Solzha-Gala
| Solzha-Gala Sölƶa-Ġala (wy) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Capital city | ||
       From top, left to right: Sölƶa-Ġala skyline, Waynexaçöna Doẋ Mosque, Husein Park, Sölƶa-Ġala CBD at night, Sölƶa-Ġala College, Jowhar Dudaġera Avenue, National Museum of Waynakhia | ||
| ||
| Nickname(s): "Dubai of the Caucasus", "Heart of Waynakhia", "Ġala", "Jowhar-Ġala" | ||
 Map of Sölƶa-Ġala within Waynakhia | ||
| Coordinates: | ||
| Sovereign state |
 Waynakhia | |
| Province |
.svg){kind=small} Sölƶa-Ġala City Region | |
| Foundation | 1818 | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 324 km2 (125 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 130 m (427 ft) | |
| Population (2020) | ||
| • Total | 245,911 | |
| • Estimate (2022) | 251,602 | |
| Time zone | Waynakhia Standard Time (UTC+4) | |
| Website | solzhagala.wy | |
Sölƶa-Ġala (Waynakh: Sölƶa-Ġala), often anglicized as Solzha-Gala, is the capital city of Waynakhia. It has been the capital of Waynakhia since 1971, when the country became independent from Russia. Sölƶa-Ġala is also one of the two city regions of Waynakhia. With over 250,000 residents, Sölƶa-Ġala is the largest city in Waynakhia by population, as well as the third most populous in the North Caucasus. The city's land area of 324 square kilometres makes it Waynakhia's largest city, and the second largest North Caucasian city, by land area. Located on both banks of the Sölƶa River, the city limits include several surrounding towns and villages along with the city itself. Sölƶa-Ġala is one of the wealthiest cities in the Caucasus, with the largest economy of any city in the north-east Caucasus.
Founded in 1818 during the Russian invasion of the Caucasus, the city began as a fort under the name Grozny, and was upgraded to a town after the end of the conflicts. It later became a part of the short-lived Mountain Republic, which later became a part of Russia, before the city was made the capital of the Chechen-Ingush region in Russia. During the period of Derzhavist Russia and Great War II, the city became an important economic center for the Russian economy and war effort, and with much of its Russian population drafted as soldiers, the city's jobs were filled by people displaced during the Highland Expulsions. After being set as a major strategic target for the Allies due to its oil supplies and location, it underwent social and economic recovery during the British post-war occupation, becoming the capital of British Checheno-Ingushetia and later, Waynakhia. This did not last, and much of the city was damaged or fell into serious disrepair during the Caucasian Wars.
From 1989 onwards, Sölƶa-Ġala experienced a massive reconstruction during the Sierran-led occupation of the North Caucasus for the next decade. The city was almost entirely rebuilt from 1992 onwards with funding and planning from the Sierran government. The end of the Sierran occupation did not mark the end of reconstruction, and with funding continuing to flow into Waynakhia, the city and country had economically stabilized by the time of the 2015 Sierran financial disaster, allowing Sölƶa-Ġala to become economically independent and establishing its own place in the world.
Today, Sölƶa-Ġala is the economic and political center of Waynakhia, as well as a major economic hub of the Caucasus. The city's oil supplies have allowed significant revenue to flow in since the mid-1990s, and since the early to mid-2010s much of the oil revenue was re-invested into more sustainable development. The city's oil production has caused controversies but in recent years has earned the city a reputation for investing into more renewable and eco-friendly sources of income and energy. Apart from being a major source of oil for other countries in Europe and Asia, Sölƶa-Ġala is a business, science, technology and finance hub. As the political center of Waynakhia, the Parliament, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court are all located and operate in the city. Sölƶa-Ġala gained fame during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the few capital cities in the world to eliminate the virus and return to a form of "normal life", with its economy seeing one of the largest rates of growth of any city in the world through 2020.
History
Foundation
In the early 19th century, Georgia and much of Transcauasia became part of the Russian Empire, though the territories were separated from the rest of the empire by the Caucasus Mountains and their native peoples. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the Russian army began to intensify its military action in the Caucasus, sending a significant part of its military resources to the region. In 1816, the Russian army established a plan to conquer the Caucasus, which envisaged tactics such as cutting wide clearings in the region's forests, laying roads, and creating fortresses and defensive lines, to enable long and regular sieges of mountainous regions. The plan also included the destruction and resettlement of villages which refused to accept Russian rule.
At that time, the north-eastern Caucasus, including today's Waynakhia, was fiercely resistant to the Russian invasion. In 1817, the Russian army began to advance along the western flank of the Caucasus Line, from the Terka River to the Sölƶa River, with the construction of fortresses along the river during the advances.
On 22 June 1818, the fortress of Groznaya was founded, on the site of between 6 and 20 Waynakh villages which were burned down and destroyed by Russian troops. The location of the fortress was 6 miles from the Xan-Ġala Gorge, with the site chosen with the intention to prevent Waynakh highlanders from entering the plains through the gorge and attacking the fortress. A settlement had appeared around the fortress by 1825, at which time, a Waynakh counteroffensive was launched, led by Bibolat Taymi, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Groznaya fortress.
Groznaya was visited by various Russian cultural icons of the time, including Leo Tolstoy. In 1850, the heir to the Russian throne, later Alexander II, visited the fortress, with a gate built especially for him, which was later destroyed. By the end of military operations in the region in 1859, regular fairs were organised at the fortress, along with a Russian military administration in the region.
In 1869, the fortress of Groznaya was renamed Grozny, and was designated as a city in the Russian Empire's Terek Oblast, becoming a city district in 1871. This period saw the rise of a multi-religious society in the city, with religious centres and places of worship established for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian peoples. It also saw the beginning of the city's industrialisation, with oil production beginning in the early 1890s. The Vladikavkaz Railway was built between the city and Beslan, completed in 1893 around the time of the first oil drilling. Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, was a key figure in the city's oil development, with Grozny eventually becoming the largest oil-producing city in the entire North Caucasus.
Early 20th Century
Great War
Interwar period
Caucasus Wars
Contemporary history
Geography
Location and borders
Sölƶa-Ġala is situated in the center of Waynakhia, in the plains region of the republic and at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. The city is on both banks of the Sölƶa-Xi. It borders with Dewkar-Ewla Province in the north and west, Marta Province in the south, and Orga-Xi Province in the east.
Geology and hydrography
Sölƶa-Ġala is located in the plains region of Waynakhia, on the flat territories which occupy the central third of the republic's territory. The Caucasus Mountains are to the south of the city, visible from the ground level on clear days. There are less rivers in the plains region than the mountainous region, but the city is located on both banks of the Sölƶa-Xi, one of the most important rivers of the country.
Climate
Sölƶa-Ġala has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters. Rainfall and sunshine hours both peak in the early summer.
| Climate data for Sölƶa-Ġala (1991–2021 normals, extremes 1938–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15.5 (59.9) |
22.3 (72.1) |
32.9 (91.2) |
33.7 (92.7) |
38.1 (100.6) |
39.1 (102.4) |
42.0 (107.6) |
41.4 (106.5) |
40.7 (105.3) |
32.5 (90.5) |
23.7 (74.7) |
18.0 (64.4) |
42.0 (107.6) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 2.3 (36.1) |
3.7 (38.7) |
10.1 (50.2) |
17.3 (63.1) |
23.2 (73.8) |
28.2 (82.8) |
30.8 (87.4) |
30.6 (87.1) |
25.1 (77.2) |
17.2 (63) |
8.8 (47.8) |
3.5 (38.3) |
16.7 (62.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.5 (29.3) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
4.7 (40.5) |
10.8 (51.4) |
16.7 (62.1) |
21.4 (70.5) |
23.9 (75) |
23.6 (74.5) |
18.5 (65.3) |
11.6 (52.9) |
4.5 (40.1) |
0.1 (32.2) |
11.1 (52) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −4.2 (24.4) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
0.8 (33.4) |
5.7 (42.3) |
11.5 (52.7) |
15.9 (60.6) |
18.2 (64.8) |
17.9 (64.2) |
13.4 (56.1) |
7.3 (45.1) |
1.4 (34.5) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
6.8 (44.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −31.5 (−24.7) |
−30.8 (−23.4) |
−19.1 (−2.4) |
−7.6 (18.3) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
5.6 (42.1) |
9.2 (48.6) |
5.0 (41) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
−9.6 (14.7) |
−23.5 (−10.3) |
−26.6 (−15.9) |
−31.5 (−24.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 29 (1.14) |
24 (0.94) |
34 (1.34) |
43 (1.69) |
67 (2.64) |
84 (3.31) |
53 (2.09) |
48 (1.89) |
48 (1.89) |
51 (2.01) |
36 (1.42) |
33 (1.3) |
550 (21.65) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 4.9 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 7.2 | 8.0 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 69.8 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 59 | 67 | 104 | 167 | 219 | 242 | 247 | 234 | 186 | 136 | 68 | 49 | 1,778 |
| [citation needed] | |||||||||||||
Demographics
Population
As of 1 January 2020, the population of Sölƶa-Ġala was 245,911 people, the highest of any city in Waynakhia and the highest population of any province (Sölƶa-Ġala City Region). The estimated population at 1 January 2022 was 251,602 people. The population had increased from the 2010 census of 171,573 people, a rise of more than 30%. The population growth was caused by both inward migration and the inclusion of surrounding villages into the city limits by the Local Government Act 2019.
Ethnicity
The absolute majority of the city's population are ethnic Waynakhs, at 98,7% of the population, making Sölƶa-Ġala one of the most mono-ethnic capital cities in the world. The second largest ethnic group is Kumuks, at 0,6% of the population, and the third largest ethnic group is Awars, at 0,2% of the population. The remaining 0,5% of people are small numbers of various ethnic groups from other regions of the Caucasus, as well as foreign diplomats, permanent residents and people staying long-term in the country.
Government and politics
Economy
Infrastructure
Transport
Education
Culture
Media
Social
Sport
Religion
Sister cities
Sölƶa-Ġala is twinned with the following cities:
Augustus, Dakota, Superior
Dubai, Trucial States
Irvine, Orange, Sierra
Sivas, Anatolian Republic
Tbilisi, Georgia
Warsaw, Poland