.
The population is steadily increasing, and reached 2,532,840 in 1883 as against 1,974,400 in 1860. It is Little Russian in the south-west (from 35 to 40 per cent., according to different estimates), and Great Russian elsewhere. There are also a few German colonies with some 3500 inhabitants, and a few Poles (2000).
Agriculture is the chief occupation, and corn is exported to a considerable amount. The average crops from 1883 to 1885 reached 3,467,800 quarters of rye, 901,600 of wheat, 958,000 of oats, 1,680,000 of various grains, and 960,100 of potatoes. 17,000 acres were under beet (176,000 cwts. in 1885); tobacco is also largely cultivated, and the crop of 1885 yielded 1,723,000 1b. The sunflower has also been much cultivated of late for oil. The Voronezh horses enjoy a high reputation in Russia, as also do its cattle, and cattle-breeding has advanced during the last thirty years. In 1883 there were 535,500 horses, 649,100 cattle, and 1,348,100 sheep. Bees are kept in many villages, and honey is gathered to the annual amount of more than 10,000 cwts. Market-gardening and fishing are also of importance. The manufactures are of recent growth; the production reached £2,066,000 in 1884, the chief products being spirits, oil, sugar, woollens, and tallow. Wheat and other grains, flour, flax, tallow and hides, wool, and cattle are the chief items of export.
Voronezh is divided into twelve districts, the chief towns of which are Voronezh (56,185 inhabitants in 1885), Biryutch (4435), Bobroff (3660), Bogutchary (4230), Korotoyak (1840), Nijne-Dyevitsk (2635), Novokhopersk (8015), Ostrogozhsk (8610), Pavlovsk (8390), Valuiki (4425), Zadonsk, with a great monastery (9940), and Zem-lyansk (3870). These are mostly mere administrative centres; and several villages, such as Buturlinovka (21,700), Kałatch (13,000), and Vorontsovka (12,000), have larger populations and more commerce.
VORONEZH, capital of the above government, is situated on a high bank of the river of the same name, 365 miles by rail to the south of Moscow. It is almost entirely built of wood, and only recently began to reacquire importance as an entrepôt on the railway which connects Moscow with the Sea of Azoff. It has a military school of cadets, gymnasiums for boys and girls, and a number of schools for elementary education. Its theatre, now rebuilt, has a name in the history of the Russian stage, and the town was also the birthplace of two peasant poets, to whom we owe some of the finest examples of Russian poetry—Koltsoff and Nikitin. A memorial to the former has been erected on a public promenade. A few factories for cleansing wool and for the preparation of tallow and oil, as well as some distilleries, have arisen of late. The population of the town increased from 39,800 in 1860 to 56,185 in 1885. It is now an important entrepôt for corn, flax, tallow, hides, sugar, wood, and coal from the Don; the railway traffic amounts to 2½ million cwts., and that of the Razdelnaya junction, close by, is nearly thrice that amount.
Voronezh was founded in 1586, as a fort against Tartar raids, on a site which had been occupied from the 11th century by a Khazar town, but had been deserted during the 14th and 15th centuries. Four years afterwards it was burned by the Tartars, but again rebuilt, and soon became an important trading place. Its wooden fort was rebuilt in 1672. Peter I. recognized its importance, and in 1694 erected on an island of the river a wharf, where a flotilla of sixty-six boats (2546 guns and 17,000 men) was built, under the direction of Dutch shipbuilders, for the conquest of Azoff. It thus became the basis of further advances towards the Black Sea. The town was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1703, 1748, and 1773, but was always rebuilt and has steadily developed.
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