Kazan (kä-zän), capital of the Russian government of Kazan and ancient capital of the Mongol kingdom, was founded in the 15th century. The city was taken by the Russians under Ivan the Terrible in 1552 after a bloody siege, and the Mongol kingdom was brought to an end. Kazan is one of the most important educational centers of Russia, the university founded by Alexander I in 1804 containing a library of 80,000 volumes, an observatory, a botanical garden, four faculties and 875 students. The yards in which Peter the Great built his Caspian fleet are not far from the town. Population 143,707. Kazan also is a province, area 24,587 square miles with a population of about 2,200,000.
