Bashkir Streets in Europe, Africa, and the United States

We continue searching the world map for urban toponyms that refer directly or indirectly to Bashkortostan. Last time, we found such streets in the USA and the United Kingdom, and also looked into why they are named that way and whether they are actually related to the republic. This time, we have found similar toponymy in another US state, as well as in Czechia, Hungary, and even in South Africa.

On the hottest continent, Bashkir Street is located in the city of Gqeberha, which until recently was called Port Elizabeth. In 2020, 967 thousand people lived there — slightly fewer than in Ufa. It is the fifth most populous city in South Africa.

The street is located in a private sector. On Google panoramas taken in May 2009, there was only one house under construction. Now this part of the city has been developed and is fully inhabited.

In the USA, there are the most Bashkir streets. As we managed to find out, they were named in honor of the Bashkir horse breed. Similarly — and in the United Kingdom. However, this toponymy has no relation to the republic itself or its natives.

We walked along three Bashkir streets in a previous article. There is another one — in the city of El Paso, Texas, where you can find Bashkir Trail. Such a suffix is usually given to roads in areas not highly developed in terms of urban planning or in wooded areas. However, in our case, the street in question looks quite civilized.

In El Paso, 681 thousand people lived in 2024. By population, it ranks 22nd in the country.

Moving to Eastern Europe. In Prague, the capital of Czechia, there is an entire district with streets named after various former parts of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. For the Eastern Bloc — although some toponyms appeared even before its formation — this was generally common practice. In Ufa, for example, there is Tbilisi Street, and one can also recall the street named after the city of Halle.

The part of Prague we are interested in is located away from common tourist routes in the Vršovice district. It was once a separate town, but at the beginning of the 20th century it became part of the capital of Czechoslovakia, which had recently gained independence after the collapse of Austria-Hungary.

The longest and most interesting street in this «composition» is Moskevská (Moscow Street). You can turn onto it from Ruská (Russian Street). From Moskevská, there is a view of the Church of St. Wenceslas, with the Church of St. Nicholas also located nearby, and opposite — the Heraldic Gardens.

If you go along Moskevská Street towards the railway and Vršovice Cemetery, to the left before them you will find a whole block of «Soviet» streets: Ulyanovskaya, Magnitogorskaya, Uzbekskaya, Tashkentskaya, Tajikskaya, Kyrgyzskaya, Kazakhskaya, and finally, Baškirská (Bashkir Street).

On Bashkir Street, essentially, there is only one building. Most of it is residential, with several commercial premises on the first floor.

We conclude our walk on Baskír utca (Bashkir Street) in Debrecen, Hungary. This city is located in the eastern part of the country, and by population it is second only to the capital, Budapest (201 thousand people in 2023).

Bashkir Street is crossed by Csuvas (Chuvash Street). And not far away is Tatár (Tatar Street).

The street is in the private sector of the Kerekestelep district. It is quite cozy, quiet, and nice on its own, but Google«s »camera car« hasn»t visited Bashkir Street since March 2012, when the street looked rather dreary. Its current appearance has not yet been captured on panoramas.

Places related to Bashkortostan can be found all over the world. In another article, we talked about the monument to the Bashkir cavalry in the Netherlands.