city and administrative centre of Kostroma oblast (region), western Russia. It lies along the middle Volga River about 200 miles (320 km) northeast of Moscow. It is believed to have been founded in 1152 by Yury Dolgoruky, but the first documentary evidence of the town dates from 1213. Kostroma's key position on the Volga trade route caused bitter struggles among Novgorod, Tver, and Moscow; it was annexed by Moscow in 1329. The city's cathedral, dating from 1239 and rebuilt in 1773, is situated in the kremlin (fortress) and is a fine example of old Russian architecture. In the 19th century Kostroma became a major textile centre. The modern city has the largest flax-processing combine in Russia, as well as linen mills and a textile-machinery plant. Pop. (2006 est.) 274,495.

oblast (region), western Russia. It covers part of the middle Volga River basin. Most of the surface is a rolling, morainic plain, sloping to the Volga from the low hills of the Severnye Uvaly (“Northern Rise”), with many lakes and extensive peat bogs. The oblast, centred on Kostroma city, is heavily covered with swampy forest, or taiga, of spruce, pine, and birch, with fir in the northeast. Broad floodplain meadows fringe the rivers, and most soils are infertile. In general, the oblast is not well developed economically, having a poor communications network—apart from the Volga itself, which crosses the southwestern corner of the oblast—and having only 15 percent of its area under cultivation. Flax, fodder crops, rye, and oats are grown, and flax processing and linen making are widespread in the small towns. Small-scale timber working also is widespread. Area 23,200 square miles (60,100 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 708,988.