Kazan

Kazan
	Kazan's symbol is Zilant
Languages	Tatar, Russian
Mayor	İlsur Metşin
Coordinates	55°47′N 49°10′E
Area	425.2 km²
Population	1,180,000
Founded	by Volga Bulgarians; ~ 1005
Time zone	UTC +3
City Day	30 August
Dialling code	+7 843
Religion	Sunni Islam; Russian Orthodox; others

Kazan (Tatar Qazan, Казан, Russian Казань) is the capital city of Tatarstan and one of Russia's largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of Tatar culture. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga (İdel) and Kazanka (Qazansu) rivers in central European Russia.

Name[change | edit source]

The origin of the name is unclear. The literal translation of Tatar qazan is a boiler or cauldron. Alternately, it may have been derived from qazğan, Tatar for dug [ditch].

"Qazan" is originally a name for a special cooking pan, a variant of a wok, but more solid and heavier. It was believed that the city of Kazan is named after this object because of its geographical similarity with a "qazan"-pan; namely the city is situated in a U - shape lowland.

Another, more romantic legend tells a story of a Tatar princess Söyembikä, who dropped a golden dish (golden qazan) into the river on which the city is located while washing it.

Nevertheless, Chuvash legends refer to Bulgarian prince Khusan (Chuvash rendering of Muslim name Hassan) and Chuvashes call this city Хусан after the name of this prince.