Samara (formerly Kuybyshev), is a city and administrative centre of Samara province, western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at the latter's confluence with the Samara River. The origin of the name Samara still remains an enigma, and its meaning has lost with time. Anyways, the Venice geographic maps of the XIV century already had the Samarskaya Luka place, marked Samar, as a convenient anchor stop for ships. It is most likely that the meaning of the word SAMARA is hidden in the forgotten language of a disappeared people. Dramatic collisions taking place in Russia at the beginning of the XXth century affected Samara as well. Three revolutions, WWI and Civil Was had a huge impact on the history of the region. In 1935 Samara was renamed into Kuibyshev, so the name of the oblast changed as well. It was a common practice back then. During WWII Samara became on of the greatest industrial centers of the country. A lot of machinery construction and aviation enterprises were evacuated from the west of the country. After the war Samara oblast continued to extend its economic potential developing petroleum, aerospace industries, machinery construction, hydroenergy and automobile industries. Today, together with Moscow, St, Petersburg, the Ural region, Samara makes the basis for the industrial might of the country. In 1990 the city and the oblast were given back their historic names - Samara and Samara Oblast.