People have inhabited Tula area since ancient times, as shown by discoveries of burial mounds (kurgans) and old settlements. These lands were occupied by the Slavic Vyatichi, who cultivated the land, traded, and worked at crafts. This is confirmed by records in property registers, which mention an "ancient settlement" located at the place where the small Tulitsa River flows into the Upa River. In those long-ago times, its inhabitants may also have defended their settlements against raids by Tatars and nomadic tribes, but history is silent on this matter. The first mention of Tula is found in Nikon's chronicle in reference to the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich of Chernigov. The chronicle notes that in 1146, the prince, who was heading for Ryazan, passed through a number of other settlements, including Tula, which at the time belonged to the Ryzan principality.[9]
During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Tula CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.
The Charter of Tula Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Tula Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official, who acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.
19,778 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[13]
According to a 2012 official survey[15] 62% of the population of Tula Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 2% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 1% are Muslims. In addition, 19% of the population deems itself to be "spiritual but not religious", 13% is atheist, and 3% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.[15]
Tula Oblast has as many as 32 museums. Several are located in the administrative center of the oblast, the city of Tula, notably the Tula State Arms Museum, the Tula Kremlin, and the Tula Samovar Museum . Another important cultural tourist attractions is the home and country estate of Leo Tolstoy, Yasnaya Polyana, located 12 km outside of the city of Tula.
The oblast also has four professional theaters, a philharmonic orchestra, and a circus.
^Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
^Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
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