Yoshkar-Ola (Finn. officially Joskarola, sometimes colloquially Punakaupunki) is a Uralican city, former capital of the historical region of Mari-El and current seat of the Uralican county of the same name. It is also the location of the Mari Tribal Board head office, and the birthplace of Uralican hockey superstar Matvey Kolpakov.
The city's semi-official Finnish nickname "Punakaupunki" is a direct translation from Mari to Finnish, as "Yoshkar-Ola" means "red city" in Mari. A more common nickname, though, having several spelling variations but the same pronunciation (except in Finnish), is "Yoshie," a nickname attributed to Jarkko Salomäki. (Russ. Ёший, most Uralic languages Joši, Finn. Jossi, Hung. Jósi, Plau. Joschi)
The city has always had a very diverse economy, with almost every industry in Uralica having a foothold within it. Although ferrous and argentic metallurgy, and machinery construction lead the way, there are also consumer-goods manufacturing, hi-tech, printing and publishing, food production, fuel production, pharmaceutical, chemical, textile, and shoemaking industries in the city, as well as a large retail sector and a medium-sized financial sector. Tourism is also very important.
Transportation is another important factor in Yoshkar-Ola's economy, as not only does it sit on three major highways, but it is also the number one city in Uralica in terms of the construction of buses and large trucks. Highway UH-1 runs north-south through the city, while Highway UH-8 runs east-west then splits off with Highway UH-26 in the eastern suburbs and heads northwest. UH-26 runs southwest out of the city before straightening out to the south and ending at the border with Tatarstan in Yulser-Ola.
Culture[]
Yoshkar-Ola was one of the hardest-hit cities by the Uralic Purges during Great War III. In spite of this, the Mari people have formed the ethnic majority in the city and surrounding area since the beginning of the Robertian Era, and after said Purges, and later the Three-Day Revolution, the vast majority of the Mari not in Mari El (some estimates even suggest the number is 100%) moved towards the Komi areas to the northeast of Mari El, and would be a huge factor in the formation of Uralica in March 2009.
The Galleria.
In the meantime, there was strong pro-Uralican sentiment within Yoshkar-Ola and the Mari El area on the whole. After the formation of Uralica, the Russian supremacists that had caused the Purges had all but fled the area, into the more predominantly Russian west. Over a year and a half later, Yoshkar-Ola was finally annexed by Uralica, and a census was taken. The population is very heavily Mari (~82.5% thanks to the return of diasporic Maris to the region) with Russians, Chuvash, Udmurts, and Estonians having a sizable minority.
Rich in Mari culture, it has a booming tourist sector, thanks to a great many places to explore this culture. The Mari El Symphony Orchestra is located in the city (with their home base being the Mari Orpheum), as also are four museums, three dramatic theatres, a chain of libraries, and two Mari-language cinema complexes. The largest museum is The Galleria, formerly called the National Artistic Gallery, which contains a gigantic collection of Mari art, larger than even the one at the Uralic Cultural Centre in Syktyvkar, and also a "masterworks" section of choice literary and musical works by Mari authors.
Yoshkar-Ola was founded in 1584 as Tsarevokokshaysk (because of the Malaya Kokshaga River), a name it carried until 1919 when it was briefly renamed Krasnokokshaysk before finally becoming Yoshkar-Ola in 1927.
Sport[]
Football (Soccer)[]
Ykkönen[]
- Spartak Yoshkar-Ola
Kakkonen[]
- Mari FK
- Stolitsa Yoshkar-Ola
Kolmonen[]
- PFK Yoshkar-Ola
- RMT Yoshkar-Ola
Nelonen[]
- Dinamo Yoshkar-Ola
- FK Yoshkar-Ola
- Metallurg Yoshkar-Ola
- Spartak-II Yoshkar-Ola
Other Pro/Semi-Pro[]
- Lokomotiv Yoshkar-Ola
- Zenit Yoshkar-Ola
- Jupiter Yoshkar-Ola
- Uralica Yoshkar-Ola
- MFK Yoshkar-Ola
- Akademklub Yoshkar-Ola
- Sporting Yoshkar-Ola
- Joskarolan Palloseura
- Jokerit JK Joskarola
- Zvezda Yoshkar-Ola
- SFK Yoshkar-Ola
Handball[]
- Yoshkarolsky RMS
Basketball[]
- BK Yoshkar-Ola
Rugby Sevens[]
- Yoshkar-Ola Rovers
Neighbourhoods and Suburbs[]
- Sombatkhey
- Chernovka
- Znamyensky
- Nikitkino
- Danilovo
- Semyonovka
- Yergarants
- Savino
- Torkhanovo
- Chigashevo