Ulyanovsk (formerly Simbirsk,'s a city on the Volga River in Russia, 893 km east from Moscow. It's the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, and's the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin, for whom it's named. Population: History Simbirsk was founded in 1648 by the boyar Bogdan Khitrovo. The fort of "Simbirsk" (alternatively "Sinbirsk") was strategically placed on a hill on the Western shore of the Volga River. The fort was meant to protect the eastern frontier of the Russian Empire from the noma… (More on Simbirsk)