 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.Other major cities on tributaries of the Volga include Ryazan, Dzerzhinsk, Kaluga and Oryol on the Oka River, Penza on the Sura River, Perm and Naberezhnye Chelny on the Kama River, Yoshkar-Ola on the Malaya Kokshaga River, and Dimitrovgrad on the Bolshoy Cheremshan River.