Kazan (Russian: Каза́нь; IPA: [kɐˈzanʲ]; Tatar Cyrillic: Казан, Latin: Qazan) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,161,308, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia, while the metropolitan area has a population of 1.57 million (2011).[citation needed] Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia.