Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ufa (2.)

UFA, capital of the above government, is situated at the confluence of the Ufa with the Byetaya, on high crags intersected by ravines, which are covered with gardens and orchards. The better part of the town contains a few stone buildings connected with the administration, two cathedrals, and a few churches; the remainder is a scattered aggregation of small wooden houses. There are two class ical gymnasiums for boys and girls, a theological seminary, and several lower schools. The town has a few good hospitals. The manufactures are insignificant in Ufa itself, but there are several iron and copper works of importance within the district. Owing to the fertility of the neighbouring regions, and the position of the town at the junction of two important rivers, the Ufa merchants carry on a brisk export trade. The population has rapidly increased of late, reaching 25,660 in 1884.

Ufa was founded in 1574, when a fort was built on the Byeiaya, three other forts being erected about the same time at Birsk, Menzelinsk, and Berezovka, to connect Ufa with the Russian settlements on the Kama. The wooden kreml of Ufa, protected by wooden towers and an outer earthen wall, had to sustain the attacks of the revolted Bashkirs and Russian serfs in 1662 and at later dates; and in 1773 Tchika, one of the chiefs of the Pugatcheff revolt, besieged it for four months.