Yoshkar Ola

Forests surround the Kokshaga River in the lands of the Meadow Mari. Here Tsarevokokshaysk was founded as a Russian military fortress in 1584, after the conquest of the Mari-inhabited country along the Volga and its tributaries. Its old name joined the tsar's title to that of the river. The fort formed part of the network of strongholds established as Russian authority extended into the region, amid communities whose Mari language and traditions endured in the surrounding countryside.