Gorodovikovsk (until 1971 - Bashanta, Kalm. Bәәshңtә) is a city
within Kalmykia in Russia. Gorodovikovsk is located in the extreme west of Kalmykia,
234 km west of the capital of the republic, Elista. The
administrative center of Gorodovikovskiy district. It forms the
Gorodovikovsk city municipality as the only settlement in it.
It is located in the extreme west of Kalmykia, 234 km west of
the capital of the republic, Elista.
Population - 8397
people. (2021).
Founded as the village of Bashanta in 1871,
in 1971 received the status of a city.
The original name of the city is Bashanta. The name
Bashanta is a distortion of Kalm. бәәшңтә - forms of joint case of
the word Kalm. бшң, which translates as palace, tower. There is a
version among local residents that the original name of the city of
Bashanta goes back to a local landmark - a water tower. However, the
tract in which the settlement arose was called Bashanta even before
the appearance of a settled settlement. In this regard, there was
another version among the old residents of the city.
Once the
Kalmyks, who first appeared in these places, saw the remains of a
stone building. The surviving skeletons of the building testified
that it was a large structure, perhaps it housed the headquarters of
the khan of the steppe state, of which there were many in the Great
Steppe, which stretched across the entire Eurasian plain from the
Carpathians to the Pacific Ocean. The place for the stake was very
convenient, the Yegorlyk River flowed nearby, there was a lake
called Tsagan Nur by the Kalmyks. The river originating from the
lake was named Bashanta, as well as the tract in which the Kalmyks
settled.
- Research work "Geographical place names in the names
of settlements Gorodovikovsky district
History
In the area
of the Bashanta gully, on the Bolshaya Bashanta river, in 1871,
one hundred and fifty Kalmyks of the Abganer clan organized a
settlement on a land plot allocated to them with an area of 8195
dessiatines. This is how the khoton appeared, which gave rise to the
city of Bashant. According to the List of inhabited places of the
Stavropol province, according to the information of 1873, 146 men
and 110 women lived in the Baishent tract in the khoton (Abganerov
clan) of Zaisang Ubushi Dobrykov, only 57 yards (wagons), all
Kalmyks, Buddhists, there was 1 wooden khurul, 1 stone, 1 in a
wagon, 1 wooden house and 4 adobe houses.
In 1907, an ulus
higher primary school for 50 students was opened in the village. In
1906-1907 a water tower and a street water supply system were built.
In 1908, the construction of a 28-bed ulus hospital was completed, 8
of which were in the infectious diseases department.
In 1909,
the headquarters of the Bolshederbetovsky ulus of the Medvezhensky
district of the Stavropol province was transferred to Bashantu from
Ivanovka. According to the List of inhabited places of the Stavropol
province in 1909, there were 9 households in the Kalmyk headquarters
of Bashant, 74 souls of a male and 48 female lived. At the
headquarters there were a two-year school, a khurul - a high
two-tier building in an oriental style, a post office, a savings and
loan, there was a pharmacy and a hospital.
The Bolsheviks
established their power in the village on December 14, 1917. The
Bolshederbetovsky ulus executive committee was elected in the amount
of 12 people. From July 1918 to February 1920, Bashanta was
controlled by the troops of General A.I.Denikin. After the
re-capture by the Reds, Bashanta retained its administrative
functions and remained the center of the Bolshederbetovsky ulus
(since 1930 - the Western region) of the Kalmyk Autonomous Region
(later - the Kalmyk ASSR). In 1920, an agricultural college (now -
Bashantinsky college named after F.G. Popov (branch) of Kalmyk State
University) was opened.
On December 4, 1938, the village of
Bashanta in the Western Region was transformed into a workers'
settlement. By this time, a secondary school, an agricultural
technical school, an MTS, a brick factory, and an ulus hospital
operated here.
In the summer of 1942, Bashanta, like other
settlements of the ulus, was occupied by German troops. Released on
January 21, 1943 by soldiers of the 28th Army and the 110th separate
Kalmyk cavalry division.
On December 28, 1943, the Kalmyk
population was deported. After the deportation of the Kalmyk
population in 1944, Bashanta remained the center of the Western
District of the Rostov Region, which was returned to Kalmykia in
1957 (since 1960 - Gorodovikovsky District).
In 1970, the
borders of the village were expanded: the settlements Don-Ural,
Blizhny, Kumsky were added to it. On February 8, 1971, the working
village of Bashanta received the status of a city and was renamed
into Gorodovikovsk in honor of the Hero of the Soviet Union,
Colonel-General Oka Ivanovich Gorodovikov.
City buildings are mostly low-rise (one or two
floors). Gorodovikovsk is divided into two parts by the Bashanta
River. The historic center, like most of the city, is located on the
right bank of the river (in the center of the city, some buildings
from the early 20th century have survived).
There are 4
objects of cultural heritage of the Republic of Kalmykia in the
city:
Monument to V.I.Lenin. The Lenin monument, as well as the
Kirov monument, was demolished and a canopy with a national Kalmyk
ornament was erected. The monument to Lenin disappeared without a
trace, like the monument to Kirov.
Monument to S. M. Kirov. The
monument to Kirov was demolished and a "dry" fountain "Lotus" was
erected. The monument to Kirov disappeared without a trace.
Monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union GM Lazarev;
Memorial to
the fallen soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.