Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to
Nizhny, is, with a population of 1,250,619, the
fifth largest city in
Russia and the
administrative center of
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. From 1932 to 1990, it was known as
Gorky (, ), after the writer
Maxim Gorky, who was born there. The city is an important economic, transportation and cultural center of Russia and the vast
Volga-Vyatka economic region. It is located about 400 km east of Moscow, where the
Oka empties into the
Volga.