 According to different sources, the region was mainly inhabited by Slavic, Turkic and Viking people.Povolzhye played an important part of the emergence of the Rus' Khaganate.The Volga River was used mainly by traders from the Oriental and Viking world.The region is home to a large portion of Russia's population, with the major cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd and Astrakhan all located directly on the Volga River.