Ufa ( oo-FA, OO-fə; Russian: Уфа IPA: [ʊˈfa] ; Bashkir: Өфө, romanized: Öfö, IPA: [ʏ̞ˈfʏ̞] ) is the capital and largest city of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the Ufa Plateau to the west of the southern Ural Mountains, with a population of over 1.1 million residents, up to 1.4 million residents in the urban agglomeration. Ufa is the tenth-most populous city in Russia, and the fourth-most populous city in the Volga Federal District. The city was founded in 1574, when a fortress was built on the site by the order of Ivan the Terrible. Ufa was made capital of Ufa Governorate in 1865 when the governorate split from Orenburg Governorate. Ufa's population expanded during the early 20th century. Today, Ufa's economy consists primarily of the oil refining, chemistry, and mechanical engineering industries; the petroleum company Bashneft and several of its subsidiaries are headquartered in Ufa. Ufa is an ethnically diverse city, home to a substantial number of ethnic Bashkirs and Tatars, with an ethnic Russian majority population. Several educational institutions are located in Ufa, including Bashkir State University, Ufa State Aviation Technical University, Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, and Ural State Law University. The city hosted separate summits of the BRICS group as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2015.
