- Tara, Russia
Tara ( _ru. Та́ра) is a town and the administrative center of
Tarsky District ,Omsk Oblast ,Russia , located about 300 km north ofOmsk along theIrtysh river. Population: 26,888 (2002 Census); 26,152 (1989 Census).History
Founded as a
fort in the late 1500s during Yermak's raids intoSiberia , it is one of the oldest towns in the region. It is located at the confluence of the Tara and the majorIrtysh rivers.Tara pre-dates many and gave rise to some Siberian cities, including
Omsk itself, expeditions to found which were undertaken at the request of Tara "voyevoda s" (military leaders) as early as 1600s. Yet the major developments, including the 18th-century century "Great Siberian Trakt" (road) and the late 19th-century centuryTrans-Siberian Railway bypassed the town.Tara has a few surviving historical churches. It had been the second city in the
eparchy of the Archbishop ofTobolsk and Tara, whose authority covered the vast Siberian lands. It has also been the administrative center of Tarskyuyezd of Tobolskguberniya in 1700s–1800s, with jurisdiction overOmsk for a brief time. In the 1930s, it was the head of Tarskyokrug , part of then steppe-to-Arctic stretchingOmsk Oblast .Since 1943, Tara is the administrative center of
Tarsky District ofOmsk Oblast . It is still mentioned in the title of Archbishop ofOmsk and Tara, with the authority diminished to the size of the oblast. Tara has been dropping in regional population rankings, yielding toIsilkul ,Kalachinsk , andNazyvayevsk , all of which are on theTrans-Siberian Railway .Since 2000, Tara have received a couple of economic boosts. The construction of a permanent automobile bridge across
Irtysh completed theTomsk –Tara–Tobolsk highway, a northern parallel to the railway. The exploration and exploitation of theKrapivinskoye Oilfield in the Oblast's north have led to increased tanker traffic to Omsk, as well as a construction of a minor localrefinery .
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