The capital is the city of Samara (formerly Kuybyshev from 1935 to 1991).
Location: Situated in the southeast of European Russia, along the Volga River.
The area extends 335 km north-south and 315 km west-east.
Borders Tatarstan (north), Orenburg Oblast (east), Kazakhstan (south), Saratov Oblast (southwest), and Ulyanovsk Oblast (west).
Landscape and nature: It is a forest-steppe region: forests (coniferous and deciduous trees) in the north, and mainly steppe in the south and east.
A highlight is the Zhiguli Mountains (Жигулёвские горы) around the famous bend in the Volga (Samarskaya Luka), one of the most beautiful places in Russia.
The Volga is the main river, with a dam and hydroelectric power plant at Zhigulyovsk.
Economy: Samara Oblast is highly industrialized, especially since World War II (when it was safely far from the front and had oil reserves).
Important sectors: Oil processing and petrochemicals.
Machinery and automotive industry (including the AvtoVAZ/Lada factory in Tolyatti).
Aerospace (Samara was formerly a closed city).
Agriculture: grain, maize, sunflowers, vegetables, and fruit (though sensitive to drought).
Climate: Moderately continental.
Important cities: Samara (approx. 1.1-1.2 million inhabitants), Tolyatti, Syzran, and Novokuybyshevsk.
Tourism is limited, but the region has an interesting industrial history, nature (Samarskaya Luka National Park), and culture.
In short: an industrial and strategic region in the heart of Russia, with the Volga as its lifeline and a mix of nature and heavy industry.
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