The Samara Region is situated in the south-eastern part of the European Russia in the middle part of the Volga, Europe's biggest river, and occupies the area of 53 600 square kilometers that is 0.31% of the territory of Russia. In the North it borders the Republic of Tatarstan, in the South - the Saratov Region, in the East - the Orenburg Region and in the Northwest - the Ulyanovsk Region.

The Samara Region has sharp continental climate with the average annual air temperature +3.8 degrees centigrade. The average temperature in January is -13.9 degrees centigrade and +20.1 in July.

The Samara Region's permanent residents outnumber 3 million people. The major cities are Samara (1210.6 thousand citizens), Togliatti, Syzran, Novokuibyshevsk, Chapayevsk, Zhigulyovsk, and Otradnyi.

The ethnic composition of the Region is multinational. Most of inhabitants of Samara are Russians. Other nationalities are as follows: the Tatars, the Mordva, the Chuvash, the Ukrainians, the Belorussians, the Kazakh, the Jews, the Germans, the Bashkir, the Mari, etc. Nowadays the Cossack movement, the first free settlers on this land, is reviving.